Isabelle Meschi (asker) Aug 21, 2014:

Thanks to you all Thank you very much for your long discussion to help me find the most accurate translation for "resident".
I believe that in that case, "residents" indicate the clients of the hotel while "guests" is used for the outside clients.

Duncan Moncrieff Aug 20, 2014:

Whilst it is interesting to see what one can find in a dictionary, any one (translators included) who relies solely upon one, in spite of evidence that puts doubt upon the exactness of an entry, risks making mistakes.
My point was not that it is not impossible to find such a use, but that such usage seems to be fairly restricted (and maybe even outmoded now).
As to that you can prove anything using things found on internet, well, Antony sure has a good sense of irony to write that and to use an internet reference.
Intelligent interpretation is definitely necessary! I'd agree there. :)

Now what we really need is the asker to come along and spread some light about the context.

Tony M Aug 20, 2014:

@ Asker It is possible to 'prove' anything using things found on the Internet; however, only intelligent interpretation of these can elucidate the true meaning in any given context — and nothing beats sound personal experience brought to bear on the interpretation of such information.

I quote one basic reference:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/residen...

Primary definition #1:

1 A person who lives somewhere permanently or on a long-term basis

Sub-definition
1.2 [British] A guest in a hotel who stays for one or more nights: the hotel restaurant is open to residents and guests of residents.

Duncan Moncrieff Aug 20, 2014:

@Tony I'm happy to say that you might be right, but where's the proof for this?
If you do a quick search on google for "resident of a hotel", all the results that I get (on the first page, http://postimg.org/image/ggejilwpp/ ) are to do with long term residency...! And some of the links are to industry official sites, more likely to avoid general public parlance (the google search I used : http://bit.ly/YzuDQC ).
If Kudoz is going to move beyond people's opinions and be evidence based, proof is needed.
Anyone with a modicum of skill in rhetoric can argue almost any point quite convincingly, but rhetoric is just what it is. Fact is stronger. So please back up your opinions, because we are not all blessed with your experience.

Tony M Aug 20, 2014:

@ Duncan To pick up on one of Duncan's points: if an hotel refers to its customers as 'guests', then naturally anyone coming to see them will be 'visitors': "Guests may not entertain visitors in their room"; but if the word for a customer staying at the hotel is a 'resident', then anyone from outside will be a 'guest' — note, though, that 'guests' includes outside patrons of the bar, restaurant, fitness facilities etc., and probably would not include people visiting residents. So one might find 'residents' who have 'visitors' and other outside patrons who are referred to as 'guests'.

So as ever, it is all down to context — but I feel sure Asker probably already has enough clues in the wider context to be able to figure this out easily enough.

Your last 3 refs. all refer to a specific type of accommodation known as a 'residence' — this is a special case, and not a classic 'hotel' in the normally-accepted meaning of the term.

Tony M Aug 20, 2014:

@ Asker There really is no need for confusion; as Writeaway pointed out in an earlier discussion post (now deleted), the key point here is the juxtaposition of 'resident' with 'guest', with no reference to length of stay. Whilst in general public parlance, the customers of an hotel are often referred to as 'guests', we who have worked in the industry are more familiar with the more formal jargon term 'resident', specifically to differentiate from outside 'customers' who would be 'guests'.

There is nothing in the context given to indicate there might be any issue of long-stay residents — that would be the less usual, exceptional usage only applicable to the kind of hotels that expect that kind of customer. To assume it to be the case in the absence of any such corroborative information amounts to over-interpretation, since the default meaning of 'resident' (unless otherwise specified) means a normal hotel resident without any inference as to the length of stay.

writeaway Aug 20, 2014:

Well, thank you Duncan I for one am now totally confused. We really do need to hear from asker.

Duncan Moncrieff Aug 20, 2014:

Daryo is right Antony, for one who likes precision and not over-translating, it seems that you have fallen into the trap that you warn others to take care of.
Someone who stays at a hotel is a guest. Standard industry term. Some hotel chains also offer the possibility to people to either rent a room for a long period of time (e.g. apartment/residential hotels) or even owning a property on ground owned by the hotel chain, which (as there is often one of the chain's hotels nearby, if not next door) enables owners (or residents as they are often called within the industry) to make use of the hotel's amenities. So, the hotel shares it's restaurant, bar, etc with the hotel's guests and the owners of property within the hotel complex.
People who visit the guests of a hotel are often referred to as visitors (e.g. http://bit.ly/1rlKQ8F ).
So without clarification from the part of the asker, I wouldn’t place money on your being right. In fact, there’s a good chance that karamvalerie’s answer is wrong.
Of course I could be sprouting nonsense out of an orifice, so please feel free to check the refs I’ve given:
http://bit.ly/1oQfEwv
http://bit.ly/XzDce1
http://bit.ly/1to2plh (look under residences)

Tony M Aug 19, 2014:

residents In the hotel world, there is nothing ambiguous about 'residents' — it means people staying at the hotel. You will often see signs like 'Restaurant also open to non-residents' or 'Leisure facilities for residents' use only'

The term says nothing about whether or not they might be long-stay 'residents'. It is obvious from the context given what the distinction is that is being made between 'residents' (= people staying at the hotel) and 'guests' (outsiders, whether as guests of residents or simply outside customers)

Daryo Aug 19, 2014:

without more context "for residents and guests" is open to different interpretations, some diametrically opposite;
the most likely is:
residents of the hotel and their guests
BUT
depending of what is "the client base" of this bar, other options are also possible,
What makes it ambiguous is that very few people are "residents" (from the legal viewpoint) in a hotel - most don't live habitually in the hotel, just stay for few days or weeks. You have available the whole of the ST, so can decide whether to discard or not for good the far less likely option that "residents" are the local population (local residents) and "guests" are hotel guests.

Just as example of how tricky it could be to interpret the meaning of an ST with limited context, I stayed once in a hotel that had "residents" (i.e. people permanently living in that hotel) and "guests" i.e. usual "hotel guests" normally living elsewhere and staying just for few days. I don't know many glossaries with such "fine tuning" of all possible meanings.

writeaway Aug 19, 2014:

with Victoria residents are people staying at the hotel, guests are outside visitors (there to use the bar, restaurant etc.)

Victoria Britten Aug 19, 2014:

Guests Guests are non-resident clients: visiting the hotel for a drink and/or a meal or other facilities.