a hotel, an hotel or A hotel

I think it's a hangover from the French pronunciation, without an H. We have put the H in the similarly-derived words: hospitality, hospital etc.
I think those saying 'an hotel' would probably have the French pronunciation in mind. I do think either is acceptable.
Of course language evolves. I have begun to say 'stadiums' instead of 'stadia' because it is less understood and sounds odd. Interestingly, we rarely use 'datum' but have taken 'data' into general use.

But they don't begin with an aitch mokryna

Don’t forget a uniform, an umbrella ?

An honour and, sometimes in North America, an ‘erb.
An honest person.

Silent "h". I always say an (h)otel.

an hotel, silent H not that anyone says it that way these days

un hôtel/an hotel.

I think it sounds correct if you don't pronounce the aitch and in my experience see it mostly printed as "an hotel". It's also much easier and less clumsy to say "annotel" rather than "Uh Hotel". But, so much depends on what part of the country we're from, maybe how we were taught, and also shouldn't we have arrived at a time in our lives when we speak in the way we're most comfortable? IMO

It's a French word so the aitch is silent. Therefore an 'otel. Or so I always thought,

Not to muddy the waters, I saw an American film in which one of the cast declared, "I am a actor", with a soft 'a'.

I just can't get my tongue around it.

Kittylester - probably because you say horse and house with the “h” pronounced.

I also was taught an hotel - but it was pronounced “otel” with a silent “h”. These days most people say hotel with an aitch it seems so I suppose it is changing.

The fabulous English language!

I was taught 'an hotel' and 'an hour' but a horse and a house!

I think most people say an hour.

Strangely the 'h' is dropped in hotel. So correctly it is an (h)otel.

This is all quite interesting. Of course language evolves.

But this puts an interesting slant on it

It's normal to say an heir. I can't imagine anyone saying * a heir*

Same with (an/a) historic event. An sounds much better than a

Found this which explains

*An is the form of the indefinite article that is used before a spoken vowel sound: it doesn’t matter how the written word in question is actually spelled. So, we say ‘an honour’, ‘an hour’, or ‘an heir’, for example, because the initial letter ‘h’ in all three words is not actually pronounced. By contrast we say ‘a hair’ or ‘a horse’ because, in these cases, the ‘h’ is pronounced.

Let’s go back to those three words that tend to cause problems: historic, horrific, and hotel. If hotel was pronounced without its initial letter ‘h’ (i.e. as if it were spelled ‘otel’), then it would be correct to use an in front of it. The same is true of historic and horrific. If horrific was pronounced ‘orrific’ and historic was pronounced ‘istoric’ then it would be appropriate to refer to ‘an istoric occasion’ or ‘an orrific accident’. In the 18th and 19th centuries, people often did pronounce these words in this way.*

But it doesn't matter

Tangerine

The trouble is language changes. I don't speak or write exactly as my Grandparents did.

Oh me neither!

Pair of them swore like troopers

I've never heard "an" hotel ,sounds a bit odd .Only an before a vowel when I was taught and H isn't a vowel

I taught that you use AN only before a vowel, for example, an apple. So it would be a hotel.

That's true Tangerine my gran would always point it out to me if I dropped my 'h's'.

I was brought up with an otel and an ‘our and followed the vowel rule with h being silent having said that I don’t think I would say an husband but a husband and an hospital but a hospital so it’s all a bit weird isn’t it?

General rule is, if the word begins with a vowel, it's "an".

An egg

An apple

Etc but some things, it's just weird

"An ardvark" works

"An unicorn" just sounds wrong lol

The trouble is language changes. I don't speak or write exactly as my Grandparents did.

I think it is correct to say and write an hotel. This like many other parts of grammar isn't used as much now.

My Grandma always used to tell me it was an hotel

A swift google says she was quite correct!

So you're right, Fennel,

If you do not pronounce the "h" at the beginning, it is perhaps "an hotel" in the French way. Hotel is, I believe, a French word.

In the English language, we pronounce the "h" and so I think I would say or write "a hotel".

I am not certain if there is an exactly right or wrong answer.