Defined in the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956, s.1(3), as a hotel, i.e. ‘an establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food, drink and, if so required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveller presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services provided… and who is in a fit state to be received’. The words ‘without special contract’ are important and mean that an ‘inn’ is any establishment ‘open to all and sundry’, i.e. it does not pick and choose its guests. The proprietor assumes special legal responsibilities (see INNKEEPER’S LIABILITY). For legal purposes hotels are either inns or private hotels.