Learn French: Non, l'hôtel est très près. - No, the hotel is very close.

In French, the letter "h" at the beginning of a word is almost always silent. Because you don't pronounce the "h", the word acts like it starts with a vowel (the "o"). Just like with a vowel, le drops its "e" and attaches to the word to become l'hôtel.

How does this sentence connect to the lesson about où (where)?

This sentence is a perfect example of how you would answer a location question like Où est l'hôtel ? (Where is the hotel?). The word près means "close" or "near", making it an essential vocabulary word for talking about locations.

Sometimes I see près de. Why is there no de at the end of this sentence?

You use près de when you are mentioning exactly what the thing is close to (for example: l'hôtel est très près de la gare meaning "the hotel is very close to the station"). If you just want to say "it is very close" and end the sentence there, you simply use près on its own.

How do I pronounce près? Do I say the "s"?

No, the s at the end of près is completely silent. The è (with the grave accent pointing downwards) makes a short "eh" sound, similar to the "e" in the English word "pet".