March 1, 2025 • 35 mins
Mehul shares his inspiring immigrant journey, arriving in the U.S. at fourteen, learning English, and navigating a new culture. He recounts how, while still in high school, he purchased his first business—an early step that set him on the path to building the impressive portfolio of NewcrestImage. In our conversation, Mehul shares how he turns challenges into opportunities by taking a strategic long-term view, embracing calculated risks, and empowering his team. He also discusses the leadership qualities he values most and how he mentors and develops talent. Don't miss his valuable advice on innovation, networking, and bringing diverse perspectives together for success!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Kong (00:02):
Greetings, I'm David Kong, the founder and principal
of It's Personal Stories.
We are a hospitality podcastwith a mission to empower
personal success.
Today, I'm delighted to welcomeMehul Patel, a dear friend.
He's also the managing partnerof New Crest Image.
He was the past chairman of theAsian American Hotel Owners
(00:24):
Association.
Really Mehul.
Thank you.
It's my pleasure to be here withyou, David.
Mayhoo, you've had a remarkablecareer journey.
You came to this country andtogether with your partner,
Chirag, bought a small bulk mailorganization and you were able
(00:46):
to quadruple the sales in thefirst year and then you
leveraged that and launched intothe hotel business and the rest
is history.
Would you care to share the keymilestones and lessons of your
career journey with us?
Mehul Patel (01:01):
Sure, David.
Thank you.
First of all, having me on thisshow.
I'm really excited to be part ofthis show.
You have done a great job in theindustry and you were able to
attract many great speaker thatI admire and how passion.
to hear their personal story, soI'm, I'm really great to be here
with you.
So, my journey has been reallyinteresting.
(01:21):
I came into this country when Iwas 13.
I finished my high school andcollege here, and I didn't speak
any English when I came intothis country, because in India I
studied in my native language,Gujarati.
And went to boarding school, butcoming here really adaptive to
the Western culture.
When I went to high school, Ihad many struggles.
Language was one barrier, butjust understanding the sports.
(01:46):
How classes work, how educationsystem work, how grading system
work.
That was my first beginning.
And when you came into thiscountry, you don't have any
money.
You go in school bus navigatingthrough all those challenges
when you are 13, 14 was really aunique challenge.
So that was my beginning.
journey to set myself up for betough.
(02:06):
Get ready for this journeybecause you don't know anything.
You came to a country whereyou're going to explore and
learn yourself on it.
And then I was going in a highschool, we only had one car.
So my sister's got a job atmailing company, the mailing
company that I bought and oftenI would go with her because we
only had one car and I needed ajob.
So I talked to the owner, I gotmy first job and I was one of
(02:29):
the best employee for him.
Because I had a genuine interestto work and make a living out of
it.
I was in high school, sophomoreyear.
I worked after school 30, threehours a day in a mailing
company.
A year later, I got my drivinglicense and my owner was
struggling.
He had a big challenge withimmigration and he was going to
(02:49):
sell the company.
And so I had worked in a companyfor a year.
I made about 4, 000 a year and Iwas a mail courier.
And so one day he was like, Hey,I'm going to sell this company
and things going to bedifferent.
And I was like, curious, why areyou selling it?
So he told me all his problem.
And so then we said, why don'twe buy the company?
And he laughed at us, right?
I was 16 at that point.
(03:11):
And so we said, no, seriously,we would love to buy the
business.
And obviously both of us didn'thave any experience on buying a
first business.
So we talked to him.
So we agreed on 75, 000 price,25, 000 down payment.
So me, Chirag, and a coupleother guys.
brought the down payment 25, 000and he financed 75, 000 and then
(03:33):
we hired him because we didn'thave the education of how to run
a business.
So we hired him to work for us2, 000 a month and we said, we
will pay you your 50, 000.
More important, you know thathow the business is going
because while working, you'llknow that you'll get your 50,
000.
So it was a really trust factor.
