Elegant and stylish hotel secured by commander in chief (4)
I believe the answer is:
chic
'elegant and stylish' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'hotel secured by commander in chief' is the wordplay.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'secured by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are held or secured).
'commander in chief' becomes 'CIC' (abbreviation).
'h' going within 'cic' is 'CHIC'.
(Other definitions for chic that I've seen before include "A la mode" , "French elegance" , "Stylish and elegant - in France" , "Elegantly fashionable" , "Fashionably elegant" .)