Pathologist Prof Guy Rutty said David "Les" Ross, 39, had probably been rolled "in a foetal position" when he was attacked on 17 December 2012 at Corby's Village Inn Express.
Sitting at Kettering Magistrates' Court, coroner Anne Pember recorded a verdict of "unlawful killing".
Mr Ross's family said his death was "a senseless act of violence".
Northamptonshire Police are treating his death as murder and an investigation is ongoing. No-one from the force attended the inquest.
Mrs Pember said Mr Ross was well known in Corby, where he had previously worked as a taxi driver and nightclub bouncer, and had opened the Rubix nightclub in the weeks before he died.
Leanne Martin, who worked at the Village Inn Express in The Jamb, told the inquest Mr Ross had asked to stay in the hotel because his own house in Chelveston Drive had been broken into.
Another worker at the hotel, Paige Lindsay, said she had discovered Mr Ross's body "on his back with his feet towards the door".
Paramedic Michael Rowlatt told the inquest Mr Ross had been wearing boxer shorts and a white vest or t-shirt. He said there had been blood on the carpet and on the bed side cabinet.
Prof Rutty said Mr Ross had injuries to his face, chest and arms. He said some of the wounds might have been from a fight the previous night, but that others were caused by a "ring on a fist".
A statement from his family said they are "torn apart with grief" by an attack "carried out in a cowardly manner".
It said: "There are people still walking around in Corby who know what happened to David, who attacked him and why."

The event consists of three strokeplay rounds and two cuts, before the top 24 play off in six-hole matchplay duels.
"It will be a mindset thing where you've got to realise that the strokeplay is just a qualifier to get into Sunday," said Oosthuizen.
"It's a bit like when I played the qualifying school."
Oosthuizen is effectively the defending champion having won the event's predecessor - the Perth International - at the same Lake Karrinyup Country Club venue last season.
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The 34-year-old South African believes that the format will create a climatic final day's action as the final 24 take each other on in a knockout matchplay tournament.
"You'll see probably a few more riskier shots which you wouldn't see in stroke play. It should be a very exciting Sunday," added Oosthuizen.
The top eight go straight into the last 16, while the remaining 16 will be drawn together in head-to-head matches to decide the other eight spots. From there it is straight knockout until there is a winner.
According to the World Super 6 website, any knockout matches 'not decided after six holes of matchplay will be decided by playing the new shootout hole'.
The 'shootout hole' will be 90m long and see 'a new tee placed adjacent to the 18th fairway and utilising the 18th green'.
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The new-look tournament is part of a drive to reverse the decline in the number of people playing the sport.
In England, there were 860,900 adults playing in 2009-10 compared to 740,000 in 2014-15 according to Sport England.
The British Golf Industry Association is attempting to make courses more family friendly.
A nightclub owner found dead in his hotel room had suffered injuries to his face, chest and arms, an inquest heard.
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Former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen says he will need a different mindset for the inaugural World Super 6 event that begins in Perth on Thursday.