В гостинице был старый вентилятор, но кондиционер там так и не включили.

Because в гостинице is the prepositional case, used here to mean in the hotel or at the hotel as a location.

• в гостинице = in the hotel
• в гостиницу would usually mean into the hotel (motion toward a destination)

In this sentence, the hotel is just the place where the situation happened, so Russian uses the prepositional case.

Был is the past tense of быть (to be).

So:

• В гостинице был старый вентилятор = There was an old fan in the hotel

In the present tense, Russian usually leaves out to be:

• В гостинице есть вентилятор = there is a fan in the hotel
• but often just В гостинице вентилятор can work depending on context

In the past tense, though, Russian normally uses forms like был / была / было / были.

Because it is the grammatical subject of the clause:

• старый вентилятор = an old fan
• nominative singular masculine

The structure is literally something like:

• In the hotel was an old fan

Russian often puts the location first and the thing that existed after it. Even though the word order is different from normal English, вентилятор is still the subject, so it stays in the nominative.

Because но means but, and it joins two clauses:

• В гостинице был старый вентилятор
• но кондиционер там так и не включили

In Russian, a comma is normally required before но when it connects two independent clauses.

Here кондиционер is the direct object of включили (turned on), so it should be in the accusative case.

But кондиционер is an inanimate masculine noun, and for inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular:

• nominative: кондиционер
• accusative: кондиционер

So the form does not change, even though the case function does.

Там means there, and here it refers back to the hotel.

So the sentence literally feels like:

• There was an old fan in the hotel, but the air conditioner there was never turned on.

Russian often uses a word like там to keep pointing back to a place that has already been mentioned. It can sound natural and helps connect the second clause to the first.

It is not absolutely necessary in every context, but here it sounds idiomatic.

Так и не is a very common Russian pattern meaning something like:

• never did
• still didn’t
• ended up not
• failed to, despite expectation

So:

• так и не включили = never got around to turning it on / didn’t turn it on after all

This construction often suggests that one might have expected the action to happen, but it never did.

Examples:

• Я так и не позвонил. = I never did call.
• Она так и не пришла. = She never came after all.

This is a question of aspect.

• включили = perfective past plural
• включали = imperfective past plural

Here включили is used because the sentence is about whether the action happened at all as a completed event. It did not happen.

• так и не включили = they never turned it on

If you said не включали, that would usually suggest they were not turning it on, did not use to turn it on, or focus more on process/repetition rather than the single expected result.

With так и не, perfective is especially common because the point is that the expected result never occurred.

This is a very common Russian way to make a sentence with an indefinite human subject.

• включили literally means they turned on
• but in English we often translate it as someone turned on, they turned on, or with a passive-like idea: it was turned on

So:

• кондиционер там так и не включили literally = they never turned on the air conditioner there
• natural English = the air conditioner there was never turned on

Russian often uses 3rd person plural with no stated subject when the doer is unknown, irrelevant, or general.

Russian often prefers an indefinite-personal construction over a passive one in everyday language.

So instead of something like:

• Кондиционер не был включён

Russian can naturally say:

• Кондиционер не включили

Both can be correct, but the version with включили often sounds more conversational and direct.

In this sentence, так и не включили is especially natural and idiomatic.

The sentence contrasts two things:

• вентилятор = fan
• кондиционер = air conditioner

So the idea is:

• there was an old fan available,
• but the air conditioner was never switched on.

The contrast is introduced by но (but). The fan existed, but the better cooling option was not actually used.

Yes, but mainly for emphasis and flow, not because another order would be ungrammatical.

This order sounds natural because it moves from the thing being discussed to the place, then to the key result:

• кондиционер — the item being contrasted with the fan
• там — in that place
• так и не включили — the important outcome: it never got turned on

Other word orders are possible, for example:

• Но там так и не включили кондиционер
• Но кондиционер так и не включили там (less natural)

Russian word order is flexible, but the original version sounds smooth and idiomatic.

Yes, that is a fairly literal breakdown, and it can help you see the structure:

• В гостинице = in the hotel
• был = was
• старый вентилятор = an old fan
• но = but
• кондиционер = the air conditioner
• там = there
• так и не = never did / never actually
• включили = turned on

But in natural English, you would usually say something like:

• There was an old fan in the hotel, but the air conditioner there was never turned on.
• The hotel had an old fan, but they never turned on the air conditioner.

The literal version is useful for grammar; the natural version is better for translation.