Users' questions

Does Patel mean hotel owner?

Does Patel mean hotel owner?

The name Patel means “landowner”. Since their arrival to the United States several decades ago, they have purchased a massive amount of property, mostly in cheap motels and SRO hotels. The Patel family have siezed ownership of almost all housing options available to low-income residents of San Francisco.

What percentage of hotels are owned by Patels?

Given that the group says about 37 percent of the hotels and motels in the United States are owned by their members, this would mean that about one in every five of these facilities in the country is owned by somebody named Patel.

Why are all motel owners named Patel?

At the time of the article (granted, 20+ years ago), roughly 70% of all Indian motel owners — or about 1/3 of all motel owners in the U.S. — were named Patel. It’s a surname that indicates they are members of a Gujarati Hindu subcaste.

What is a Patel Motel?

The success of Patel and his family mirrors the rise of Indian Americans in the U.S. motel industry. About half the country’s motels are now owned by Indian Americans. A majority of these owners are from Gujarat state’s industrious Patel community, leading them to be jokingly referred to as the Patel Motel Cartel.

Is Patel a Pakistani name?

Patel is an Indian surname, predominantly found in the state of Gujarat representing the community of land-owning farmers and later (with the British East India Company) businessmen, agriculturalists and merchants. Nearly 1 in 10 people of Indian origin in the US is a Patel.

What is Patel caste?

Patel is an Indian title, in tune with the Hindu caste system, that represent some of the castes that are predominant in the Indian state of Gujarat that are either tenant farmers or land owners. Patel – Village Headman (Gujarati surname) 6.

What is a Motel vs hotel?

A hotel is usually a large, enclosed building with hundreds of rooms across multiple floors, while a motel has one or two floors with outdoor room entrances.

Who owns most motels in USA?

According to the latest figures from the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (A.A.H.O.A.), slightly more than 50 percent of all motels in the United States are now owned by people of Indian origin.

What is a motel vs hotel?

How many motels do Indians own?

There are some 22,000 hotels and motels owned by Indians across the US, together valued at $128 billion. A decade-and-a-half ago, the New York Times described the first generation of Indian hotel owners as businessmen who “scrimped, went without, darned old socks and never took a holiday.”

Who are the Patel motel owners in America?

Look a bit closer and the picture is even more arresting: about 70 percent of all Indian motel owners — or a third of all motel owners in America — are called Patel, a surname that indicates they are members of a Gujarati Hindu subcaste.

Who are the Patel family and what do they do?

The name Patel means “landowner”. Since their arrival to the United States several decades ago, they have purchased a massive amount of property, mostly in cheap motels and SRO hotels. The Patel family have siezed ownership of almost all housing options available to low-income residents of San Francisco.

When did the documentary Meet the Patels come out?

After extensive coverage by The New York Times in 1999, the Patel motel phenomenon featured briefly in the 2013 documentary Meet the Patels and now in an upcoming small budget indie film Motel Patel. Courtesy Asian American Hotel Owners Association.

How many motels are owned by Indian Americans?

Patels are estimated to own between 80 and 90 percent of the motels in small towns and Indian-Americans overall dominate the hospitality industry, according to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, an advocacy group for Asian hotel/motel owners. By another estimate, one out of two motels in the U.S. is now owned by Indian-Americans.