People having vast experiences in life often advise their young ones to toil hard and Bhagwan will take care of the rest. It makes sense as you can only control what is controllable. Patels understand it quite well. That is why they are the most successful motel-owning millionaires in the US. Let’s understand their formula for success.
Forced migration and arrival in the US
For a major part of their history, Patels have been known for farming. They used to own farms and cultivate them. Even those who did not own many farms used to occupy themselves by working on farms. It is here that the colonisers found usefulness in Patels. They started to take them to places like Africa and West Indies among others. In 1901, about 20,000 Gujaratis migrated to Africa for working in feeder services like post-office, railways and insurance.
After a few years, some of them decided to hunt for opportunities in other countries, the United States being one of them. Patels used to travel continents and used to take varying modes of transportation to get to the USA, only to be deported due to lack of proper documentation. But, few of them survived the regulatory onslaught. They used to work on American farms for low wages. One of them was Naranji Patel, who had arrived on US shores in 1922. He was the first one to pioneer the concept of Patels leasing any sort of place in the USA.
SRO and role of Kanjibhai
At that time, leasing a single room Occupancy (SRO) used to cost around $2500 for anyone. Naranji set up his first SRO and invited other Patels to follow the same pattern. Naranji used to provide food and lodging to other Patels in his SRO. The lodging was free for them. They used to pay him after earning enough. This trust later became the base on which the Potel empire (Motels owned by Patels) is standing right now.
But, the main thrust to the idea was provided by a migrant named, Kanjibhai Desai. Gujaratis’ arrival to the US was coincidental with the development of the Motel industry in the country. Initially, there was no dominance over the industry by any identity group. In fact, the motel in which Kanji lived was owned by a Japanese American. Suddenly, Japan and the United States got entangled in Second World War. On February 19, 1942, FDR, the US President issued orders to effectively evict 1,20,000 Japanese Americans. Kanji ended up buying the motel virtually for pennies.
Took two decades to consolidate
Kanjibhai used to search for familiarity. Patels were quite less in numbers in the United States. He used to provide stay to other Patels along with the salaries for the work they did. After the end of the war, Luce-Cellar Act in 1946 allowed some leverage to Indian migrants. Patels staying in India pounced on the opportunity. The formula was simple, they used to get there, worked in motels owned by other Patels and when they had enough savings, they used to lease hotels. Kanji is alone said to be the chief catalyst behind creating over 30 Patel hoteliers in San Francisco from 1947-1955.
Competitions were also there, but due to their low maintenance, Patels did not charge enough and that is how they stayed in the game despite the dominance of local white Americans in the sector. The perseverance paid off and by the end of the 60s, local players started to leave the market. Interestingly, neither Patels nor any other outside factors were responsible for it. Their children themselves started to ditch the industry.
During recession they stayed patient
The motel industry was going through a transition phase. The sector was suffering a recession of its own. Other than the new generation not willing to take up the ownership, loss to United States’ treasury due to the Vietnam war also played a key role. The United States wanted cheap labour to increase industrial output. So, it liberalised immigration in the country. Simultaneously, African Continent was also going through a tumultuous phase. The most severe of them was felt by Uganda. Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was fearful that Asians established in his country will eat up opportunities for local Ugandans. He gave them 90 days to evict the country.
Patels were prominent one of them. They also had to follow the orders. Some came back to India, while others migrated to places like Canada, and the United Kingdom among others. However, a large chunk of them decided to turn to their US brethren. Patels were already on a Motel occupying spree in the USA. Local owners were selling them at throwaway prices due to the recession. After acquiring them, Patels needed cheap labour as well as trustable managers.
Influx of Patels and change in scenario
What if they could get it in their own community? Many affluent Patels from India were also migrating to the US in order to find freedom from the tightly knit combined family. The influx of Africa and India based (both are essentially the same) Patels turned out to be a booster shot for the community’s prospects in the USA.
Motels became a second home for the newly arrived immigrants. Most of them were not much educated and could be employed only for improving basic perception around these motels. Given the fact that the newly bought motels were in their initial stages of launch, even that task was handy for them. Patels started to operate these motels as a family. Additionally, if the space did not allow, people were hired on fixed wages. The only difference between a family member of the owner and staff working there was that staff was not provided with free lodging.
Close-knit social structure was a big enabler
Husband and wife mainly used to do everything in the motels. The family used to cook food for customers and clean the places among other stuff. No family members had any qualm about cleaning even the dirtiest place in the motel. Even cleaning the bathroom used to be the onus of the family. The line between personal and professional life was not there. Whenever a customer arrived, the family had to switch off from their personal time and had to spend a few minutes earning revenue.
Working together as a unit brought two kinds of advantages for Patels. For one, due to it being a family business, members used to give their all. Secondly, they were able to save a lot of money, which later helped them in acquiring new motels.
Trust-based loans
Those who worked on daily wages, but had entrepreneurial ambition were provided loans by the community members. These loans were not based on any collateral. In fact, even the interest rate was zero. The trust among the community was (even today it is) so deep-rooted that no member of the community used to run away with the money. There is no better example of trust on word of mouth than this.
The loan programme provided a further boost to Patels’ expansionism. They were already becoming a hotbed for travellers due to their cheap pricing, now they had started adding facilities as well. Initially, to pull customers towards them, Motels used to give free coffee, doughnuts, and waffles among other snacks. As incomes increased, so did incentives to customers and henceforth the customer base of these Motels. According to a report by The Tribune, Indians owned more than 50 per cent of Motels in the United States, 70 per cent of whom were owned by Patels.
Also Read: Hinduism in Suriname: How migrant workers created a mini-India in South America
Unfazed by competition
Today one Patel family owns nearly 5 to 6 motels. According to a 2014 report, 17,000 Motels in the United States are owned by Patels. Interestingly, this came despite the initial language barrier faced by these ‘immigrants’. They had kicked off their basic operations in broken English. Now, their kids are studying in IVY leagues Universities and return to their family business with a more crude understanding of the business world, contributing to the development of their family-owned enterprises. Today, a swimming pool is a big incentive for travellers to stop their vehicles at these Motels, situated somewhere between two far away cities.
Patels are peaceful and do not hamper anyone’s interests. They keep their heads down and work day and night for increasing their trust among consumers. Probably, this is why new Motels’ owners are irked with them. White Americans are now using phrases such as “American Owned” to advertise their Motels. But Patels are unfazed.