Criminal tears around hotel grounds (6)
I believe the answer is:
earths
'grounds' is the definition.
('earth' can be a synonym of 'ground')
'criminal tears around hotel' is the wordplay.
'criminal' is an anagram indicator.
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'tears' is an anagram of 'earts'.
'earts' placed around 'h' is 'EARTHS'.
(Other definitions for earths that I've seen before include "makes connection to ground" , "Fox lairs" , "Hearts (anag.)" .)