And so that was what happened.
(03:54):
And I got a job, I bought thecompany, and we started changing
behind the scene, what theweakness we knew, because
sometimes people played.
Sometimes people didn't workproperly.
So once I bought the company, weall made it very efficient and
all the friends were workingtogether.
So it become a very unifiedgroup.
A team really worked together,all the high schoolers.
(04:16):
And one day we bought thecompany for 75, 000.
And the same year in December,we got a big contract.
Suddenly the company is worth amillion dollars in six months.
Couple years later I sold thecompany for a million dollars.
Before I finished my highschool, before I went to
college, and started my journeyin hotel business.
And I always wanted to be in ahotel because that's where I
(04:39):
started my journey when my dadand mom lived in a motel.
And so then I made all theinvestment while going to
college and high school in amotel business because I thought
that's where I can create abigger value.
And then I bought a roadsideindependent motel, would convert
to a franchise motel like I haddone at one Best Western.
We did Days Inn, Super 8,Ramada, Quality Inn.
(05:02):
So I would buy roadside propertythere next to McDonald's or
something and convert tofranchise and then create a
revenue and sell them.
And then completed my collegedegree.
And then 2001, 9 11 happened.
That was a really roadblock.
I didn't have many assets, but Iwas still quite young and didn't
realize what was happening tothe travel industry with 9 11.
(05:25):
I was still learning at thatpoint, what was going on with
the travel.
How deep the travel impacted onit.
And I was really learning,hearing everything on it.
And year later, I said, I wantto start building.
I want to start construction.
So we build our first bestWestern, the ground up
construction was inJacksonville, Texas.
So that was my first experiencewith best Western brand ground
(05:48):
up building construction.
And so we started fine tuning.
I had a couple of great guys tosay, we would like to build the
best Western.
And that was the beginningjourney in construction
industry.
And since 2003 to 2008, I builtprobably a dozen hotels and 2008
crisis happened.
In 2009, we were completing allthose assets.
(06:09):
Very tough time for me tounderstand.
And every downturn has given mea different new learning lesson,
whether.
Financial issue, liquidityissue, or not enough leadership
or enough bench in the companythat I was building for it to
take a new challenges.
And so that was a new learninglesson to how to manage risk on
(06:30):
your portfolio.
And then we overcame the 2008challenge.
Then since 2012, we have a newstrategy.
We said, we're going to have adiscipline investment thesis if
we're going to do it again.
And then we started buildingdual brand.
We converted to many MarriottHilton.
Really elevated our portfolio todifferent level and primarily
(06:53):
started building in urbanlocation And started forming a
management company a truemanagement company where the
leadership would take a role Andreally have all the discipline
in a company.
So it probably took me 15 yearsto learn from where I was a
rookie to become a, I would sayreally I was a true professional
running a hotel managementcompany.
But along the way there was manyfailures.
(07:16):
You name it.
Every challenge is from buildingconstruction, managing, setting
up a management company, gettinga loan, dealing with a downturn,
and managing lender expectation,brand expectation, and people
When your team is expectingtheir expectation as well.
So those were a beginningjourney of my getting into a
true becoming a hotelprofessional, I would say.
David Kong (07:39):
You've come a very long way, and I find it so
remarkable that at the age of16, you bought the company where
you had your first job.
That's just a wonderful story,and how you thought about the
wind solution of buying thecompany, having the owner
finance it, and retaining him sohe could help you run the
(08:00):
business.
That's just so smart at such ayoung age.
And the whole journey is full ofwonderful stories.
I love it.
You spoke to some of thechallenges that you face,
whether it be securing a loan orconstruction or the downturn in
economy, and you've excelledthrough all those challenges.
Would you mind to share youradvice on How to approach
(08:23):
challenges and provide some tipson how you remain resilient.
Mehul Patel (08:28):
Sure.
Over the years, what I havelearned and every downturn, the,
what things have helped me.
