Hotevilla was first settled by the "hostiles", a group of Hopi residents who were forced out of nearby Oraibi in the 1906 Oraibi Split due to ideological differences over European cultural influences by recently arrived settlers, soldiers and missionaries, influences against which the hostiles were opposed.

[4] Hotevilla is mentioned by D. H. Lawrence in his Mornings in Mexico travel memoir.

[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 11.9 square miles (31 km2), all land.

There were 331 housing units at an average density of 27.8 per square mile (10.7/km2).

The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.0% Native American, 3.8% White, and 0.2% from two or more races.