In this episode of 'It's Personal Stories,' Dorothy Dowling interviews Abhijit Patel, VP of Revenue Management at Choice Hotels International, discussing his diverse career journey. Abbat shares his experience of emigrating from India to the U.S., starting in hospitality by washing dishes, and his trajectory through various industries, including Geico and Mars, before finding his fit at Choice Hotels. He reflects on significant moments that shaped his career, strategies for fostering partnerships with franchisees, and the importance of problem-solving and continuous improvement. Abhijit also highlights the value of preparation for public speaking, managing work-life harmony, and the importance of learning from various industries to stay ahead. He emphasizes tolerance for failure and self-reflection as key components of personal and professional growth.
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Dorothy Dowling (00:00):
Greetings.
I am Dorothy Dowling and welcometo its Personal Stories, a
hospitality podcast thathighlights the inspiring
journeys of leaders in thehospitality industry.
We are an organization dedicatedto personal empowerment.
Today I am delighted to welcomeAbhijit Patel, VP of Revenue
Management for Choice HotelsInternational.
Welcome, Abbott.
I am so delighted to have theopportunity to speak with you
(00:22):
today.
Abhijit Patel (00:24):
Thank you for having me.
I'm looking forward to theconversation.
Dorothy Dowling (00:27):
Wonderful.
Let's get right to it, Aja,because everyone is always
interested in learning aboutyour career story.
So I'm wondering if you can walkus through your journey, how it
started, the key moments thatshape your path and what led you
to where you are today.
You've worked across multipleindustries, including packaged
goods.
You've had amazing training, Iknow from that experience, and
(00:50):
I'm wondering if you canhighlight some of your early
career experiences and yourapproach and how this is.
Led to your leadership andbusiness success.
Abhijit Patel (00:58):
Really appreciate you asking me a little bit about
my background.
I'm gonna start a little bitearlier in my career'cause I'm
not, I was born in India.
I was raised in India, and Iimmigrated to the United States
right after high school.
So when I came over, it was ahuge cultural shock to me.
I went from an outgoing personto someone who became very
(01:19):
shellshocked and quiet.
This will matter in, in my storyin a second.
But it set me back in terms ofhow I was gonna grow my career.
But before I talk myprofessional career, I guess I,
I do want to point out that Idid start out in hospitality as
my first job.
I was washing dishes in, in mycollege, in the food hall.
In some ways I'm proud to saythat I did start in hospitality.
(01:40):
Okay.
But my professional career,those started at Geico right
after college, I joined theirleadership development program.
And honestly, I just didn't knowwhat I wanted to do.
So it was a great starting pointbecause they taught me a lot of
different things.
I, I focused on Six Sigma.
I focused on product and pricingmanagement.
I did sales.
I ran a contact center for abit.
So it really grounded me on, howthe company operates, what are
(02:03):
the different functions?
But then, that just made mehungry.
It made me hungry to grow inother areas.
But that was a key moment for meas well, because as I wanted to
grow and expand my role, I wastold that, I'm not the right
person for the role or I wouldbe a better fit in another area.
And getting to hear that wasvery demoralizing.
While I tried internal movement,it wasn't working out.
(02:24):
So I decided to take a break.
And I went to grad school.
Now keep in mind I was still apretty shy guide at this point.
So I was sitting in orientation.
It's a big hall, about 300students in there.
And, they're doing q and A's.
And I have these two twinssitting next to me and every
time they an a question wasasked, they would just jump up
(02:44):
and answer.
I felt very intimidated.
I was surrounded by.
A lot of smart folks who weredriven and knew exactly what
they wanted.
They were outgoing, outspokenand it really became another
sort of moment for me where Iwas like, if I'm gonna take a
break for two years, give up myearnings, I better get something
out of it.
I made an intentional decisionto, to fake it.
(03:06):
I faked being probably the mostoutgoing person, the most
gregarious, outspokenpersonality that you can
imagine.
And I faked it for a year beforeit became natural for me in year
two.
But that did change my careertrajectory.
I.
So when I came out of businessschool, when actually when
you're in business school, theysomehow convinced you that, you
(03:27):
need to go after a big namecompany.
I was no different.
I got motivated by it, somehowconvinced that I needed to do
the same thing.
So I ended up joining Mars.
For those of you don't know,Mars is known for their candies,
but they have five differentbusinesses, but I also Jo joined
their leadership developmentprogram not knowing, how to
navigate a company that big overthere.
(03:48):
I was fortunate enough to try alot of different things I did.
Supply chain, I need, I did newproduct development.
But ultimately, over the courseof those three years I figured
out that I was a very small cogin a very big machine.
And my growth aspirationswouldn't be met over there or I
wouldn't be growing as fast as Iwanted.
Which I guess became anothermoment where I had some clarity,
(04:11):
which was I need to find anorganization that was the right
size for me and the rightcultural fit for me.
So nothing against Mars, it wasjust about finding out where I
would be the most successful.
And that's what Lord led me tochoice.
One it's a great organizationand I'll talk about it in a
minute, but part of it wasprofessional, part of it was
personal.
(04:31):
I was about to get married.
My family was based in dc andChoice is also based in dc So
became a win-win proposition forme.
So now we're finally gettinginto hospitality.
When I joined Choice I wanted toget into corporate strategy but
I didn't get that role.
I.
However, when I was interviewingat that point, there was a
leader who was hiring for aliaison between tech and
(04:51):
business.
And she noticed that, this guyseems to have a diverse
background.
I'm gonna take a chance on me,which is something that I'm very
grateful for today because, younever know what's gonna come
along, but just having thatmindset of why not try something
where I had no background intech, I had no background in
hospitality really just boostedmy career at choice.
(05:11):
And here it's been nothing shortof an amazing journey.
The early part of my career hasallowed me to move from being a
tech liaison to being a businessowner to the pm MS and RMS.
Then I've done commercialplanning for the marketing
distribution functions.
And, in, in those early part ofmy choice years I noticed it was
a great culture because we,choice really empowers
(05:34):
associates.
It's also rewarding toassociates who raise their hands
and say, I wanna do more or whoshow that they can overcome
failures and continue to drivesuccess.
That kind of mentality allowedme to continue to grow.
And then I finally took overdistribution and maybe eight
months into taking overdistribution.
I was a senior director at thatpoint.
(05:55):
I was thrust into.
A VP role overseeing all theareas that I mentioned.
And that was another learningmoment for me.
'cause going from a seniordirector to VP in a matter of
eight months was a very steeplearning curve.
I did not handle it really well.
I really wanted to prove that,that I could do the job.
I put a lot of pressure on myteam and I ended up being a jerk
of a leader.
It was I was very fortunate thatthe team around me understood
(06:18):
and gave me space to grow, butit gave me such a valuable
lesson in leading people, whichis about, understanding what
you're going through, but notnecessarily pushing your anxiety
or stress to other people aroundyou.
But I'm also very grateful forthose who are next to me at that
point.
But since then, over the lastfew years, I've taken on
commercial strategy reallyintegrating how, sales
(06:38):
distribution, revenuemanagement, et cetera, all flow
together.
I've taken over revenuemanagement as well and more
recently I've taken on insidesales and sales op.
Dorothy Dowling (06:48):
So thank you for sharing all of that.
Abba, you put forward a lot ofreally significant moments in
your career development.
I'm wondering if I can go backand unpack a few of those.
'cause you talked about theculture shock of moving to a new
country.
How that really impacted you interms of, if I may say, being a
duck out of water.
And I'm just wondering about allof these learning points that
(07:11):
you had because you made somevery.
Intentional decisions, but allof these were major changes in
your, life and in your career.
So how, can you just tell, talka little bit about, you said
you, you made some decisionsabout to fake it till you made
it in terms of when you went tograduate school, but it sounds
like you had a lot of thesemilestones in your career where
(07:34):
you had.
Major shifts that you had tomake some adjustments in terms
of how you actually became aduck and started to swim in
those waters.
So I'm wondering if there'sanything more you can share,
because those are majormilestones that, that you just
shared with our audience.
Abhijit Patel (07:50):
I don't necessarily see them that way.
I always have this philosophyof, reflecting on the past but
not dwelling into it.
So the way I've approachedthings and at that point in my
life, I was always, and eventoday, I'm just forward looking,
which is what's next.
I.
There are good parts and badparts about it.
(08:12):
The bad part, or I guess thepart that I should pay a little
bit more attention to is pausingand celebrating maybe.
Which kind of reflects whatyou're saying, which is there
are major milestones, but to methat was just one step in the
journey of where I eventuallywanted to be.
And I didn't quite figure outwhere I wanted to be, until I
probably got the choice.
