Privacy · Plain-English answer
No. If you connect through a VPN, the Wi-Fi owner, whether a hotel, cafe, employer, or family member, cannot see the websites you visit. Their router only records encrypted traffic flowing to one VPN server. They can see that you used a VPN and how much data you moved.
Whoever controls a Wi-Fi network can typically see the domains every connected device looks up, through DNS logs and router traffic records. On networks with more advanced monitoring, they can see connection times, data volumes per device, and sometimes per-site breakdowns. They cannot read the content of HTTPS pages, but the list of sites alone reveals plenty.
With a VPN active, your device sends everything, including DNS queries, inside an encrypted tunnel. The router's logs show only a stream of encrypted packets to a single IP address. Site names, searches, and app activity all disappear from the owner's view.
What remains visible is metadata. The owner can tell a VPN is in use, when you were connected, and how much data you transferred. On strict networks that alone can matter, since some block VPN traffic outright. Confirm your DNS is not slipping outside the tunnel with /tools/dns-leak-test/, because a DNS leak would hand the site list straight back to the router.
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