NEW ORLEANS AREA hotelier Vimal Patel and his partners are featured in an episode of “The American Dream” on Bloomberg TV. The show presents stories of immigrants to the U.S. who began successful businesses, such as Patel’s Q Hotels in LaPlace, Louisiana.
The episode of the show, which aired June 24, tells the story of Q Hotels’ foundation by Jayesh “Jay” Patel and Kishor “Kevin” Patel along with Vimal in 2013. Jay is originally from Sisodara, India, Kevin is from Kuched, India, while Vimal is from Nogama.
“One of the things about being selected to be on this American Dream show is it's an honor, because for the previous generations that had immigrated and relocated to this country, it was a struggle and 25 to 30 years later, being recognized … I get satisfaction in that it's been recognized, all the hard work and struggles in sweat and blood and tears and all that it's been, for new generations.” Vimal said.
Vimal said producers of the show chose to feature Q Hotels after seeing local media reports about the company’s response to the COVID pandemic. Kevin also said it was an honor to be featured in the episode.
“Being featured in The American Dream is an opportunity to express my journey and experience of my life and shift in carrier change and became a hotelier, a true feeling of gratitude, satisfaction and pride,” Kevin said. “The American Dream is still alive it just takes hard work and dedication, to achieve success. Through The American dream show hope to connect with people who share similar stories and inspire and share hope to those that are in pursuit of their American dreams.”
In the video, Jay discusses his early days helping out at his uncle’s hotel even while going to college to be a medical technician. That experience led him to join the hotel industry instead.
“A hotel is a cool business. You invite the guests to your house all the time and you take care of them. When they leave, you have to end up cleaning your house,” Jay said. “In hotels, they come to you to take care of them when they go they give you money. Think about that. That's a cool way to making a living and it is our culture back home anyway.”
Jay started his original company, Cajun Lodging, in 1997 with Kevin and, later, Vimal. They formed Q Hotels to increase their chances of landing branded hotels.
“The ‘Q’ was kind of a combination of a couple of factors,” Vimal said. “We wanted to have the name of the company unique and one of the integral parts that we all have women in our life that have helped in the backend a lot.”
Each partner has their own skill sets, Vimal said. His is technology, Jay and Kevin handle the development, construction and relationship building.
“When we open a hotel, Vimal takes care of it,” Jay said. “He would hire the staff, and yet he'll take care of it. And we keep moving forward, but every decision we make got done with three people together.”
The three partners said in the video that they are ready to try new business ventures.
“We’re in a sweet spot right now. We have nine properties and we're about to start on a new venture,” Vimal said.
“When it comes to growth and development, ultimately we want three different branches,” said Vedant Vasanji, Q Hotels’ chief development officer. “We want the hotel side, we want our multifamily side and we want to triple net side.”
Vimal said the next level will involve moving from developing $10 to $15 million assets to doing $40 to $50 million worth of projects.
“We're capable of developing and managing other asset classes other than hotels,” Vasanji said.
Q Hotels also created the Innrly website to help hotels manage their business growth and development.
Also, Q Hotels and Vimal are plaintiffs in lawsuits against IHG Hotels & Resorts.
Photo credit: iStock