The best way I can answer yourquestion is it's not so much
(08:33):
that, instead of focusing on howbig of a moment it is I kinda
more focused on what do I need,what do I need to do and where
do I need to go?
I.
Dorothy Dowling (08:40):
Okay.
I appreciate that because as animmigrant myself, I can share
some of that when you step intothat bigger pool and you've
gotta figure it out in terms ofthe journey that you've gotta
map forward.
So I just give you a lot ofcredit Abbat, because all of
those things that you've sharedwith our audience, in my mind,
they're very significant.
And the fact that you were ableto figure it out.
(09:03):
Make the adjustments and then beable to reflect back on what
that opportunity was for you andthen think about how to move
forward, I think is lessons thatwe can all learn from you.
I'm wondering if we can unpack alittle bit about the Six Sigma,
because that's something thatfascinates me in terms of it's
disciplined approach to problemsolving and learning.
(09:25):
I'm wondering if there'sanything you can offer our
audience in terms of how thathelped you with your growth
trajectory.
Abhijit Patel (09:30):
It was a great training ground.
It was my first job outtacollege where I joined as a
consultant on the Six Sigmateam.
And it, it really teaches yousystematic problem solving.
It taught me early on that, ifyou focus on data all the time,
you can get to the challenge orthe solution rather quickly.
(09:51):
It taught me how to look atmultiple business situations a
little bit differently, evenwithin, if we were taking on Six
Sigma for a project you stillwere looking at situations that
were either about being aturnaround or a realignment, or
how do you accelerate growth?
And just being in, in thecompany of other Six Sigma
experts or black belts and howthey look at problems on
(10:13):
different dimensions.
It has stuck with me.
And probably the best thing thathas stuck with me is always
having this mindset ofcontinuous improvement.
And it has served me well evento today.
Dorothy Dowling (10:23):
Yeah.
I do think having thatdiscipline approach to problem
solving, there's many obviouslysystems where people approach,
but I do think it does help interms of making sure you
approach problems in a much moresy systematic way and consider
all of the different data pointsthat one has to really build the
problem around or the solutionsaround.
(10:44):
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle about franchisees.
'cause again, this is, an areathat we share.
But when we work in a franchisemodel, obviously it's an asset
light.
You're really building onalignment and commitment from
franchisees to be able to takeprograms to success.
I'm wondering if you can talk alittle bit about how you invest
in fostering strong partnershipswith your franchisee community
(11:06):
and really build engagement withthem.
Abhijit Patel (11:07):
I really do.
To get inspired by ourfranchisees.
They have the courage to do whatI probably couldn't do, which
is, step away from work or justdive into opening a business.
And some of them have beenscrappy to, to get there.
They really inspire me quite abit.
Sometimes I'm jealous but theway I look at them is.
(11:28):
Our franchisees is, they are ourcustomers.
Most importantly, and keepingtheir voice front and center
always makes it easier to engagethem.
One of the few things that, thatI focus on is when we're trying
to engage them, that wehighlight or we start with that
we have their best interest inmind.
(11:51):
And then outline what we areworking towards and try, really
try to get their input early on.
So we are gaining their trust.
I.
I, I've also found that they'regenerally very eager to give
back.
Everybody, every one of us wantsto succeed.
And our franchisees are nodifferent, right?
They wanna do better, they wannado things differently, wanna
grow their business.
(12:12):
Having this having eithercreating a core group of
franchisees that you can alwaysgo back to and talk to and
finding out people who reallywanna collaborate be a sounding
board or even test things foryou, helps build.
These really strongrelationships and it really
helps them foster innovation andit helps us foster innovation.
(12:33):
And that is the key to drivingengagement.
Outside of that business part ofit sometimes it's just about
listening and taking genuineinterest in them.
I've had the privilege to.
Sometimes for them to be asounding board or for me to be a
sounding board for them.
And sometimes it's aboutpersonal challenges that they're
(12:54):
going through and just beingthere for them in their time of
need and talking about their ownpersonal lives.
It just goes a long way in, inbuilding those partnerships.
Dorothy Dowling (13:05):
I think the way you've articulated that
relationship journey, and I knowbecause I have experience with
some of the franchisees that arepart of your network, Abbott,
and I just know how highly theyregard you.
And I do think it is about howyou listen.
I.
How you respect them and how youreally want to drive that value
(13:26):
creation for them.
So I commend you for that.
But I do think it is it's verydifficult sometimes to work
within the franchisee community'cause there's a lot of
different voices and finding away to really listen and learn
from them.
And then.
Really build that community interms of how to go to market
together, I know is challenging.
(13:47):
So with that, I'd like to talkabout the new role that you've
broadened in terms of yourresponsibilities at choice,
where you've taken on consumerpartnerships.
So I would love to hear moreabout how you've really bridged
some of the franchisee communitywith some of the new
responsibilities and some of thepartnerships that you are
developing on behalf of ChoiceHotels International and
(14:08):
building their levels ofcommitment and engagement to
some of those new partnerships.
Abhijit Patel (14:14):
Yeah, thank you about, thank you for asking
about that.
I've been very excited abouttaking on.
Our affinity partnerships it isprobably an area that requires
more attention and somethingthat our franchisees could
probably engage more and betterunderstand.
But, before we talk about howthat works I think establishing
everything starts with yourpartner, like starting to make
(14:34):
sure that when you go into apartnership with someone, you
have a shared vision, a sharedgoal.
Taking the time to understand,what they are trying to achieve,
what happens they've faced andweaving it into, our own goals
really builds that commitmentfrom the partner early on.
And that really is key because,there are a lot of partnerships
(14:55):
that you get into, but you don'tfind, six months in that, hey,
there's the same level ofcommitment, that's why I started
there.
Like your partner needs to be,having the same shared vision
and goal and they need to becommitted from day one.
But, but once you have that alot of it is about.
Explaining to our franchisees,what is in it for them and why
did we strike a partnership?
(15:16):
As I think about my role in thisprocess, I've focused on, on two
or three key areas.
One is improving our engagementwith our hotels especially on,
on this area aroundpartnerships.
A lot of our hotel owners areowner operators, so they are
super busy.
They have a ton on their plate.
And getting their attention onsomething that might be two,
(15:39):
three, 4% of their businessbecomes challenging.
Part of what I'm focused on is,how do we communicate with them
effectively?
How do we get our core messageout there, and how do we get
them to engage early on?
The second thing that I'mfocusing on is building
awareness internally.
So these initiatives orpartnerships, everyone gets
excited about it.
(16:00):
But then something new comesalong and then you move on.
But for any partnership tosucceed one of the things that's
really important is you have achange champion internally.
So part of my role or at leastwhat I'm trying to do is make
sure that.
We give everything we can,whether it be from my team or
other teams within theorganization to make sure this
(16:21):
initiative succeeds.
Just being a chain champion forthe people that you are
representing, whether it be thepartners or the franchisees.
And the last thing is probablyvery common across a lot of
these initiatives is having asolid go-to market plan.
Yeah.
When you are going into apartnership for the first time.
That go to market plan is veryrobust.
(16:41):
Needs to be very robust, needsto be very granular.
And really when be thinkingoutside of the box where,
whether it's about the channels,whether it's about the services,
whether it's about the pricingand understanding, where the
partnership or product standsfrom a competitive environment.
And ensuring that you arecreating your own unique selling
proposition.
(17:02):
And I think that goes a longway.
So my role is focused on allthose three pieces.
Dorothy Dowling (17:07):
I would love to explore a little bit of some of
those ideas in a little moredetail, abt, because I do think
consumer partnerships areenjoying another stage of
relevancy because the earlierreference that you made around
trust.
I think winning consumers trusttoday is becoming even more
difficult with just the myriadof pressure we have in the
(17:27):
broader space today aboutmessages and trust of the
source, of the messages, etcetera.
So consumer partnerships canreally elevate trust in
amplifying the source of wherebusiness might come from.
But I also really liked yourstory about having internal
change.
Champion because I do thinkorganizations are complicated.
(17:48):
Everyone says 90% of success isaround execution.
So I do think that idea ofhaving someone to continue to
build and execute the planinternally is something we can
all learn from because it doestake an effort.
To keep everybody aligned interms of those opportunities and
making sure that we'releveraging all of them as
(18:09):
effectively as we can.
So those are really importantideas that you shared, so I
thank you for that.
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about distribution
because right now it'sconsidered to be the nexus of so
much change that's going on inour space.
Having just come from a majorevent where people are talking
about distribution as being in arevolutionary stage, no longer
(18:31):
an evolutionary stage, given allof the change management that's
going on with a lot of ourtraditional sourcing strategies
of how we secure business.
