-We report on the room-temperature continuous-wave (CW) operation of a Ho:YAlO 3 laser that is resonantly end pumped at 1.94 µ m by a diode-pumped thulium-doped laser in the same host. Through the use of a 1 at % Ho 3+ -doped 20-mm-long YAlO 3 crystal ( b cut), the Ho:YAlO 3 laser generated 1 W of linearly polarized ( E //c) output at 2118 nm and 0.55 W of E //a output at 2128.5 nm for an incident pump power of 5 W, with an output coupler transmission of 14 and 3%, respectively. An optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 20% and a slope efficiency of 33% were achieved at 2118 nm corresponding to an incident pump power.