Every time you have a problem orchallenge, there is a bigger
opportunity.
Sometimes the problem arecreated for the big opportunity,
in my opinion.
And when you are dealing with aproblem or a opportunity, how
can you convert opportunity?
(08:49):
It requires, I always looked attwo or three different
attributes.
First one is strategic mindset.
You gotta think long term.
Any challenges you have, if youare thinking short term to solve
the problem, You're basicallyputting a bandage in my opinion.
So you really need a strategicmindset to think about the
decision you're trying to maketo solve a problem.
(09:10):
What is that impact going to beshort term, long term?
So that is what you really haveto think about it.
Second one is I would say yougot to take calculated risk when
you are in trouble or challenge.
You really have to take acalculation risk.
What is the risk factor, whetherfrom human capital side, what
other stakeholder may beimpacted.
So you really have to thinkabout a calculated risk
(09:32):
approach.
And then the last one is peopleand leadership.
I think that's the mostimportant.
When you have a challenge, youreach out to your leadership,
your team members to say, howcan we solve together as a team
effort?
Sometimes you're not the onlysmartest person in the room who
could solve everything, butsometimes who's surrounding you
They may have the answer.
So you just have to include themrather than exclude in my
(09:53):
opinion, because many times thesame people in the room, they
were also part of the problem,or they were also part of the
solution.
So sometimes working together,solving a challenge, that would
be my approach.
It has always been anything Ihave always done.
Look around the room and say,Hey.
Could you help me?
Or you might have a betterperspective than I do.
(10:14):
So sometimes hearing peopleperspective before coming down
to a conclusion would be abetter opportunity conversion,
in my opinion.
David Kong (10:23):
That's so true.
And it's wonderful advice.
And I particularly like the waythat you think about a
challenge.
It's actually could be anopportunity.
And yeah, but you have to thinkstrategically and you have to
think long term.
But the more
Mehul Patel (10:40):
the time and time you do that level of involvement
with your team, the team becomesstronger and they're thinking
day to day problem.
They're solving it much betterin a strategic way.
So your, your company or yourleadership isn't getting into
the same issues that justhappened.
So that has been a pivotal pointfor me to solving for long term.
(11:01):
Every time we had a problem, wesolve for long term that issue
and people learn from that.
So that was a really goodlearning lesson in my opinion.
David Kong (11:09):
Yeah, that's very true.
You bring your team along andthey grow through the process as
well.
Now, you alluded to this, butsetbacks are actually great
opportunities that can shapeyour career.
Would you mind to speak to aspecific setback that you faced,
any of the financial crisis orAny of the other challenges that
(11:29):
you faced?
Mehul Patel (11:31):
Yeah, I think now I'm been 25 years after my
college here in the hotelindustry, banking industry.
There is, I would call manychallenges.
I wouldn't call it such afailure.
Sometimes the failure makes yousay it's a wake up call or kind
of saying.
This is my wheelhouse.
I can fix it because I know howto deal with it.
I'll talk about 2000 challengeswhen 9 11 happened very young
(11:54):
age, didn't knew much about howto deal with it.
And I think the country hasn'tdealt with 9 11.
We didn't have that big ofterror attack.
So the world was trying to learnon it.
And as a young entrepreneur, Iwas also learning.
How to take care of my business,how to take care of my people
and people weren't coming tohotel and when people came in, I
learned from CNN.
San Francisco people wereserving cake when the travelers
(12:16):
came just to give a travelerconfidence and all that.
So I was living in Texas in asmall town.
So I did the similar stufflearning from CNN.
Other hotelier were doing rightin a big city.
So that was learning from otherleaders who's doing a great job
out there.
2008 and 9 financial cries werevery detrimental.
I had 10 hotel underconstruction and convincing a
(12:38):
lender when the hotel isn't openand they're asking how is your
performer looking when thedownturn is that the travel
demand was downturn and you'retrying to show your performer
that you're going to meet thedebt service.