I'm just wondering how you thinkabout, the tough challenges in
distribution, the, and thevolume and number of changes
that are going and how youreally balance a lot of the
(18:52):
stakeholder relationships in thespace of distribution.
Abhijit Patel (18:55):
You are right the space is evolving quite a bit
and, if I think about.
Where the, where hospitality isgoing.
It is really all going to be aplatform and distribution
focused in terms of howcompanies differentiate.
Between all of that though whatyou need to stay grounded or at
least what I try to staygrounded on is still keeping in
mind and trying to identify andunderstand what are the unique
(19:18):
needs and priorities of eachstakeholder.
Sometimes it's so easy to getlost in all of the noise.
But if you keep the, that focusthat, hey, my priority for the
stakeholder is x things justbecome easier.
And your stakeholders can bemultiple players, right?
They can be hotel owners, theycan be internal partners, they
can be other distributionpartners.
(19:40):
Just thinking about, how do youtailor solutions to their
concerns?
With that comes also iscommunication.
The more open and the moretransparent we are with
stakeholders, at leastinternally the better off
growing these relationshipsworks.
I think with distributionspecifically, there are internal
stakeholders who have very highexpectations of what they want
(20:03):
out of let's say an OTApartnership, for example.
Having some tough and earlyconversations about, what should
be realistic expectations and inbeing clear about it and just
having some honest feedback canbuild.
And foster those conversationsboth internally and externally.
And I'd say the last maybe twopieces that, that I think about
(20:24):
is problem solving.
When you're thinking aboutdistribution, a lot of it is
about, how do you work with apartner?
And the thing is we like indistribution, like to think
ourselves, Hey, we are a smallgroup of distribution community
and we know what's going on.
But I've found it to be theopposite where there are so many
smart folks in hospitality withsuch diverse experience.
(20:47):
So oftentimes I find myselfdoing brainstorming sessions
with stakeholders who havenothing to do with distribution.
They could be in brand, theycould be in marketing, and just
picking their brain about, Hey,how do I overcome this
challenge?
Have you experienced somethinglike that before?
And that has helped me quite abit.
And last but not least, it isabout mutually beneficial
(21:08):
outcomes.
All our partners they want youto be successful.
They want themselves to besuccessful.
And part of the big challenge inall of this really is about, how
do you quickly figure out what'sgonna work for both of you.
I think if you do that in thelong term, it will generally.
Improve the overall performanceand the trust factor, which you
(21:29):
mentioned gets there and staysthere as long as you focus on
just that.
Dorothy Dowling (21:34):
Again, you've put down or identified a lot of
very impactful considerations.
I.
For audience, so I'd like tojust summarize some of the
things that I heard that I thinkare particularly important.
One was about the setting ofpriorities and making sure you
stay true to what problem you'retrying to solve and making sure
you don't lose sight of that.
I think just the weaving ofcommunications, which I know
(21:57):
we'll come back to, but reallymaking sure you're being very
clear with everyone.
I think managing expectationsfor everyone is another message
that you delivered in terms ofmaking sure everyone has
realistic expectations on whatcan be achieved and how to
leverage those opportunities.
And then this mutual valuecreation in terms of working
with partners to make sure thateveryone has a win-win in terms
(22:21):
of the outcomes and that you'reall clear on what those.
Expectations are.
I also loved your idea aboutbroadening the community and
bringing others that are maybenot in that lane into the
conversations to be additive interms of collaborating and
really thinking about coatingtogether, Abbott.
So that was a very impactfulanswer.
(22:41):
I just wanted to make sure ouraudience got all the pieces of
the elements that, that you weresharing for us to learn from
you.
Hey,
Abhijit Patel (22:47):
I appreciate you summarizing.
I hope I'm not rambling, it'sjust a.
I think it's alwaysmultidimensional.
Dorothy Dowling (22:54):
I think it just really speaks to the power of
how you are so thoughtful in howyou really frame up how to solve
problems and really drivecommercial success.
So again, I just thank you forbringing all of that to the
table.
I'm wondering if I can explore alittle bit more because Choice
Hotels International said.
Very large company.
You're one of the top five hotelcompanies around the world, and
(23:18):
you have multiple teammates thatare home based in North America,
but you also have franchiseleaders that you work with
around the world.
I have the privilege of knowingsome of them, and I just know
the high regard that they havefor you and that your door is
open, that you listen to themand that you're very responsive
in terms of trying to understandthe impact of.
(23:40):
What you lead and how that mayimpact them and how they can
leverage some of theopportunities to be part of the
Broader Choice HotelsInternational Network.
I'm wondering if there arespecifics that you can offer to
the audience in terms of how youreally build alignment and
collaboration with such a broadteam all with different points
(24:01):
of view and how you reallysupport them and drive
engagement.
Abhijit Patel (24:08):
I probably the most challenging aspect of my
job is probably just that eventhough we went through Covid and
we figured out remote work, Iwould say it's, we're still
learning and we're stillevolving.
I.
It is something that, that keepsus grounded or at least aligned
is going back to that unifiedvision and goals, right?
When our team members understandthe bigger picture, how, what
(24:29):
they do, and how that fits intowhat the organization is trying
to achieve, or what we as afunction are trying to achieve.
They really stay tuned in andmotivated.
Now we can talk about,scheduling regular team meetings
and, being on video, all of thathelps.
But probably the most impactfulthing for me has been keeping an
(24:50):
open door.
I make myself available toanyone in the organization.
And if somebody reaches out tome and says, I'd like to pick
your brain.
I.
I'll give them a call backwithin the same day, regardless
of what happens.
And I think that helps quite abit because people feel that
they're heard regardless ofwhere they are and you know how
dispersed they are.
And that also builds theircommitment towards making sure
(25:13):
that, we're trying to hit thesame goals.
But outside of that, we're doingsome of the same things that
people do, trying to disconnectfrom work.
If one of the meetings endsearly, we'll try to do a virtual
game within Zoom, or sometimeswe'll just talk about what life
is throwing at us.
And the funny thing is, when youstart talking about what life is
throwing at us, we have so muchmore in common.
(25:33):
But, we always end up taking, wealways end up taking time to
talk about work, but neverourselves.
Something intentional that I'mtrying to do at least now is
trying to submit some of themeetings early and just talk
about, what is going on, right?
How are you feeling?
How are you doing?
How are you happy?
And you'll be surprised how muchit allows virtual teams, remote
teams to get engaged.
Dorothy Dowling (25:56):
I do think that element of humanity and bringing
your whole self to your team isreally important, David, because
I do think the likability factorof a leader and them
understanding you brings so muchmore to, to them in terms of
building that level ofengagement and support.
So I commend you for thatbecause.
Like one of the bigconversations and I think one of
(26:18):
the big learnings that we've allcome out of Covid in terms of
understanding that.
I also would like to suggestthat potentially you being an
immigrant to this country andworking in a global community,
the level of respect that youafford to many of your global
teammates, I think isparticularly meaningful because
I think that level ofunderstanding and having.
(26:38):
Letting them contribute andbring their voice to the
conversation and affording themso much more respect.
I think that's a very meaningfulgift that you give to them.
So I just know personally howmuch some of them think of you,
and that's the linkage that Iwould bring to the conversation
is just that level of engagementthat you support them with.
So I thank you for that becauseI think that's part of
(27:00):
leadership that we all need toembrace and I think you do that
exceptionally well.
So thank you.
Abhijit Patel (27:06):
Thank you.
Dorothy Dowling (27:07):
I'm wondering if we can talk a little about
learning.
I know you talked about all ofthese pivotal milestones as you
made some of these choicesaround your career and what's
next.
And you also are at theforefront of being in a part of
the industry that is changing atan extraordinarily rocket clip.
So I'm wondering how you stayahead and how you keep on top of
(27:27):
your game.
If you could share that with ouraudience.
Abhijit Patel (27:31):
Also probably one of the harder things to do, but
I, I don't know if I dosomething extraordinary.
My, I think the best insightsthat, that come to me usually
always come from talking toother people in the industry.
And it's not even aboutdistribution or revenue
management.
It, it could be a partner, avendor somebody on the brands
(27:51):
team, somebody on thedevelopment team, hotelier.
Everybody's getting bombardedwith information, but there are
nuggets of information thatstick with people.
And when you're talking to them,those nuggets come out and
you're allowed, it helps youjust connect the dots in
different ways.
There's also a lot of innovationhappening out there so listening
to these folks and what they'refacing and how they're solving
it.
(28:12):
Is helpful to me because then Ican apply some of the things
that I'm that I'm hearing to myown problems.
