Esso Motor Hotel was a Swedish subsidiary of the American oil company Esso, for running hotels in Europe.
History
In the 1960s, with the rise of the numbers of travelers by car, the Scandinavian governments asked for dormitories for motorists at the service stations along the highways.[1] The first that offered bedrooms to motorists was the Swedish Esso filling station along the E3 (from 1992 renamed E20) in Laxå, halfway between Stockholm and Gothenburg, resulting in a complete Motorby in 1963 and the establishing of Esso Motor Hotel AB. A Motorby (Swedish for Motor village), is a filling station with workshop combined with a hotel specially for motorists with direct access from the parking to the rooms. All rooms and services, as a shop and cafeteria, are situated at ground floor level. The first motorby at Laxå was followed soon by motorbys at Härnösand, Östersund[2] and Vara and a motel in Örkelljunga. The later built Esso Motor Hotels were provided with far more features than a motorby, as a waiter served restaurant, bank, fitness room, sauna, pool and meeting rooms, mainly to satisfy business travelers. The first three motorbys were upgraded to Esso Motor Hotel, but Vara and Örkelljunga were rated as Esso Motel with minimized services.