And so I had to convince alender to talk about how my
management style is different.
We're all hands in approach.
(12:58):
We're a day to day operator.
We would go to the property andreally meeting with the
customer, meeting with our teammember and trying to best
downsize our operation to makesure managing the expectation of
the guest and expectation ofemployee to make sure we cram
down all the expenses and everymoney we would make, we'll make
sure the lenders get taken careof on it.
(13:20):
The best part we did in 2009 wasinvited all the lender in one
meeting and given them ourstrategy.
How are we going to survive?
And I said, if we don't survive,we'll call you again and ask
you, how can I survive becauseeither you have the answer or I
have the answers.
And so we navigated through thatsetback as well.
And I think the last setback wasCOVID.
(13:42):
I think we all, I think theworld was put to a challenge
that how are you going tosurvive?
And I think March 16, when theworld shut down, I had 47
hotels.
I think we had to shut down 26hotel and asking every single
team member to go home and notsure if you're going to get a
paycheck two weeks from now whenthe hotel is shut down.
(14:03):
I didn't even have the answer.
And every day at four o'clock Ihad a call with the team and I
would update them what's goingon.
I'm talking to the lender,talking to the brand, talking to
all the lodging association,right?
HNLA, who we were all exchangingideas, what they're doing.
And it was an all day long zoomcall.
Luckily we were working fromhome, but it was.
12 to 14 hours a zoom call andtrying to share best practices
(14:25):
and help everybody.
And what we came about is ourteam was behind the scene to
come up with a plan to say.
Mike, you're working on a frontend.
Let us work at the propertylevel, grassroot level.
And that is how you build acompany culture.
Our leaders were working, takingcare at that point.
It's not your problem.
It is our problem to solve also.
So we all came to, uh, togetherand we make sure that all of our
(14:49):
team were taking care, theirneeds were taking care, food
were taking care.
And we said, we'll survive 30days at a time.
And luckily we open all thehotel after 47 days.
We brought the team back.
We did a deep cleaning andmanaged taking care of their
families and whatnot, but mostimportant, we looked at their
safety in COVID, make sure thatno one was impacted and anything
(15:10):
we could help them with family.
So I think that was the biggestsetback financially for the
company, but we had a strongbalance sheet.
And we had a strong escrow.
So we were able to survive thatthe biggest setback in my life I
would say and most of thecompanies right the largest
company had a big setback offThey had to draw their line of
(15:31):
credit and luckily we had a gooddiscipline in escrow And the
biggest item is having a bestrelationship with your brand
partner your lender When youknow that when you call and say
something, you live by yourword, that meant most of the
lenders saying, if I had myborrower telling me something,
they stood by it and theysupported us.
(15:51):
So that was my biggest learninglesson is the relationship.
David Kong (15:55):
That's true.
And we're going to learn moreabout how you build those
relationships.
But first, I want to alsocomment that you have built a
wonderful team.
People have stayed with you fora long time.
What do you do to find the rightpeople?
And also, what's your philosophyon coaching and developing that
talent?
Mehul Patel (16:16):
I think in a leadership style, first is
attitude.
Are their attitude willing to doeverything?
Be part of a team and not justdefine their role as their role.
That has been a key factor onpicking the attitude.
If the person has a positiveattitude and willing to do
anything and everything fortheir team, then that is the
check mark.
In my opinion, I would say,that's the person I want to work
(16:38):
with attitude, right?
I should be able to feelcomfortable to work somebody.
I always tell my team, youalways want to hire a person
that can you work for thatperson?
If you can work for somebodyelse, that's the person you
would have a better.
Synchronization, crafting,collaboration, relationship.
So that is a true quality and welook for it.
When, once you identifyexecutive team, I always look
(16:59):
for empowerment.
You have to empower your team todo the right thing and let them
give them a challenge, give themthe opportunity.