And probably the most impactfulthing that I.
That I think I do is keepingtabs at other industries.
I love to read the newspaper.
I probably will go to theWashington Post and Wall Street
Journal for an hour every dayjust scouring, what's going on
(28:33):
in the world and what's going onin the business world.
There are probably a fewindustries that, that I follow
the most airlines retailorganizations, companies that
have SaaS models that, that aredoing a lot of interesting
things that are very different.
And they usually are the onesthat are pulling in ai.
That is quite inspiring.
And learning from that is, isprobably what helps me keep
(28:55):
track of how things areevolving.
Dorothy Dowling (28:58):
I think you've said two things there that I
heard.
One is this diversity of reallybridging into other industries
and other teammates that bring adifferent perspective that
really elevates your game.
So I think.
Yeah, that's an importantlesson.
And I also, what I heard is thatyou take an hour every day for
your learning journey, abba,which again, I think represents
(29:18):
a discipline that we all need todo so that we invest in
continuing to evolve our bestself.
So I thank you for that.
No,
Abhijit Patel (29:25):
I wanna take full credit for it being a learning
journey that's just.
Interest.
I love reading the newspaper.
It just ends up being helpful atthe end of the day.
Dorothy Dowling (29:32):
Yeah, I, I think learning is always part of
that.
Keeping it top of mind though,that we have to invest in that
time to continue to broaden ourcapabilities.
I wonder if I could speak alittle bit about public speaking
'cause I have had theopportunity to see you on stage
and one of the things I admireabout you, Abba, is.
How much time you invest inmaking sure that you bring value
(29:53):
to the audience.
So I'm wondering if you can talka little about how you prepare
for public speaking engagements.
Abhijit Patel (29:59):
I probably put in more effort to prepare for it
just because of even though nowI can be the outgoing person,
just because I forced myself tobe it, I'm still an introvert.
At the end of the day.
It's tough for me to get on thestage and.
And shake those jitters.
I guess best way to say it, I'mnot a natural or eloquent
speaker.
What has usually helped me ispreparing my talking points and
(30:23):
often revising them two or threetimes.
Even take this interview forexample, I probably wrote out my
talking points and looked atthem a couple of times before I
got in front of the camera.
And just practicing.
People have different ways ofgetting energized and for me it
sometimes is just getting infront of a mirror or even when
I'm driving to work, I'll havethese notes that I'll be going
(30:43):
through in my head.
And, you just have to figure outwhat works for you.
Everyone has a different routineand this may sound silly, the
day off I either will try to gothrough a very rough workout.
And I do work out or just beforegetting on the stage, I'll do
what athletes do and they havetheir songs and I have my song
that I just need to listen toget myself pumped up.
(31:05):
I guess summary is everybody isunique, you just gotta figure
out what works for you.
Dorothy Dowling (31:11):
I think the big message that you deliver to our
audience today, abbat aroundthis, is really just the
preparation and thatself-awareness of how do you
bring your best self to thestage.
So I, I do think those areimportant considerations that we
all do and I do think that somepeople do not take sufficient
time to.
Preparing and I think thatreally affords a level of
(31:32):
respect for the audience whenyou take that at time.
So I thank you for sharing thatas well.
I'm wondering if I can move alittle bit on to work life
harmony, because you're a parentof three young children.
You have a wife who has a veryimportant career.
So I'm wondering how you managesuch of a high pressure role
that you have at Choice Hotelsand still bring your best to
(31:54):
your family and to your wife.
Abhijit Patel (31:56):
It's tough.
I will not lie.
And I am no different than otherparents when I work with a lot
of coworkers who are in asimilar situation.
And we all have our good daysand we all have our challenging
days.
What keeps me going is trying tobe just present in the moment.
You're right, I do have a lotgoing on at work, but when I'm
at home I try to be present withwhat's going on with my family.
(32:19):
So if I come back from work atsix o'clock, I'll just tuck my
phone away till 9:00 PM So evenwhen people are texting me, they
don't hear from me.
And it, that's just me time formy family.
And that helps create somebalance.
I have, at least at work.
When I talk about being present,I've even gone as far as asking
people to call me out if I'mdistracted.
(32:39):
Just because, you're giving themthe respect that they deserve
and your work life becomes alittle bit more simpler if
you're being present and beingin the moment.
And the last thing is, I'mruthless about prioritizing,
whether it be at home or atwork.
And it's annoying to a lot ofpeople because I will say this
is not important, it's importantto them, but I'll tell them why.
I don't think this is where I'mgonna focus.
(33:00):
But at least they know where Istand.
And, it helps me keep balance inmy life.
Not, that's not to say I do itperfectly.
I'm far from perfect, at leastthose are the things that I
aspire to do most of the time.
Dorothy Dowling (33:13):
I think that focus on prioritization and
communication around thosepriorities.
Ava, again, I think you'verepresented that very well, and
I do love the idea that you haveabout focusing on and being
present because children, I.
I think are very good at callingparents out when they don't feel
that you're giving them yourfull attention.
So I think it's a great lessonthat you've shared with all of
(33:36):
us, and I appreciate you beingso vulnerable and saying you're
not perfect, but you're on thatjourney to do your best.
We're coming up near the end ofour interview and one of the
questions that we often ask ouradvisor community is if you
could go back in time, so if youcould go back to that young boy
who immigrated to the US or someof those career milestones that
(33:57):
you had earlier in your career,is there any advice you would
give to yourself that may be alittle bit different than you
might've experienced at thetime?
Abhijit Patel (34:04):
Reflecting back on it, give my parents a lot of
credit for immigrating in theirmiddle age to the US'cause they
wanted their kids to have abetter life.
I don't think I, I trulyappreciated that probably until
maybe 10 or 15 years ago.
So I think one thing that, thatI, one piece of advice I would
probably give myself is tryingto understand.
(34:27):
Where you are and why you arethere.
And being more intentional inthe actions that you take.
When you're young it life is alittle bit different.
Sometimes there's lack of focus,maybe less ambition, more
focused on just enjoying lifewhich is all great.
But now, 15 years from now, Iguess I can look at it as just
(34:48):
being more intentional with mytime, my energy, who I.
F interacted with would've madea big difference.
I also think that one thing thatI reflect on is I hung around
some jobs too long when youfigure out that, hey, you've
maxed out your growth or yourlearning have the courage to
move on.
'cause I think you're justwasting your own time and you
(35:10):
could be happier in anotherplace.
Dorothy Dowling (35:12):
I think that again, is great advice, Abba.
That's really speaks to oneself-awareness and having the
courage to, to take some ofthose bets on ourselves.
So I thank you for that.
We always ask one closingthought if there's anything
you'd like to leave our audiencewith.
I don't know if there's anythingfurther in terms of advice that
you would like to offer to them.
Abhijit Patel (35:33):
Maybe just one thing I would say is give
yourself space give yourselfpermission to fail or to be okay
if everything doesn't fall intoplace the way you want.
Just reflecting on where we aretoday, there is so much going on
out there.
And it can get prettyoverwhelming or it can become
stressful.
And just taking a few minutes togive yourself some space and
(35:56):
just allowing yourself to.
To reflect and even think aboutHey, I could have done things
differently, but I didn't.
And that's okay.
I think makes a big difference.
It's a lesson that I've learnedover the last two or three years
and it's something that, that atleast I try to share when people
are struggling with some of thesame challenges.
Dorothy Dowling (36:13):
Again, I think that's very impactful.
It's about that forgiveness ofourselves Sometimes we are our
own hardest critic, Apogen, andI think it just speaks to your
maturity as a, as an executive,that you give yourself that kind
of space and allow some time toreflect and to maybe not take it
quite as seriously as we mightcritique ourselves with.
(36:34):
I just have great admiration forYaba.
You're that next generation ofleader that I just think.
Brings so much to the workplaceand so much to your team.
So I just wanna express mygratitude for taking time to
participate in this interviewwith us today.
'cause I do think our audienceneeds to hear from that next
generation of leadership andjust the humanity and just the
(36:55):
thoughtful journey that you havein terms of your own
self-awareness and the learningthat you brought, I think has
been very impactful.
So thank you for taking the timewith our audience today.
Abhijit Patel (37:04):
Appreciate, I do appreciate.
I do appreciate your time.
One of the things I did mentionthat I would like to emphasize
is, part of the success comesfrom listening to mentors like
yourself.
You among a lot of other leadershave so many admirable
qualities.
As I go through my own careerjourney, if just I just pick up
one thing from you or otherleaders, that just makes a big
(37:24):
difference.
