Alcohol from hotel - an alternative (7)
I believe the answer is:
ethanol
'alcohol' is the definition.
(I know that alcohol is a type of alcohol)
'hotel an alternative' is the wordplay.
'alternative' is an anagram indicator (an alternative ordering of the letters).
'hotel'+'an'='hotelan'
'hotelan' anagrammed gives 'ETHANOL'.
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for ethanol that I've seen before include "porter uses it" , "Kind of alcohol - not hale (anag)" , "constituent for a dram?" , "spirit" , "Form of alcohol" .)