SIX years ago, Jagruti Panwala became AAHOA’s first chairwoman. That may have been an historical event for AAHOA and a highlight of Jagruti’s career, but it was far from her final accomplishment.
Jagruti is the president of Wealth Protection Strategies Inc. where for more than 22 years she has provided direction to individuals and businesses on asset protection and wealth transfer strategies, business succession planning, and life insurance protection.
She qualified for her previous broker-dealer Signator’s Platinum Level Achieving Client Excellence award; was the youngest inductee into Signator’s “Hall of Fame” in 2014; and has been named a lifetime member of the industry’s Million Dollar Round Table.
Jagruti also currently serves on the American Hotel and Lodging Association board of directors, which she joined in 2020.
“It's been amazing. I’m part of their owners’ council group, where the top 50 owners throughout the country get together and talk about the issues. I'm also part of the political action committee for AHLA, where we raise funds for advocacy. That's a big passion of mine,” she told the Women of Color Power List 2025.
She advocated on behalf of hotel owners as a leader in AAHOA. “A lot of these regulations come right and left and if, as an owner, you're not involved or you're not aware it really can affect your bottom line.”
She still attends numerous hospitality industry events and says it is one of her top two passions along with the financial service industry.
Her entry into the hotel business was something of an act of fate.
“I call myself an accidental hotelier,” Jagruti says. “I didn’t grow up in the hotel business, I fell into it.”
Jagruti was 15 when she moved to the U.S. from Surat, India, in 1991. Her father Dinesh Panwala and mother Minaxi Panwala did not have much when they arrived in New Jersey, where they initially worked as housekeepers. “I think my dad had $6 in his bank account.” The family later moved to Allentown, PA, where her parents bought a small minimart.
Jagruti went on to earn undergraduate degrees in finance and economics from East Stroudsburg University. After college she started working with a financial planning company. One fateful day in 1998 she went to help a local hotelier plan his insurance and investment.
“He actually told me he was losing money and even though he needed financial planning for retirement he did not have liquidity,” Jagruti said.
Sensing an opportunity, Jagruti relieved the man of his liquidity problem by purchasing his hotel. “I discussed the idea with my dad, and even though it was risky we saw the potential of turning it around.”
They went through with the purchase with some help from her Uncle Dansukh Dadarwala, who provided mentorship and a loan to help them start.
“It was a loan with pretty high interest. He did it to teach me the value of the money,” Jagruti remembers.
Jagruti learned that lesson and more. That first hotel, an independent Economy Inn (now a Rodeway Inn by Choice) in which she partnered with her father, was the first of several risks she took to build her business, which now includes six hotels throughout the Pittsburgh tri-state area that she owns with her husband Ahmed Aboumezz.
Jagruti remains active in promoting other women with hospitality careers as well as young people considering the industry. Recently, after participating in an outreach program for college students put on by the Castell Project, which promotes women in hospitality, one of the student participants reached out to Jagruti for help.
“When I was in AAHOA and even after, one of my favorite or one of my more passionate things that I've done is to work with the students, to encourage them about the hospitality industry, to show them the path,” Jagruti says. “It's unbelievable, that program. Before the pandemic we used to go to the universities and speak with the students in person. But since the pandemic, we've been doing a lot of zoom meetings.
“When I speak with students, I'm not saying that this is absolutely the right industry for them but giving them pros and cons and also showing them that it's not just about if you get a position, that doesn't mean that that's where your career stops.”
She also participated in AAHOA’s HerOwnership conference and in the Women Own the Room by Wyndham session at AAHOA’s 35th Annual Convention & Trade Show in April in Orlando.
“At that session it actually showed step by step what actions individuals should take if they want to become an owner,” she says.
Jagruti plans to continue to participate in similar programs.
“I am there if I'm asked to speak, I'm always happy to speak. I spoke at the AAHOA Young Professional conference, which is obviously very, very, very important, because this is the generation who's going to take over the hospital industry.”
Jagruti’s advocacy efforts include testifying before various Congressional committees on different subjects important to the hospitality industry. That includes testifying before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Sub-committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in 2014 about the harmful impact of over-regulation on small businesses.
She also testified before the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access in 2018 about the impact of the travel and tourism industry on the American economy. She served on the Department of Energy Better Buildings Summit Steering Committee.
The key to successful advocacy, Jagruti believes, is focusing on hoteliers’ economic impact.
“I think most of the owners are willing to invest and that's been the biggest thing for us, for our industry,” Jagruti notes. “When we're speaking with our lawmakers, we're not sitting and not doing anything, we're passionate about our industry, we're always trying to make sure that we're moving forward and also reinvesting back in economy, which is very important – the amount of taxes we pay, the amount of development, the amount of money that goes into the economy.”