But thank you for Thanks ab,
Dorothy Dowling (37:26):
I appreciate that.
And if I may, I'd also like tothank our audience and say, if
you've enjoyed this interviewwith abbat today, I hope you'll
visit us on our website, it'spersonal stories.com, or you'll
see webcasts and podcasts fromother industry leaders that I
know will empower your knowledgeand feel your spirit.
So we hope to see you there.
Thank you.
Greetings.
I am Dorothy Dowling and welcometo its Personal Stories, a
hospitality podcast thathighlights the inspiring
journeys of leaders in thehospitality industry.
We are an organization dedicatedto personal empowerment.
Today I am delighted to welcomeAbhijit Patel, VP of Revenue
Management for Choice HotelsInternational.
Welcome, Abbott.
I am so delighted to have theopportunity to speak with you
(00:22):
today.
Abhijit Patel (00:24):
Thank you for having me.
I'm looking forward to theconversation.
Dorothy Dowling (00:27):
Wonderful.
Let's get right to it, Aja,because everyone is always
interested in learning aboutyour career story.
So I'm wondering if you can walkus through your journey, how it
started, the key moments thatshape your path and what led you
to where you are today.
You've worked across multipleindustries, including packaged
goods.
You've had amazing training, Iknow from that experience, and
(00:50):
I'm wondering if you canhighlight some of your early
career experiences and yourapproach and how this is.
Led to your leadership andbusiness success.
Abhijit Patel (00:58):
Really appreciate you asking me a little bit about
my background.
I'm gonna start a little bitearlier in my career'cause I'm
not, I was born in India.
I was raised in India, and Iimmigrated to the United States
right after high school.
So when I came over, it was ahuge cultural shock to me.
I went from an outgoing personto someone who became very
(01:19):
shellshocked and quiet.
This will matter in, in my storyin a second.
But it set me back in terms ofhow I was gonna grow my career.
But before I talk myprofessional career, I guess I,
I do want to point out that Idid start out in hospitality as
my first job.
I was washing dishes in, in mycollege, in the food hall.
In some ways I'm proud to saythat I did start in hospitality.
(01:40):
Okay.
But my professional career,those started at Geico right
after college, I joined theirleadership development program.
And honestly, I just didn't knowwhat I wanted to do.
So it was a great starting pointbecause they taught me a lot of
different things.
I, I focused on Six Sigma.
I focused on product and pricingmanagement.
I did sales.
I ran a contact center for abit.
So it really grounded me on, howthe company operates, what are
(02:03):
the different functions?
But then, that just made mehungry.
It made me hungry to grow inother areas.
But that was a key moment for meas well, because as I wanted to
grow and expand my role, I wastold that, I'm not the right
person for the role or I wouldbe a better fit in another area.
And getting to hear that wasvery demoralizing.
While I tried internal movement,it wasn't working out.
(02:24):
So I decided to take a break.
And I went to grad school.
Now keep in mind I was still apretty shy guide at this point.
So I was sitting in orientation.
It's a big hall, about 300students in there.
And, they're doing q and A's.
And I have these two twinssitting next to me and every
time they an a question wasasked, they would just jump up
(02:44):
and answer.
I felt very intimidated.
I was surrounded by.
A lot of smart folks who weredriven and knew exactly what
they wanted.
They were outgoing, outspokenand it really became another
sort of moment for me where Iwas like, if I'm gonna take a
break for two years, give up myearnings, I better get something
out of it.
I made an intentional decisionto, to fake it.
(03:06):
I faked being probably the mostoutgoing person, the most
gregarious, outspokenpersonality that you can
imagine.
And I faked it for a year beforeit became natural for me in year
two.
But that did change my careertrajectory.
I.
So when I came out of businessschool, when actually when
you're in business school, theysomehow convinced you that, you
(03:27):
need to go after a big namecompany.
I was no different.
I got motivated by it, somehowconvinced that I needed to do
the same thing.
So I ended up joining Mars.
For those of you don't know,Mars is known for their candies,
but they have five differentbusinesses, but I also Jo joined
their leadership developmentprogram not knowing, how to
navigate a company that big overthere.
(03:48):
I was fortunate enough to try alot of different things I did.
Supply chain, I need, I did newproduct development.
But ultimately, over the courseof those three years I figured
out that I was a very small cogin a very big machine.
And my growth aspirationswouldn't be met over there or I
wouldn't be growing as fast as Iwanted.
Which I guess became anothermoment where I had some clarity,
(04:11):
which was I need to find anorganization that was the right
size for me and the rightcultural fit for me.
So nothing against Mars, it wasjust about finding out where I
would be the most successful.
And that's what Lord led me tochoice.
One it's a great organizationand I'll talk about it in a
minute, but part of it wasprofessional, part of it was
personal.
(04:31):
I was about to get married.
My family was based in dc andChoice is also based in dc So
became a win-win proposition forme.
So now we're finally gettinginto hospitality.
When I joined Choice I wanted toget into corporate strategy but
I didn't get that role.
I.
However, when I was interviewingat that point, there was a
leader who was hiring for aliaison between tech and
(04:51):
business.
And she noticed that, this guyseems to have a diverse
background.
I'm gonna take a chance on me,which is something that I'm very
grateful for today because, younever know what's gonna come
along, but just having thatmindset of why not try something
where I had no background intech, I had no background in
hospitality really just boostedmy career at choice.
(05:11):
And here it's been nothing shortof an amazing journey.
The early part of my career hasallowed me to move from being a
tech liaison to being a businessowner to the pm MS and RMS.
Then I've done commercialplanning for the marketing
distribution functions.
And, in, in those early part ofmy choice years I noticed it was
a great culture because we,choice really empowers
(05:34):
associates.
It's also rewarding toassociates who raise their hands
and say, I wanna do more or whoshow that they can overcome
failures and continue to drivesuccess.
That kind of mentality allowedme to continue to grow.
And then I finally took overdistribution and maybe eight
months into taking overdistribution.
I was a senior director at thatpoint.
(05:55):
I was thrust into.
A VP role overseeing all theareas that I mentioned.
And that was another learningmoment for me.
'cause going from a seniordirector to VP in a matter of
eight months was a very steeplearning curve.
I did not handle it really well.
I really wanted to prove that,that I could do the job.
I put a lot of pressure on myteam and I ended up being a jerk
of a leader.
It was I was very fortunate thatthe team around me understood
(06:18):
and gave me space to grow, butit gave me such a valuable
lesson in leading people, whichis about, understanding what
you're going through, but notnecessarily pushing your anxiety
or stress to other people aroundyou.
But I'm also very grateful forthose who are next to me at that
point.
But since then, over the lastfew years, I've taken on
commercial strategy reallyintegrating how, sales
(06:38):
distribution, revenuemanagement, et cetera, all flow
together.
I've taken over revenuemanagement as well and more
recently I've taken on insidesales and sales op.
Dorothy Dowling (06:48):
So thank you for sharing all of that.
Abba, you put forward a lot ofreally significant moments in
your career development.
I'm wondering if I can go backand unpack a few of those.
'cause you talked about theculture shock of moving to a new
country.
How that really impacted you interms of, if I may say, being a
duck out of water.
And I'm just wondering about allof these learning points that
(07:11):
you had because you made somevery.
Intentional decisions, but allof these were major changes in
your, life and in your career.
So how, can you just tell, talka little bit about, you said
you, you made some decisionsabout to fake it till you made
it in terms of when you went tograduate school, but it sounds
like you had a lot of thesemilestones in your career where
(07:34):
you had.
Major shifts that you had tomake some adjustments in terms
of how you actually became aduck and started to swim in
those waters.
So I'm wondering if there'sanything more you can share,
because those are majormilestones that, that you just
shared with our audience.
Abhijit Patel (07:50):
I don't necessarily see them that way.
I always have this philosophyof, reflecting on the past but
not dwelling into it.
So the way I've approachedthings and at that point in my
life, I was always, and eventoday, I'm just forward looking,
which is what's next.
I.
There are good parts and badparts about it.
(08:12):
The bad part, or I guess thepart that I should pay a little
bit more attention to is pausingand celebrating maybe.
Which kind of reflects whatyou're saying, which is there
are major milestones, but to methat was just one step in the
journey of where I eventuallywanted to be.
And I didn't quite figure outwhere I wanted to be, until I
probably got the choice.
The best way I can answer yourquestion is it's not so much
(08:33):
that, instead of focusing on howbig of a moment it is I kinda
more focused on what do I need,what do I need to do and where
do I need to go?
I.
Dorothy Dowling (08:40):
Okay.
I appreciate that because as animmigrant myself, I can share
some of that when you step intothat bigger pool and you've
gotta figure it out in terms ofthe journey that you've gotta
map forward.
