Trading is originally permitted in Islam. Hotels or motels are permissible in their own right, but what is forbidden is the acts that are undertaken in them such as drinking intoxicants, committing adultery or fornication, and so on.
The seller, however, has nothing to do with these forbidden things, as the buyer can forbid undertaking them. Still, if the seller is sure that the buyer will use them for haram purposes, scholars hold different opinions concerning this question. But it is better for the seller in this case not to sell them, so that he may not help the buyer do something haram, even though the general principle is that selling is originally permissible.
Here, Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal Nadvi, Imam of Calgary Mosque, Canada, and Former Professor at King Saud Univ., Saudi Arabia, adds:
“The Muslim should be always a tool for the good and not the other way round. We are supposed to boost and encourage goodness and discourage and avoid evil and sinfulness. If the Muslim is not sure about something, he or she should avoid it as it is a doubtful matter. But this does not mean that we should consider anything as haram on this basis. We should only leave things that we are in doubt about and focus on things we are sure about.
Hotels can be used for halal or haram purposes. One cannot give a general ruling that hotels are haram just because it may be used in supporting what is haram.”
Based on the above, we conclude that there is nothing wrong in trading in hotels or running them as long as the guidelines mentioned above are observed.