Swish hotel taken over by top military bod (4)
I believe the answer is:
chic
'swish' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'hotel taken over by top military bod' is the wordplay.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'taken over by' is an insertion indicator.
'top military bod' becomes 'CIC' (Commander-in-Chief).
'h' put within 'cic' is 'CHIC'.
(Other definitions for chic that I've seen before include "Stylish and elegant - in France" , "style?" , "cool" , "Fashionably smart" , "Unwanted sounds" .)