So I just give you a lot ofcredit Abbat, because all of
those things that you've sharedwith our audience, in my mind,
they're very significant.
And the fact that you were ableto figure it out.
(09:03):
Make the adjustments and then beable to reflect back on what
that opportunity was for you andthen think about how to move
forward, I think is lessons thatwe can all learn from you.
I'm wondering if we can unpack alittle bit about the Six Sigma,
because that's something thatfascinates me in terms of it's
disciplined approach to problemsolving and learning.
(09:25):
I'm wondering if there'sanything you can offer our
audience in terms of how thathelped you with your growth
trajectory.
Abhijit Patel (09:30):
It was a great training ground.
It was my first job outtacollege where I joined as a
consultant on the Six Sigmateam.
And it, it really teaches yousystematic problem solving.
It taught me early on that, ifyou focus on data all the time,
you can get to the challenge orthe solution rather quickly.
(09:51):
It taught me how to look atmultiple business situations a
little bit differently, evenwithin, if we were taking on Six
Sigma for a project you stillwere looking at situations that
were either about being aturnaround or a realignment, or
how do you accelerate growth?
And just being in, in thecompany of other Six Sigma
experts or black belts and howthey look at problems on
(10:13):
different dimensions.
It has stuck with me.
And probably the best thing thathas stuck with me is always
having this mindset ofcontinuous improvement.
And it has served me well evento today.
Dorothy Dowling (10:23):
Yeah.
I do think having thatdiscipline approach to problem
solving, there's many obviouslysystems where people approach,
but I do think it does help interms of making sure you
approach problems in a much moresy systematic way and consider
all of the different data pointsthat one has to really build the
problem around or the solutionsaround.
(10:44):
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle about franchisees.
'cause again, this is, an areathat we share.
But when we work in a franchisemodel, obviously it's an asset
light.
You're really building onalignment and commitment from
franchisees to be able to takeprograms to success.
I'm wondering if you can talk alittle bit about how you invest
in fostering strong partnershipswith your franchisee community
(11:06):
and really build engagement withthem.
Abhijit Patel (11:07):
I really do.
To get inspired by ourfranchisees.
They have the courage to do whatI probably couldn't do, which
is, step away from work or justdive into opening a business.
And some of them have beenscrappy to, to get there.
They really inspire me quite abit.
Sometimes I'm jealous but theway I look at them is.
(11:28):
Our franchisees is, they are ourcustomers.
Most importantly, and keepingtheir voice front and center
always makes it easier to engagethem.
One of the few things that, thatI focus on is when we're trying
to engage them, that wehighlight or we start with that
we have their best interest inmind.
(11:51):
And then outline what we areworking towards and try, really
try to get their input early on.
So we are gaining their trust.
I.
I, I've also found that they'regenerally very eager to give
back.
Everybody, every one of us wantsto succeed.
And our franchisees are nodifferent, right?
They wanna do better, they wannado things differently, wanna
grow their business.
(12:12):
Having this having eithercreating a core group of
franchisees that you can alwaysgo back to and talk to and
finding out people who reallywanna collaborate be a sounding
board or even test things foryou, helps build.
These really strongrelationships and it really
helps them foster innovation andit helps us foster innovation.
(12:33):
And that is the key to drivingengagement.
Outside of that business part ofit sometimes it's just about
listening and taking genuineinterest in them.
I've had the privilege to.
Sometimes for them to be asounding board or for me to be a
sounding board for them.
And sometimes it's aboutpersonal challenges that they're
(12:54):
going through and just beingthere for them in their time of
need and talking about their ownpersonal lives.
It just goes a long way in, inbuilding those partnerships.
Dorothy Dowling (13:05):
I think the way you've articulated that
relationship journey, and I knowbecause I have experience with
some of the franchisees that arepart of your network, Abbott,
and I just know how highly theyregard you.
And I do think it is about howyou listen.
I.
How you respect them and how youreally want to drive that value
(13:26):
creation for them.
So I commend you for that.
But I do think it is it's verydifficult sometimes to work
within the franchisee community'cause there's a lot of
different voices and finding away to really listen and learn
from them.
And then.
Really build that community interms of how to go to market
together, I know is challenging.
(13:47):
So with that, I'd like to talkabout the new role that you've
broadened in terms of yourresponsibilities at choice,
where you've taken on consumerpartnerships.
So I would love to hear moreabout how you've really bridged
some of the franchisee communitywith some of the new
responsibilities and some of thepartnerships that you are
developing on behalf of ChoiceHotels International and
(14:08):
building their levels ofcommitment and engagement to
some of those new partnerships.
Abhijit Patel (14:14):
Yeah, thank you about, thank you for asking
about that.
I've been very excited abouttaking on.
Our affinity partnerships it isprobably an area that requires
more attention and somethingthat our franchisees could
probably engage more and betterunderstand.
But, before we talk about howthat works I think establishing
everything starts with yourpartner, like starting to make
(14:34):
sure that when you go into apartnership with someone, you
have a shared vision, a sharedgoal.
Taking the time to understand,what they are trying to achieve,
what happens they've faced andweaving it into, our own goals
really builds that commitmentfrom the partner early on.
And that really is key because,there are a lot of partnerships
(14:55):
that you get into, but you don'tfind, six months in that, hey,
there's the same level ofcommitment, that's why I started
there.
Like your partner needs to be,having the same shared vision
and goal and they need to becommitted from day one.
But, but once you have that alot of it is about.
Explaining to our franchisees,what is in it for them and why
did we strike a partnership?
(15:16):
As I think about my role in thisprocess, I've focused on, on two
or three key areas.
One is improving our engagementwith our hotels especially on,
on this area aroundpartnerships.
A lot of our hotel owners areowner operators, so they are
super busy.
They have a ton on their plate.
And getting their attention onsomething that might be two,
(15:39):
three, 4% of their businessbecomes challenging.
Part of what I'm focused on is,how do we communicate with them
effectively?
How do we get our core messageout there, and how do we get
them to engage early on?
The second thing that I'mfocusing on is building
awareness internally.
So these initiatives orpartnerships, everyone gets
excited about it.
(16:00):
But then something new comesalong and then you move on.
But for any partnership tosucceed one of the things that's
really important is you have achange champion internally.
So part of my role or at leastwhat I'm trying to do is make
sure that.
We give everything we can,whether it be from my team or
other teams within theorganization to make sure this
(16:21):
initiative succeeds.
Just being a chain champion forthe people that you are
representing, whether it be thepartners or the franchisees.
And the last thing is probablyvery common across a lot of
these initiatives is having asolid go-to market plan.
Yeah.
When you are going into apartnership for the first time.
That go to market plan is veryrobust.
(16:41):
Needs to be very robust, needsto be very granular.
And really when be thinkingoutside of the box where,
whether it's about the channels,whether it's about the services,
whether it's about the pricingand understanding, where the
partnership or product standsfrom a competitive environment.
And ensuring that you arecreating your own unique selling
proposition.
(17:02):
And I think that goes a longway.
So my role is focused on allthose three pieces.
Dorothy Dowling (17:07):
I would love to explore a little bit of some of
those ideas in a little moredetail, abt, because I do think
consumer partnerships areenjoying another stage of
relevancy because the earlierreference that you made around
trust.
I think winning consumers trusttoday is becoming even more
difficult with just the myriadof pressure we have in the
(17:27):
broader space today aboutmessages and trust of the
source, of the messages, etcetera.
So consumer partnerships canreally elevate trust in
amplifying the source of wherebusiness might come from.
But I also really liked yourstory about having internal
change.
Champion because I do thinkorganizations are complicated.
(17:48):
Everyone says 90% of success isaround execution.
So I do think that idea ofhaving someone to continue to
build and execute the planinternally is something we can
all learn from because it doestake an effort.
To keep everybody aligned interms of those opportunities and
making sure that we'releveraging all of them as
(18:09):
effectively as we can.
So those are really importantideas that you shared, so I
thank you for that.
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about distribution
because right now it'sconsidered to be the nexus of so
much change that's going on inour space.
Having just come from a majorevent where people are talking
about distribution as being in arevolutionary stage, no longer
(18:31):
an evolutionary stage, given allof the change management that's
going on with a lot of ourtraditional sourcing strategies
of how we secure business.
I'm just wondering how you thinkabout, the tough challenges in
distribution, the, and thevolume and number of changes
that are going and how youreally balance a lot of the
(18:52):
stakeholder relationships in thespace of distribution.
Abhijit Patel (18:55):
You are right the space is evolving quite a bit
and, if I think about.
