Plural of botel; a botel is a hotel built on or near water, combining features of a boat and a hotel, sometimes with boat docking facilities.
A blend of 'boat' and 'hotel', created in the mid-20th century as leisure travel and recreational boating expanded. This is a modern portmanteau, or blend word.
'Botel' is a great example of how English creates new words when new things are invented—there was no need for this word before affordable recreational boating became common, so enterprising hotel owners literally blended two words together.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.