Ed Brock is an award-winning journalist who has worked for various U.S. newspapers and magazines, including with American City & County magazine, a national publication based in Atlanta focused on city and county government issues. He is currently senior editor at Asian Hospitality magazine, the top U.S. publication for Asian American hoteliers. Originally from Mobile, Alabama, Ed began his career in journalism in the early 1990s as a reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers in Baldwin County, Alabama. After a stint teaching English in Japan, Ed returned to the U.S. and moved to the Atlanta area where he returned to journalism, coming to work at Asian Hospitality in 2016.
As a young man, Amir Ahmed was more interested in sports than in the career in medicine his family wanted for him. However, he parlayed that competitive spirit and focus on personal relationships into the skills he needed to succeed in business and achieve his current position as executive vice president for DISH TV, part of DISH Network Corp., and he shared his story in Asian Hospitality’s Leadership Series.
One of the responsibilities in his current role is to oversee DISH’s hospitality business. His leadership is paving the way for new technology offered in hotels to attract guests and improve efficiency not only for the hotel but also for the guest during their hotel stay. The company’s new OnStream platform, provides personalized service to guests while reducing hotels’ labor needs.
Through it all, he has remembered his heritage and drawn inspiration from it.
“I’m very proud to be Indian,” Ahmed said. “I think the upbringing, the competitiveness within the family, how the parents brought us up, my brother and I, it's just go out there and put the best effort and work and then also treat your employees correctly and educate them and educate your partner.”
His first snowfall
In 1966, Ahmed’s parents and his older sister moved from Patna, in India’s Bihar state, to Canada. Ahmed and his younger brother remained in India with their grandmother. In 1972, the entire family was reunited and moved to Chicago. It wasn’t long after the family settled into a new routine when the reality of their move truly hit Ahmed.
“Imagine at that time, after living in India for eight years and moving to Chicago as an 8-year-old, I’d never seen snow, so it was amazing,” Ahmed said.
Amir Ahmed, center, with son Armani and daughter Ella.
Even living in the U.S., Ahmed maintained his cultural foundation. Ahmed and his siblings occasionally visited and spent the summers in India with family members.
“That was so important for me, because it built that foundation, about family, about the culture in India, not becoming too Americanized, that was a big thing, and more importantly, to keep learning Hindi, the language,” Ahmed said. “When I look back today, it's so important, being bilingual, being able to communicate.”
The road to DISH
Ahmed’s life was shaped by his upbringing, closeness to family not only in America but also India. Often his father would speak about the importance and need to build trust with not only family and friends but coworkers, partners and clients.
“I've always believed what my dad used to tell me, everything being equal, a friend is going to buy from a friend. I've always believed in that,” he said.
In other words, Ahmed said, if you have two things that you are selling and they are identical and equal, you are always going to buy from a friend. His father bought the same car from the same man his entire life, even when the family moved away.
“He always wanted to work with the man he trusted, he knew and he called a friend. I've always believed in that,” Ahmed said.
Following that philosophy, Ahmed eventually found his way toward his career with DISH. He joined the satellite TV company in its early days. During his career, he has witnessed the industry’s transformation from the big dish analog to the small, digital dishes and now the expansion of its 5G network. During Ahmed’s 30-year tenure, he said DISH has produced new and innovative ways to not only provide a quality service to people at home but with business partners in the digital streaming space, hospitality world and wireless frontier.
“It's been a great ride! [My experience with DISH has always paired nicely with my foundation and that culture that I] grew up with to work hard, be honest with folks, build great relationships with your partners and clients, listen to their needs, follow up in a regular timeline and give them good advice and good feedback,” Ahmed said. “From there, I continued to progress within the company and so it's been a phenomenal journey.”
Today, along with residential services, DISH serves more than 12,000 hotels with more than 1.3 million rooms throughout the U.S.
“We serve the majority of the brands and independents and that continues to grow,” Ahmed said. “We've had tremendous growth year over year.”
OnStream provides live Picture in Picture so that your viewing experience is never interrupted as you navigate to other areas of the app.
Ahmed also said DISH has placed a lot of focus on small, independent businesses and really worked on building those relationships. They’re important, he said, and that focus has helped DISH grow with this segment.