Where the, where hospitality isgoing.
It is really all going to be aplatform and distribution
focused in terms of howcompanies differentiate.
Between all of that though whatyou need to stay grounded or at
least what I try to staygrounded on is still keeping in
mind and trying to identify andunderstand what are the unique
(19:18):
needs and priorities of eachstakeholder.
Sometimes it's so easy to getlost in all of the noise.
But if you keep the, that focusthat, hey, my priority for the
stakeholder is x things justbecome easier.
And your stakeholders can bemultiple players, right?
They can be hotel owners, theycan be internal partners, they
can be other distributionpartners.
(19:40):
Just thinking about, how do youtailor solutions to their
concerns?
With that comes also iscommunication.
The more open and the moretransparent we are with
stakeholders, at leastinternally the better off
growing these relationshipsworks.
I think with distributionspecifically, there are internal
stakeholders who have very highexpectations of what they want
(20:03):
out of let's say an OTApartnership, for example.
Having some tough and earlyconversations about, what should
be realistic expectations and inbeing clear about it and just
having some honest feedback canbuild.
And foster those conversationsboth internally and externally.
And I'd say the last maybe twopieces that, that I think about
(20:24):
is problem solving.
When you're thinking aboutdistribution, a lot of it is
about, how do you work with apartner?
And the thing is we like indistribution, like to think
ourselves, Hey, we are a smallgroup of distribution community
and we know what's going on.
But I've found it to be theopposite where there are so many
smart folks in hospitality withsuch diverse experience.
(20:47):
So oftentimes I find myselfdoing brainstorming sessions
with stakeholders who havenothing to do with distribution.
They could be in brand, theycould be in marketing, and just
picking their brain about, Hey,how do I overcome this
challenge?
Have you experienced somethinglike that before?
And that has helped me quite abit.
And last but not least, it isabout mutually beneficial
(21:08):
outcomes.
All our partners they want youto be successful.
They want themselves to besuccessful.
And part of the big challenge inall of this really is about, how
do you quickly figure out what'sgonna work for both of you.
I think if you do that in thelong term, it will generally.
Improve the overall performanceand the trust factor, which you
(21:29):
mentioned gets there and staysthere as long as you focus on
just that.
Dorothy Dowling (21:34):
Again, you've put down or identified a lot of
very impactful considerations.
I.
For audience, so I'd like tojust summarize some of the
things that I heard that I thinkare particularly important.
One was about the setting ofpriorities and making sure you
stay true to what problem you'retrying to solve and making sure
you don't lose sight of that.
I think just the weaving ofcommunications, which I know
(21:57):
we'll come back to, but reallymaking sure you're being very
clear with everyone.
I think managing expectationsfor everyone is another message
that you delivered in terms ofmaking sure everyone has
realistic expectations on whatcan be achieved and how to
leverage those opportunities.
And then this mutual valuecreation in terms of working
with partners to make sure thateveryone has a win-win in terms
(22:21):
of the outcomes and that you'reall clear on what those.
Expectations are.
I also loved your idea aboutbroadening the community and
bringing others that are maybenot in that lane into the
conversations to be additive interms of collaborating and
really thinking about coatingtogether, Abbott.
So that was a very impactfulanswer.
(22:41):
I just wanted to make sure ouraudience got all the pieces of
the elements that, that you weresharing for us to learn from
you.
Hey,
Abhijit Patel (22:47):
I appreciate you summarizing.
I hope I'm not rambling, it'sjust a.
I think it's alwaysmultidimensional.
Dorothy Dowling (22:54):
I think it just really speaks to the power of
how you are so thoughtful in howyou really frame up how to solve
problems and really drivecommercial success.
So again, I just thank you forbringing all of that to the
table.
I'm wondering if I can explore alittle bit more because Choice
Hotels International said.
Very large company.
You're one of the top five hotelcompanies around the world, and
(23:18):
you have multiple teammates thatare home based in North America,
but you also have franchiseleaders that you work with
around the world.
I have the privilege of knowingsome of them, and I just know
the high regard that they havefor you and that your door is
open, that you listen to themand that you're very responsive
in terms of trying to understandthe impact of.
(23:40):
What you lead and how that mayimpact them and how they can
leverage some of theopportunities to be part of the
Broader Choice HotelsInternational Network.
I'm wondering if there arespecifics that you can offer to
the audience in terms of how youreally build alignment and
collaboration with such a broadteam all with different points
(24:01):
of view and how you reallysupport them and drive
engagement.
Abhijit Patel (24:08):
I probably the most challenging aspect of my
job is probably just that eventhough we went through Covid and
we figured out remote work, Iwould say it's, we're still
learning and we're stillevolving.
I.
It is something that, that keepsus grounded or at least aligned
is going back to that unifiedvision and goals, right?
When our team members understandthe bigger picture, how, what
(24:29):
they do, and how that fits intowhat the organization is trying
to achieve, or what we as afunction are trying to achieve.
They really stay tuned in andmotivated.
Now we can talk about,scheduling regular team meetings
and, being on video, all of thathelps.
But probably the most impactfulthing for me has been keeping an
(24:50):
open door.
I make myself available toanyone in the organization.
And if somebody reaches out tome and says, I'd like to pick
your brain.
I.
I'll give them a call backwithin the same day, regardless
of what happens.
And I think that helps quite abit because people feel that
they're heard regardless ofwhere they are and you know how
dispersed they are.
And that also builds theircommitment towards making sure
(25:13):
that, we're trying to hit thesame goals.
But outside of that, we're doingsome of the same things that
people do, trying to disconnectfrom work.
If one of the meetings endsearly, we'll try to do a virtual
game within Zoom, or sometimeswe'll just talk about what life
is throwing at us.
And the funny thing is, when youstart talking about what life is
throwing at us, we have so muchmore in common.
(25:33):
But, we always end up taking, wealways end up taking time to
talk about work, but neverourselves.
Something intentional that I'mtrying to do at least now is
trying to submit some of themeetings early and just talk
about, what is going on, right?
How are you feeling?
How are you doing?
How are you happy?
And you'll be surprised how muchit allows virtual teams, remote
teams to get engaged.
Dorothy Dowling (25:56):
I do think that element of humanity and bringing
your whole self to your team isreally important, David, because
I do think the likability factorof a leader and them
understanding you brings so muchmore to, to them in terms of
building that level ofengagement and support.
So I commend you for thatbecause.
Like one of the bigconversations and I think one of
(26:18):
the big learnings that we've allcome out of Covid in terms of
understanding that.
I also would like to suggestthat potentially you being an
immigrant to this country andworking in a global community,
the level of respect that youafford to many of your global
teammates, I think isparticularly meaningful because
I think that level ofunderstanding and having.
(26:38):
Letting them contribute andbring their voice to the
conversation and affording themso much more respect.
I think that's a very meaningfulgift that you give to them.
So I just know personally howmuch some of them think of you,
and that's the linkage that Iwould bring to the conversation
is just that level of engagementthat you support them with.
So I thank you for that becauseI think that's part of
(27:00):
leadership that we all need toembrace and I think you do that
exceptionally well.
So thank you.
Abhijit Patel (27:06):
Thank you.
Dorothy Dowling (27:07):
I'm wondering if we can talk a little about
learning.
I know you talked about all ofthese pivotal milestones as you
made some of these choicesaround your career and what's
next.
And you also are at theforefront of being in a part of
the industry that is changing atan extraordinarily rocket clip.
So I'm wondering how you stayahead and how you keep on top of
(27:27):
your game.
If you could share that with ouraudience.
Abhijit Patel (27:31):
Also probably one of the harder things to do, but
I, I don't know if I dosomething extraordinary.
My, I think the best insightsthat, that come to me usually
always come from talking toother people in the industry.
And it's not even aboutdistribution or revenue
management.
It, it could be a partner, avendor somebody on the brands
(27:51):
team, somebody on thedevelopment team, hotelier.
Everybody's getting bombardedwith information, but there are
nuggets of information thatstick with people.
And when you're talking to them,those nuggets come out and
you're allowed, it helps youjust connect the dots in
different ways.
There's also a lot of innovationhappening out there so listening
to these folks and what they'refacing and how they're solving
it.
(28:12):
Is helpful to me because then Ican apply some of the things
that I'm that I'm hearing to myown problems.
And probably the most impactfulthing that I.
That I think I do is keepingtabs at other industries.
I love to read the newspaper.
I probably will go to theWashington Post and Wall Street
Journal for an hour every dayjust scouring, what's going on
(28:33):
in the world and what's going onin the business world.
