An opening hotel missed housing odd associate (12)
I believe the answer is:
acquaintance
'associate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acquaintance that I've seen before include "Familiar person" , "Person known slightly" , "contact" , "Person one knows, but not a close friend" , "Person one knows slightly" .)