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The protagonist in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court uses this phrase:
But that should be nothing to his discredit; the man that can do THIS kind of miracle knows enough to keep hotel.
This led me to find another passage, this time in Twain's Notebooks, containing the phrase:
It is an art apart. Saint Francis of Assisi said, "All saints can do miracles, but few of them can keep hotel."
I still don't know what to make of it, though.
The Oxford English Dictionary has this definition for to keep:
To carry on and manage, to conduct as one's own (an establishment or business, a school, shop, etc.).
This sense of the verb well predates Twain, dating back to Middle English.
Two common expressions of this form are to keep house and to keep (a) shop.
Therefore "keep hotel" simply means run a hotel.
