El hotel turístico. Viaje a los orígenes de su arquitectura, 1880-1932

If there is an architecture clearly related to mass tourism, it is the hotel architecture. The hotel constitutes the minimum piece par excellence, as it is necessary to turn a place into a tourist destination. However, despite its importance, the architectural features of the hotel have not been sufficiently studied. In order to understand their nature, this article aims to explore the evolution and development of the touristic hotel. Its objective is to identify the turning point between the central courtyard hotel, which is related to the historicist movement, and the panoramic seaside hotel linked to the avant-garde architecture of the 20th century. To that end this paper analyses the role played by the sanatorium in this transition, from its first appearance in the context of the alpine resort in 1880 until the period between the two world wars. Keywords: hotel, architecture, tourism, sanatorium.