And let them run with it, givethem opportunity, give them
their own space to show theircreativity, show their ups and
down and let them navigatethrough it.
If you don't allow theempowerment to happen, then the
leader doesn't flourish.
(17:20):
You don't see their best qualitycoming out of it, right?
So you got to give thatopportunity to a leader.
And that's always beenempowerment is one of the factor
that we look at our company tosay you have to empower your
leader.
And then see continue growth,right?
Once you have a leader, you wantto see around the room is, are
you helping grow other leadersin the room or are they just
(17:40):
staying there?
Many times people don't getopportunity for growth, then
they'll think about outside thebox.
But sometimes you invest all thetime and effort.
on the human capital.
They don't want to leave youright.
It's a simple philosophy.
Invest in your people, help themgrow, empowerment them, and
that's your team.
That's your core team.
(18:01):
Those are three simplephilosophy I have lived and
breathed by.
But that's not just me.
But this is a universal, I wouldsay, approach to it.
A good culture, bringing theright executive leadership to
your company and surroundingyourself with the right leader,
in my opinion.
David Kong (18:19):
So true.
No wonder you've been sosuccessful.
Very good advice indeed.
Now you've managed some reallydifficult situations and I have
always admired your politicalacumen.
How do you navigate a situationwhere there are strong opinions
and very diverse opinions?
and achieve unity towards aproductive outcome.
(18:41):
As a
Mehul Patel (18:42):
leader, you always have to think about Not taking a
position left or right your jobas a leader to always Actively
listen your job is to I alwaystell people in my it's funny.
I'm gonna show it to you This isthe principle.
I live word by two years onemouth.
Can you read it?
I always say active listening.
That's the biggest aspect of myOffice too.
(19:04):
I tell people active listeningthat is if you can listen what
the person is saying And notwhat you want to hear that is
two different part on it.
So my always philosophy isActive listening, not taking
sides as a leader and trying tofigure out a common goals when
you have two person or twodifferent approaches.
(19:24):
What is the common goal for eachparty?
And if you can figure out acommon ground, I think you
accomplish the objective ofbringing two people together.
And often we use the wordcollaboration, but people don't
understand the collaborationword.
That you're not supposed to takea side or not pick a path.
Bring two people together andreally hearing what they have to
(19:46):
say.
And really, I call it a, that'swhat I call it a strategic
mediation to be a degree.
We're trying to help mediate twopeople together.
And that is the I would saysuccess of a unity on anything
you accomplish, whether work inany organization, whether in
your family, whether I have sonand daughter, they both want
(20:06):
something that goes to theparent.
How do you listen to both ofthem and really finding what
they really wanted and finding acommon ground, right?
So I have been such a lucky thatbe able to bring people together
and really not take a side andreally give them a middle ground
to say, I think here is we canall work together and that has
(20:28):
been a true success.
When I was at a whole, I hadopportunity to work with you.
And when I was dealing with 35,000, 35 board member, very
diverse group of board member,different education sector,
everything dealing withdifferent issues.
And then 16, 000 who are boardmember at that time and dealing
with all the industry brand.
And I was really careful inlistening to high profile
(20:51):
leader.
My job was to listen.
And then when I listen, I wentback to my team and say, this is
what I heard.
This is what they say, not whatI thought.
I said, this is what I heard.
And this is the way for us tosolve it.
So that was my true success onbringing people together and
working with the peopletogether.
David Kong (21:10):
I'd love that.
I also think that activelistening is the key to
coalescing diverse opinions andidentifying common ground and
Also, the common goals of theparties involved.
Very good advice.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Now, you were an early adopterof the Boutique Lifestyle Hotels
(21:33):
before it became the mainstream.
I remember you talking aboutthat.
And I was just wondering, what'syour advice on staying ahead of
the curve?
Mehul Patel (21:43):
Thanks to our industry, America's Lodging
Conference.
I was sitting there, I thinkthis is in 2008.
