Escorts abandoning hotel customers (5)
I believe the answer is:
users
'customers' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'escorts abandoning hotel' is the wordplay.
'escorts' becomes 'ushers' (usher is a kind of escort).
'abandoning' is a deletion indicator.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'ushers' with 'h' taken out is 'USERS'.
(Other definitions for users that I've seen before include "People with a drug habit" , "They employ" , "Customers" , "Drug addicts" , "Drug takers" .)