There are probably a fewindustries that, that I follow
the most airlines retailorganizations, companies that
have SaaS models that, that aredoing a lot of interesting
things that are very different.
And they usually are the onesthat are pulling in ai.
That is quite inspiring.
And learning from that is, isprobably what helps me keep
(28:55):
track of how things areevolving.
Dorothy Dowling (28:58):
I think you've said two things there that I
heard.
One is this diversity of reallybridging into other industries
and other teammates that bring adifferent perspective that
really elevates your game.
So I think.
Yeah, that's an importantlesson.
And I also, what I heard is thatyou take an hour every day for
your learning journey, abba,which again, I think represents
(29:18):
a discipline that we all need todo so that we invest in
continuing to evolve our bestself.
So I thank you for that.
No,
Abhijit Patel (29:25):
I wanna take full credit for it being a learning
journey that's just.
Interest.
I love reading the newspaper.
It just ends up being helpful atthe end of the day.
Dorothy Dowling (29:32):
Yeah, I, I think learning is always part of
that.
Keeping it top of mind though,that we have to invest in that
time to continue to broaden ourcapabilities.
I wonder if I could speak alittle bit about public speaking
'cause I have had theopportunity to see you on stage
and one of the things I admireabout you, Abba, is.
How much time you invest inmaking sure that you bring value
(29:53):
to the audience.
So I'm wondering if you can talka little about how you prepare
for public speaking engagements.
Abhijit Patel (29:59):
I probably put in more effort to prepare for it
just because of even though nowI can be the outgoing person,
just because I forced myself tobe it, I'm still an introvert.
At the end of the day.
It's tough for me to get on thestage and.
And shake those jitters.
I guess best way to say it, I'mnot a natural or eloquent
speaker.
What has usually helped me ispreparing my talking points and
(30:23):
often revising them two or threetimes.
Even take this interview forexample, I probably wrote out my
talking points and looked atthem a couple of times before I
got in front of the camera.
And just practicing.
People have different ways ofgetting energized and for me it
sometimes is just getting infront of a mirror or even when
I'm driving to work, I'll havethese notes that I'll be going
(30:43):
through in my head.
And, you just have to figure outwhat works for you.
Everyone has a different routineand this may sound silly, the
day off I either will try to gothrough a very rough workout.
And I do work out or just beforegetting on the stage, I'll do
what athletes do and they havetheir songs and I have my song
that I just need to listen toget myself pumped up.
(31:05):
I guess summary is everybody isunique, you just gotta figure
out what works for you.
Dorothy Dowling (31:11):
I think the big message that you deliver to our
audience today, abbat aroundthis, is really just the
preparation and thatself-awareness of how do you
bring your best self to thestage.
So I, I do think those areimportant considerations that we
all do and I do think that somepeople do not take sufficient
time to.
Preparing and I think thatreally affords a level of
(31:32):
respect for the audience whenyou take that at time.
So I thank you for sharing thatas well.
I'm wondering if I can move alittle bit on to work life
harmony, because you're a parentof three young children.
You have a wife who has a veryimportant career.
So I'm wondering how you managesuch of a high pressure role
that you have at Choice Hotelsand still bring your best to
(31:54):
your family and to your wife.
Abhijit Patel (31:56):
It's tough.
I will not lie.
And I am no different than otherparents when I work with a lot
of coworkers who are in asimilar situation.
And we all have our good daysand we all have our challenging
days.
What keeps me going is trying tobe just present in the moment.
You're right, I do have a lotgoing on at work, but when I'm
at home I try to be present withwhat's going on with my family.
(32:19):
So if I come back from work atsix o'clock, I'll just tuck my
phone away till 9:00 PM So evenwhen people are texting me, they
don't hear from me.
And it, that's just me time formy family.
And that helps create somebalance.
I have, at least at work.
When I talk about being present,I've even gone as far as asking
people to call me out if I'mdistracted.
(32:39):
Just because, you're giving themthe respect that they deserve
and your work life becomes alittle bit more simpler if
you're being present and beingin the moment.
And the last thing is, I'mruthless about prioritizing,
whether it be at home or atwork.
And it's annoying to a lot ofpeople because I will say this
is not important, it's importantto them, but I'll tell them why.
I don't think this is where I'mgonna focus.
(33:00):
But at least they know where Istand.
And, it helps me keep balance inmy life.
Not, that's not to say I do itperfectly.
I'm far from perfect, at leastthose are the things that I
aspire to do most of the time.
Dorothy Dowling (33:13):
I think that focus on prioritization and
communication around thosepriorities.
Ava, again, I think you'verepresented that very well, and
I do love the idea that you haveabout focusing on and being
present because children, I.
I think are very good at callingparents out when they don't feel
that you're giving them yourfull attention.
So I think it's a great lessonthat you've shared with all of
(33:36):
us, and I appreciate you beingso vulnerable and saying you're
not perfect, but you're on thatjourney to do your best.
We're coming up near the end ofour interview and one of the
questions that we often ask ouradvisor community is if you
could go back in time, so if youcould go back to that young boy
who immigrated to the US or someof those career milestones that
(33:57):
you had earlier in your career,is there any advice you would
give to yourself that may be alittle bit different than you
might've experienced at thetime?
Abhijit Patel (34:04):
Reflecting back on it, give my parents a lot of
credit for immigrating in theirmiddle age to the US'cause they
wanted their kids to have abetter life.
I don't think I, I trulyappreciated that probably until
maybe 10 or 15 years ago.
So I think one thing that, thatI, one piece of advice I would
probably give myself is tryingto understand.
(34:27):
Where you are and why you arethere.
And being more intentional inthe actions that you take.
When you're young it life is alittle bit different.
Sometimes there's lack of focus,maybe less ambition, more
focused on just enjoying lifewhich is all great.
But now, 15 years from now, Iguess I can look at it as just
(34:48):
being more intentional with mytime, my energy, who I.
F interacted with would've madea big difference.
I also think that one thing thatI reflect on is I hung around
some jobs too long when youfigure out that, hey, you've
maxed out your growth or yourlearning have the courage to
move on.
'cause I think you're justwasting your own time and you
(35:10):
could be happier in anotherplace.
Dorothy Dowling (35:12):
I think that again, is great advice, Abba.
That's really speaks to oneself-awareness and having the
courage to, to take some ofthose bets on ourselves.
So I thank you for that.
We always ask one closingthought if there's anything
you'd like to leave our audiencewith.
I don't know if there's anythingfurther in terms of advice that
you would like to offer to them.
Abhijit Patel (35:33):
Maybe just one thing I would say is give
yourself space give yourselfpermission to fail or to be okay
if everything doesn't fall intoplace the way you want.
Just reflecting on where we aretoday, there is so much going on
out there.
And it can get prettyoverwhelming or it can become
stressful.
And just taking a few minutes togive yourself some space and
(35:56):
just allowing yourself to.
To reflect and even think aboutHey, I could have done things
differently, but I didn't.
And that's okay.
I think makes a big difference.
It's a lesson that I've learnedover the last two or three years
and it's something that, that atleast I try to share when people
are struggling with some of thesame challenges.
Dorothy Dowling (36:13):
Again, I think that's very impactful.
It's about that forgiveness ofourselves Sometimes we are our
own hardest critic, Apogen, andI think it just speaks to your
maturity as a, as an executive,that you give yourself that kind
of space and allow some time toreflect and to maybe not take it
quite as seriously as we mightcritique ourselves with.
(36:34):
I just have great admiration forYaba.
You're that next generation ofleader that I just think.
Brings so much to the workplaceand so much to your team.
So I just wanna express mygratitude for taking time to
participate in this interviewwith us today.
'cause I do think our audienceneeds to hear from that next
generation of leadership andjust the humanity and just the
(36:55):
thoughtful journey that you havein terms of your own
self-awareness and the learningthat you brought, I think has
been very impactful.
So thank you for taking the timewith our audience today.
Abhijit Patel (37:04):
Appreciate, I do appreciate.
I do appreciate your time.
One of the things I did mentionthat I would like to emphasize
is, part of the success comesfrom listening to mentors like
yourself.
You among a lot of other leadershave so many admirable
qualities.
As I go through my own careerjourney, if just I just pick up
one thing from you or otherleaders, that just makes a big
(37:24):
difference.
But thank you for Thanks ab,
Dorothy Dowling (37:26):
I appreciate that.
And if I may, I'd also like tothank our audience and say, if
you've enjoyed this interviewwith abbat today, I hope you'll
visit us on our website, it'spersonal stories.com, or you'll
see webcasts and podcasts fromother industry leaders that I
know will empower your knowledgeand feel your spirit.
So we hope to see you there.
Thank you.
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