A serving girl over in hotel, one carrying tea? (8)
I believe the answer is:
indiaman
'one carrying tea?' is the definition.
(type of ship carrying tea)
'a serving girl over in hotel' is the wordplay.
'serving girl' becomes 'maid' (I've seen this before).
'over' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'hotel' becomes 'inn' (inn is a kind of hotel).
'a'+'maid'='amaid'
'amaid' written backwards gives 'diama'.
'diama' placed into 'inn' is 'INDIAMAN'.
(Other definitions for indiaman that I've seen before include "Old trader" , "Large vessel" , "Former trading ship" .)