Patels Dominant ?Inn? Industry (Commentary)

Patels Dominant ‘Inn’ Industry

It’s a standard joke: Americans think Patel is the Hindi word for motel.

It’s not true. Nor is another common myth, that the Patels who own about a third of all motels in the United States — including scores in Arkansas — are members of an Hindu caste for whom inn keeping is the traditional occupation.

“If anything, the Patels were originally farmers,” said David Patel, owner of three Comfort Inn hotels in Little Rock.

What is true is that Patel is a fairly common surname in India and is the single most common Indian name in the United States. Patels are involved in every imaginable line of work, but they dominate the roadside motel industry even more than Nguyens (the most common Vietnamese last name) dominate the nail salon industry.

Patels have helped each other, and Indian friends with other surnames form what journalist Tunku Varadarajan has called a “nonlinear ethnic niche: a certain ethnic group becomes entrenched in a clearly identifiable economic sector, working at jobs for which it has no evident cultural, geographical or even racial affinity.”

It is perfectly logical that Mexican-Americans would open Mexican restaurants and that Japanese-Americans would be likely to operate martial-arts schools. But there is no innate reason Indian immigrants in general and Patels in particular should have gravitated to the business of inn keeping.

“It’s strictly a business decision. It’s a business we can handle and have grown up around,” said David Patel, whose father was in the motel business for 22 years before his retirement. “I guess we consider ourselves good, efficient managers. Well-run properties, usually. Of course, you have your bad ones, as with everyone.”

David estimates that there are more than 150 Patels in the motel business in Arkansas — they even have their own association.

All Patels originated in India, but many made stops elsewhere before settling in the United States. David Patel, 37, was born in Britain because that’s the first place his father stopped after leaving India. Then the family moved to Louisiana, where the elder Patel first entered the motel business with the help of an Indian friend who had already done the same.

David’s father bought a hotel in McGehee about 15 years ago, then bought into the Little Rock market 13 years ago. Like most other Indian innkeepers in America, they started with mom-and-pop motels but have upgraded to higher-class franchises.

However, the younger generations are branching out of the motel business.

“There are a lot of Patels in other business,” David said. “For instance, me. I’m trying to diversify, not put all my eggs in one basket.”

In addition to his three Comfort Inns, he is developing a 70-unit Sleep Inn & Suites on Executive Center Drive in west Little Rock. And in about three weeks, he will open Scoops Bread and Java, an ice-cream parlor, coffee shop and deli on the ground floor of the Heritage West building at 201 E. Markham St.

To talk with David Patel is to be reminded why ambitious people from around the globe have spent the past two centuries doing whatever it takes to get to America.

“I think Indians are hard working because we appreciate what we have and haven’t forgotten where we came from,” he said. “That’s why I’m grateful to my father for bringing me over, even from Europe. Europe seems glamorous when you are on vacation, but it is a very small place where it is hard to be successful. You have to be a 9-to-5 guy.”

David, who has been an American citizen for several years, occasionally visits India, where his 84-year-old grandfather still grows rice. And he has taken his young, American-born sons to see the family’s homeland.

“I go there just to get pumped up to come back here and be successful,” he said. “When you go to India, you will definitely know what poor is. In America, not even the poorest people are deprived compared to some other places. That’s why we never bitch about anything. We just pay our taxes and be happy.

“The U.S. is a great place to be. There is much more good than bad here. I choose to be here. I choose to be in Arkansas. This is the land of opportunity. You can be anything.”