Composer in hotel entertained by humorist (5)
I believe the answer is:
lehar
'composer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hotel entertained by humorist' is the wordplay.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'entertained by' indicates putting letters inside (I've seen this in other clues).
'humorist' becomes 'lear' (Edward Lear).
'h' placed within 'lear' is 'LEHAR'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for lehar that I've seen before include "Franz . . . . . composed 'The Merry Widow'" , "Hungarian composer of operettas" , "Franz -----, composer of The Merry Widow" , "He scored" , "Operettist" .)