Group of hotels, the third becoming the last in the country (5)
I believe the answer is:
china
'the country' is the definition.
(China is a country)
'group of hotels the third becoming the last in' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'in' is within the answer.
'third becoming' could be 'c' (3rd letter of 'becoming') and 'c' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ha' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for china that I've seen before include "Where one regularly unloads junk" , "High-quality porcelain" , "Mate (Cockney rhyming slang)" , "Porcelain; friend" , "friend or companion" .)