In Microsoft theater, one of theengineer came in and he showed
us what Microsoft windows looklike 98 windows, 2000 windows.
And I think that was a windowsXP.
And then now office three 65,right?
I was sitting at 2008 and Isaid, if you are in technology
(22:06):
world, if you don't continue toevolve and change, this is in
2008, I'm thinking, reflectinghow I'm giving you my answer
today, but staying ahead of yourcompanies and the world, it's
the most.
important aspect of a leader anda company to think ahead of it
because The mindset often changepeople wants and needs are
(22:26):
different time to time And youalways have to think today is my
routine how my routine is goingto change five ten years from
today From my behavior myworking behavior to everything
And so at that point we were thehotel industry had a core brand
and then every time this newbrand were coming up and every
hotel owner would say Why wouldwe invest in a new hotel?
(22:48):
It's the same guest room, butdifferent name.
I saw something different.
I said, no, their style isdifferent.
Their offering is changing, eventhough it's the same guest room,
but we're differentiating theoffering, differentiating a
guest room experience, eventhough it's changes only 25
percent of the wholeprogramming.
And so that's where I fall inlove with lifestyle.
(23:10):
I'm sure in 2000, we all heardthe word lifestyle to say, okay,
that's the new segment has.
in a big way.
And so I said, okay, I'm goingto focus on it.
And dual brand was a new conceptto say, you put two hotel
together, uh, complimentary,whether a courtyard town place
or Hampton and Homewoodtogether, every brand has that
(23:31):
same combinations.
And so I was early adopter in2011 to start building courtyard
and town place and AC hotel andresidency.
And we built probably dozen sofar.
And we were really successfulbringing those two brands
together And many times we wouldhave a family who lives in a
residence in and a businesstraveler stays in a courtyard
(23:51):
But they were all able to meettogether whether they're friends
or whatnot Uh, their wants andneeds are different even when
two friends are travelingsomebody wants because they have
family They want extended stayand someone wants lifestyle
whether he's here or whatnot Sowe made an early investment in a
lifestyle space in a dual brandin urban city center and that
become a huge Differentiate forour company to say, you know
(24:13):
what this guys have figured outa way and then we hosted many
events to share our success.
With all the brand partner andit become a really true game
changer for the industry to say,you know what, two brand can
concide and now there are peoplewho have done triple brand three
together, right?
Two weren't enough, they did athree brands together.
(24:34):
Kudos to industry that we tooksomething out of the industry
and really took a challenge tosay we could create something
unique in the, in the industry.
So we were the first, we taken amany old office building.
Class C office building, butclass B location and converted
them to a historic building intoa hotel, we would convert
historic building into alifestyle boutique hotel or
(24:57):
convert them into a dual brand.
So we really looked at aredevelopment, completely
different approach than justtraditionally building or buying
something else.
And that was a really gamechanger and local municipality
were given us a really kudos tosay we had a vacant building.
You came in.
The building's been sitting 20year and you came in and really
(25:18):
given a new life.
And so that was a many what Icall it is giving back is fun So
we've given back manycommunities a lot of fun what I
call it that people still enjoythat experience today They're
taking old and giving them a newlife.
David Kong (25:33):
I love that and it really ties into what you were
saying earlier sometimeschallenges opportunities and You
look at a situation that youidentified opportunities because
you're thinking strategicallyand you're thinking long term
and you're not afraid to take arisk and you surround yourself
with a great team.
All the things that you said sofar has been wonderful advice.
(25:56):
I really appreciate that.
Mehul Patel (25:58):
Thank
David Kong (25:58):
you.
Now I see that we're running alittle tight on time, so I'm
going to ask you just three morequestions.
The first one ties intonetworking.
You alluded to this earlierbecause of the strong
relationships that you had withyour lenders, your friends, and
also your partners, you wereable to not only survive but
excel through the differentcrises that the industry faced.