DISH provides linear content a variety of channels, OTT services, local services, customizable packages and equipment to enhance the guest experience. It adheres to hotel brand guidelines.
“There's a huge transition going on in the hospitality industry,” Ahmed said. “We work also very, very closely with our strategic partners, and they're out there really tailoring the exact need for each hotel. But when it's all said and done, it is truly about how do you make that hotel more efficient. How do you provide the best, greatest customer experience? That's what the guest wants, and how do you take that experience that the guest has at home where they can bring it into the hotel. You want it as similar as possible, so they feel comfortable, and that's our focus right now.”
The future of guest services
In June, DISH Business introduced OnStream, a platform as a service package that delivers content to TV screens, displays and mobile devices to provide custom digital experiences for hotel management, staff and guests. Its customizable user interface allows guests to choose services such as checking out, room service, housekeeping and more, according to DISH.
“It's really an open platform that integrates with the hotels’ existing technology. It offers linear content, but let's just put it in perspective. Guests check into a hotel room, and the television is truly the central hub of that room. It always will be,” Ahmed said.
In the past, guests simply channel surfed to find their shows, he said.
“Imagine a guest checking in and looking on their television in their hotel room the hotel's logo is present, maybe an image of the property,” Ahmed said. “The guest’s name, maybe a greeting, welcome the guest. Weather information, their loyalty status, their loyalty points, maybe a targeted offer for that guest or some promotion from the hotel, all that is available, OnStream provides that.”
Along with improving guest satisfaction, OnStream saves labor costs for the hotel client, according to DISH. It interfaces with the hotel’s property management systems to provide self-service actions, as well as to create on-screen advertising for property-centric dining, shopping, spas, special events, casinos and more. Soon, OnStream will access guest loyalty data to generate more personalized offers.
"In my role, I have gotten a chance to talk to a lot of hotel owners and partners,” said Ahmed in a statement. “We listened to their needs, the ways to make their guests’ lives easier and our product designers have developed a platform that does all of those things. It brings the comforts of home while on the go giving guests a chance to log into their streaming apps."
DISH recently rolled out its 5G broadband network that serves more than 73 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 246 million Americans nationwide.
In his Leadership Series interview, Ahmed explained OnStream’s benefits to hoteliers.
“You can prioritize that service, you can turn the room much faster, because you know in real time when the guest is checking out,” he said. “In the U.S. right now, maybe around the world, labor is a big issue in the hospitality business. So, it makes their life a lot more efficient and that's what we're trying to accomplish.”
Feedback from guests and hotels so far has been positive, Ahmed said.
“We've deployed it in some of the well-known brands around the country. It continues to grow every single month,” Ahmed said. “I think over the next year or so, some of the big brands will see OnStream as the key feature for in-room entertainment.”
Ahmed sees continued growth in DISH’s future. As technology continues to change around the world, he said, DISH will continue to design and produce products that make sense for people and simplify their lives.
“We're focused on hospitality, we're focused on really bringing new products to life,” Ahmed said. “We spent a lot of time with the brands. They have great ideas. And we have our own engineers, and we're trying to create the latest and greatest product.”
USTA said the U.S. travel economy could lose $1 billion a week in a government shutdown.
White House reportedly ordered agencies to plan layoffs of nonessential staff.
Around 88 percent of Americans want Congress to prevent a shutdown.
A LOOMING U.S. government shutdown could cost America’s travel economy $1 billion a week, the U.S. Travel Association said. Federal funding runs through Sept. 30 and without a stopgap budget, many operations would halt on Oct. 1.
President Donald Trump blames Democrats for failing to reach a deal, while Democrats criticize him for canceling a negotiation meeting. Senate Democrats had previously resisted a shutdown over fears of mass firings and deep spending cuts, but a similar threat now looms, Fox News reported.
Meanwhile, the White House budget office is directing federal agencies to prepare layoff plans for nonessential employees in a potential shutdown, Politico reported. The Office of Management and Budget’s plan to permanently cut the workforce, detailed in a memo shared with POLITICO ahead of release to agencies, raises the stakes of a shutdown next week.
A shutdown would disrupt federal agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration and hurt the travel economy, U.S. Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman wrote in a Sept. 25 letter to Congress.
USTA called on Congress to act to prevent the looming threat.
