Monopoly Hotel Rules: The Complete Guide

Monopoly is a very popular and common board game that many people love and enjoy.

But sometimes rules might be unclear and confusing to people with a lot of rules in the game. 

Because of this, people commonly ask questions about what you can and can’t do in Monopoly, this is especially true for hotels in Monopoly. 

Here we will discuss the Monopoly Hotel Rules and discuss how hotels work, too.

Let’s get started!

What Is A Hotel In Monopoly?

Hotels are upgraded versions of houses in Monopoly, and they are usually seen as the red house-looking piece the game set comes with. 

People put hotels on the board because it gives out better rent than houses do. 

The price of a hotel depends on what piece of the board you own, and thus, rent could be different depending upon which piece of the board you own.

How do hotels work in Monopoly?

We mentioned that hotels give better rent than houses do.

It increases the rent collection out of a single property to a large extent when someone lands on them.

For instance, if you own Boardwalk, then the rent for a hotel could be $2,000.

But you also have to give up houses to be able to buy a hotel, too. 

You can’t stack hotels and houses together on the same piece of land you own, but you can stack hotels together which can cause higher rent.

Once a hotel is built, any player who lands on that property must pay you the cost of a hotel stay, even if they don’t stay there.

What are the Rules for buying hotels in Monopoly?

To be able to buy a hotel, you must first own all the properties in a color group.

But then, you have to have four houses owned on all of these properties. 

Then you can buy a hotel that is the price on the title deed card.

But you have to then return your houses to the bank for the property you are putting the hotel on. 

For instance, Mediterranean Avenue is part of the blue set, so if you own all of the blue-colored cards and own four houses on each of them, then you could put a hotel on Mediterranean Avenue if you wish, or one of the other blue-colored properties.

What are the Rules for Selling Hotels in Monopoly?

In Monopoly, you can sell your hotels at any given time if it is your turn.

You can either sell back your hotels and get back half of what you paid for each hotel, or you can convert them back to houses and get cash for the hotel. 

A hotel is considered to be equivalent to that of five houses, so you could take one house away at a time.

As an example, if you owned hotels on Mediterranian Avenue, you could convert your hotel to four houses and then get the money back for the remaining house (since the hotel is considered five houses).

Rules for Rent when Landing on Hotel In Monopoly

The rules for rent when you land on a hotel in Monopoly work the same way as the rules for landing on houses in Monopoly. 

The only difference is that hotels can cost more for rent and it helps maximize how much the owner gets off of rent by owning a hotel. 

Though, the rent will differ depending on the property owned.

How much Do Hotels Cost in Monopoly?

The price of hotels in Monopoly can vary depending on the property owned.

But you must own four houses on each property in any color set, and have to own all the color sets. 

The price of the hotel is the same as the price of a house, but again, you must have to own four houses first. 

For instance, each hotel costs 50 dollars for the brown-coded properties, thus making it so you have to pay 200$ before you can buy a hotel on either of the brown-coded properties. 

Then you can buy the hotel for 50$ bringing the total to 250$ for getting the hotel in Monopoly.

Can you Buy a Hotel Straight Away in Monopoly?

No, you cannot own a hotel straight away.

As we mentioned earlier, you must own the entire color-coded set and have four houses on them.

How do you sell back hotels in Monopoly?

You can sell back hotels for half the cost of what it was bought for. But you have to sell it back to the bank.

Can you downgrade from a hotel to 4 houses?

Yes, as we mentioned earlier, you can convert your hotel to 4 houses and get the money back for the other house.

This means if you bought a hotel on one of the brown squares, you can get 50$ back, for instance.

How many hotels can you build in Monopoly?

You can buy as many hotels as you want in Monopoly, as long as there are remaining pieces.

A Monopoly set comes with 12 hotel pieces (red) so the maximum you can own is 12 hotels.

Can you buy a hotel if there are no houses left?

No, you cannot buy a hotel if there are no houses left, and each set comes with 32 houses.

There is a strategy where people will purposefully only own four houses and not upgrade to a hotel so the enemy player can’t own houses.

Do you have to buy 4 houses before hotels in Monopoly?

In Monopoly Game, you need to have 4 houses built in a particular color group before you can buy hotels.

You can buy 4 houses in a single turn in the next turn and start buying hotels.

Is it considered cheating in Monopoly if the other player deliberately sells hotels so there are not enough houses for me to put on my properties?

No, it is not considered cheating.

This is very much considered part of the game and is a very common strategy people use by sacrificing their rent value so the other person can’t own houses and therefore, can’t own hotels.

This is very much a part of the game and the point of the game, too.

Conclusion

Let’s conclude the post.

We talked about how hotels in Monopoly work.

Then we also discussed the rules for buying and selling hotels, and other things such as downgrading a hotel to four houses. 

We mentioned how it is a common strategy to sell hotels for four houses so that the enemy player can’t own houses, and also found it isn’t cheating. 

We hope this little guide helped you learn something new about the hotel rules in Monopoly!