Thread by @yashraj_rana

#DidYouKnow 42% of the Hotels & Motels of the USA are owned by Patels!

The market cap of this 42% is ~$40 Bn (3 lakh Crores)

The history of Patel Motel goes back to the 1940s when the British were dwindling & the US was immigrant-friendly.

Kanji Manchhu Desai was the first Gujarati hotelier in the US. He moved from the West Indies by the way of Mexico to San Francisco in the early 1920s.

In the early 1940s, Kanji was living in a residential motel called Goldfield which was run by a Japanese-American.

When the President FDR's executive orders came and forced 100,000 Japanese-American into camps due to World War 2, Kanji decided to lease from the Japanese-American owner for a couple of 100 dollars.

By 1947, Kanji started to encourage other Gujarati immigrants to get into hospitality

"If you are a Patel, lease a hotel"

Many followed his advice. They would give Ucchhina (handshake loans) to each other where there are no collateral or payment schedules. Just pay when you can

When the USA loosed its restrictions on immigration in 1965, more & more Indians migrated to the USA and started leasing or buying their own Motels, and Hotels.

Once a family purchased a motel, they would live there, and the family members would do all the tasks needed to run it, from cleaning rooms to checking in guests.

That helped keep costs down, and profits went toward acquiring new motels.

The Hotels which they were managing were low & middle budgets. They have been dominating these classes since the 1980s.

But lately, you can find high-end hotels owned by the Patel community.

Hasu P Shah started with a small Motel in Pennsylvania. He & his family lived and worked in his 23-room Motel, like other Gujarati communities.

This Motel gradually became Hersha Hospitality Trust which now owns 52 Hotels across the USA and it is worth over $2.5 BN (19k Crores)

But these successes didn't come easily. People avoided their motels when they think it's Indian-owned or walks into the motels with a negative attitude. There have been many stereotypes & also have to prove that they are legitimate owners.

Even knowing the hardship that awaits, More & more Patels are still going into this business as there is already a network available to them that is huge!

Over 22,000 out of 55,0000 hotels in the USA are owned by the Patels.

Over 22,000 out of 55,000* hotels in the USA are owned by the Patels.