“A shutdown is a wholly preventable blow to America’s travel economy—costing $1 billion each week—and affecting millions of travelers and businesses while straining an already overextended federal travel workforce,” Freeman said. “While Congress recently provided a $12.5 billion down payment to modernize our nation’s air travel system and improve safety and efficiency, this modernization will stop in the event of a shutdown.”
USTA said that halting air traffic controller hiring and training would worsen a nationwide shortage of more than 2,800 controllers and further strain the air travel system.
If the Federal Aviation Administration cannot hire or train controllers, longer security lines, flight delays and cancellations are likely, Freeman wrote in the letter. Programs for air traffic control, however, are slated to continue during a shutdown.
A recent Ipsos survey cited in the USTA letter found 60 percent of Americans would cancel or avoid air travel during a shutdown. Approximately 81 percent said shutdowns harm the economy and inconvenience travelers and 88 percent said Congress should work across party lines to prevent one.
About 50,000 Transportation Security Administration employees, responsible for airport security, would work without pay, worsening staffing challenges, Reuters reported.
Shutdown losses would add to a projected $29 billion drop in visitor spending in 2025, driven by fewer international visitors and weaker domestic demand, according to Forbes.
The U.S. tourism industry entered 2025 expecting growth in travel demand and visitor spending. International arrivals, however, are down due to an eight-month Canadian travel boycott and a summer decline in Indian tourists amid disputes between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over tariffs, Russian oil and credit for an India-Pakistan ceasefire, Forbes said.
In December, President Joe Biden signed the American Relief Act, preventing a shutdown before Christmas and funding the government through March 14.
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The House introduced the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2025 to reform tort law.
AAHOA said the bill would restore accountability in the legal system.
In 2023, the Supreme Court vacated a case on “tester lawsuits” under the ADA.
THE HOUSE OF Representatives recently introduced the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2025 to reform tort law and mandate sanctions for frivolous lawsuits. AAHOA supported the bill, saying it would restore accountability to the legal system, an issue for small-business owners such as hoteliers.
The bill — introduced in the U.S. House by Republican Reps. Mike Collins of Georgia, Brandon Gill of Texas, Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin and Harriet Hageman of Wyoming — would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
“This legislation will help restore accountability in our courts, protect job creators from frivolous legal attacks and reform a civil justice system that too often favors abuse over fairness,” said Rep. Collins. “We’re sending a clear message: the courtroom should be a place for justice, not a playground for abuse.”
The act would:
Require sanctions for frivolous lawsuits instead of leaving them discretionary.
Remove the 21-day delay for filing sanctions if the challenged pleading is withdrawn or corrected.
Mandate payment of reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, to parties harmed by frivolous filings.
Allow additional sanctions, such as striking pleadings, dismissing cases, or imposing financial penalties to deter future violations.
Kamalesh “KP” Patel, AAHOA chairman, said that for small-business owners, a single frivolous lawsuit can threaten their livelihoods and undo years of work.
"This legislation gives hoteliers a fighting chance by ensuring those who weaponize the courts face real consequences,” he said. “It's about restoring fairness so our members can focus on what they do best: running their businesses and supporting their teams."
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated as moot a case that could have set a precedent limiting “tester lawsuits” against hotels under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court noted it may still address whether someone can sue a hotel without intending to stay there. The case, Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, was filed by Deborah Laufer, who claimed the hotels’ websites failed to disclose whether accessible rooms were available.
“Frivolous lawsuits don't just waste time — they siphon resources away from job creation, community investment and growth,” said Laura Lee Blake, AAHOA president and CEO. “This legislation provides protection for small-business owners who cannot afford to fend off meritless claims. Protecting them means protecting the vitality of Main Street economies across the country.”
AAHOA urges Congress to pass the legislation and protect small-business owners from abusive lawsuits.
The H-2B visa program protects U.S. jobs and wages, according to AHLA citing a study.
It allows hotels and resorts to meet travelers’ needs while supporting the economy.
It provides foreign workers for seasonal jobs when domestic workers are unavailable.
THE H-2B VISA program does not harm U.S. jobs or wages but increases pay and supports the labor force, according to an Edgeworth Economics study. Citing that study, the American Hotel & Lodging Association said the program enables hotels and resorts to meet travelers’ needs while supporting the workforce and economy.
