Expel out of a hotel to a humbler place (5)
I believe the answer is:
shack
'a humbler place' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with fundamental existence as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'expel out of a hotel' is the wordplay.
'expel' becomes 'sack' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'out of' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters on the outside of others).
'a hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet).
'sack' enclosing 'h' is 'SHACK'.
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shack that I've seen before include "basic accommodation" , "grim lodgings" , "Crude dwelling" , "Rough hut or cabin" , "Crudely built hut" .)