The Edgeworth study for the H-2B Workforce Coalition found the program allows businesses to hire foreign workers for seasonal jobs when domestic workers are unavailable. It showed no evidence that increases in H-2B visas reduce U.S. employment or wages. Instead, each H-2B worker supports three to five local jobs and areas with more H-2B workers saw wages grow 1.6 percent faster.
“Areas that hired more H-2B workers under the higher visa cap saw greater job and wage growth among U.S. workers,” said Steve Bronars, partner at Edgeworth Economics, citing findings consistent with an earlier analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Ashley McNeil, AHLA’s vice president of federal government affairs and chair of the H-2B Workforce Coalition, said the new analysis underscores the H-2B program’s clear value to local communities.
“The hotel industry, which is still 200,000 workers short compared to pre-pandemic levels, relies on legal guest worker programs to augment our workforce, particularly to address seasonal demands,” McNeil said. “Access to the H-2B visa program has been critical in allowing hotels and resorts of all sizes to meet travelers’ needs, while supporting the local workforce and economy.”
The program has also helped businesses manage peak-season labor shortages, easing the workload for full-time employees. Landscaping accounts for nearly 40 percent of certified H-2B workers. Hotels and motels account for 8.67 percent, support activities for forestry 6.3 percent and seafood processing and packaging 5.65 percent.
“This study reaffirms what our members have long recognized: despite extensive recruitment efforts, there remains a critical shortage of U.S. workers willing or available to fill temporary positions that are currently being filled by H-2B workers,” said Arnulfo Hinojosa, COO of the Federation of Workers and Employers of America and vice chair of the H-2B Workforce Coalition. “H-2B workers allow seasonal businesses to operate at a higher capacity and create more U.S. jobs.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump recently signed a proclamation raising the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 annually, a move that could affect Indian professionals in the U.S.
AHLA’s survey finds reduced hotel development and renovation plans.
Only 8 percent of property owners are moving forward with new investments.
Survey participants included 387 property owners and operators.
ABOUT 32 PERCENT of U.S. hotel owners and operators are delaying development projects and 24 percent are scaling back plans, according to a recent survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. About 8 percent have canceled projects entirely.
“Hotels are eager to invest in their properties and communities but rising costs and uncertain demand are forcing many to put projects on hold,” said AHLA President and CEO Rosanna Maietta. “It’s been a tough year for hotel operators, especially our small business owners. As Congress gets back to work, we’ll focus on advancing policies to spur travel, ease operational pressures and provide our industry the certainty it needs to grow, create jobs and strengthen local economies nationwide.”
The workforce challenges further compound pressures, with nearly half of the respondents, 49 percent, reporting understaffed properties. On the demand side, leisure travel continues to decline. Thirty percent of hotels reported declines in completed leisure stays, while 26 percent saw drops in upcoming bookings compared with the same period last year.
Business, group and government travel also showed weakness, with 15 to 17 percent of properties experiencing decreases in bookings.
The AHLA survey, conducted between Aug. 21 and 29, included responses from 387 property owners and operators across the U.S., representing all hotel segments.
In another recent survey by the Hospitality Asset Managers Association, more than 70 percent of respondents expect a 1 to 3 percent RevPAR increase in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Howard Johnson is marking its 100th anniversary with fried clam–shaped soaps.
The soaps pay homage to an iconic HoJo menu item.
Available at select hotels and for online purchase starting Oct. 3.
HOWARD JOHNSON BY Wyndham marks a century with one of its most famous menu items, the fried clam strip. The brand is introducing limited-edition HoJo’s Original Fried Clam Soap, available at select Howard Johnson hotels across the U.S. and for online purchase beginning Oct. 3.
Designed to resemble the original food item, the soaps are infused with lemon, sea salt and butter in a nod to the butter-soaked rolls that once accompanied the fried clams, according to a statement by Wyndham.
“Howard Johnson is a brand woven into America’s cultural fabric and beloved by millions for generations,” said Marissa Yoss, HoJo’s head of marketing. “As we celebrate 100 years, our limited-edition fried clam soap is a fun, nostalgic tribute to the brand’s storied past and a playful nod to the retro-modern, family-friendly spirit that continues defining our hotels today.”
For World Waffle Day celebrations, Comfort Hotels hosted a one-day Waffle Lounge in New York City on Aug. 21.