(26:22):
So what's your advice onbuilding a strong, meaningful
connection with all thosepeople?
Mehul Patel (26:29):
I think it's the most valuable network you could
build.
I always tell in life, when youwere born, your name was given
by somebody else.
Education was given by somebodyelse.
The food was given by somebodyelse who made the food for you.
Whether you go eat outside,somebody given the food, a job
was given to somebody else byyou and your salary was given by
somebody else.
And even when you die, somebodyis going to carry you in the
(26:53):
grave.
So there's nothing a humanbeing.
would do by yourself besidehaving the right network, your
friends, your influential,obviously your friend, family is
always there, but networking iswhat impacts your life
professional and personally.
Many times you're going throughindustry and you're meeting with
the people and really connectingwhat's going on with your world,
(27:15):
connecting with them.
And I always learned that it'snot about always calling
somebody being a selfish to say,I need help.
Sometimes you have to be thefirst one to say, how can I help
you?
Check on somebody to say, howcan I help you?
Sometimes you have to giveyourself before you ask
something else in return, right?
Don't expect always the first ina network to say if I'm
(27:37):
networking with somebody, whatcan I expect in return?
That should never be aboutbuilding a network, right?
You're building a network shouldbe very selfish to say I would
always give If I get somethingin return, I'm gifted, but don't
ask anything in return fornetwork.
Network is just to be there,you're giving something,
somebody's life can be impacted,whatnot.
(27:57):
Second one is, I would alwayssay be authentic.
When you build a network, it'shonesty, ethical, it's integrity
of who you are.
And people respect more of thatthan anything else, because when
you have established thoserelationship with the network,
they will open the doors for youwhen you need it.
They'll help you when you needit, or they'll help you along
(28:18):
the way to find your nextchapter.
I met a lot of the people, andwhen I was buying a portfolio,
this is a classic example, twoof the gentlemen I'm going to
name, L.
Patel with Baywood and Jam Patelfrom Oklahoma City.
I was buying a 25 Lakinda fromRaj Trivedi, one of our best
friend as well, and Raj said Elfrom Baywood might want to buy
(28:40):
some and Champ would want to buysome.
And so I called Champ Patel inBaywood.
I said I'm buying 25.
Instead of us competing, can wejust buy together?
Both of them say yes, and theyhang up the call That was a
simple question that they didn'teven ask how what price or
anything because the mutualrespect was set up to do a 75
million dollar transaction thatboth gentlemen didn't even ask
(29:03):
me anything.
They said we're in mike.
That's it.
And so this is what Trust willcome out of your network on it.
But it has to be authentic.
It has to be honest.
And it's not always that youwant something we we worked on
to give something else, right?
I could have been selfish tosay, I wanna buy my portfolio,
and I could tell them to backoff, but that wasn't my call.
I said, I'm buying this.
Can we do it together?
(29:24):
And they were like, sure, whynot?
We do it together.
And so that's a true power of anetwork in my opinion.
David Kong (29:30):
That's a wonderful story.
I love that story.
It really illustrates the pointthat relationships are built on
trust, and you are authentic,you regard relationships as a
two way street, so it's notalways asking for something, but
also checking on other people tooffer help.
(29:52):
And it's because of that trustthat opened up these
opportunities for you.
And I love what you said aboutthat transaction.
You've thought of a winsolution, which is very
meaningful to buildrelationships.
Thanks so much for sharing thatstory.
We often have a negative innervoice that prohibits us from
(30:12):
reaching our potential.
And that voice is particularlytroublesome when you are in a
setting where you feel like youdon't belong.
How do you maintain confidenceand presence in those
challenging situations?
Mehul Patel (30:28):
First of all, English is my second language.
I wasn't born here.
And I always define myself asaccidental hotelier.
I'm accidental banker now.
And so when you talk about aroom, you always have to be
confident.
So you always have to feel like.
I can figure it out or I'll finda way to get things done.
(30:53):
Those are the two answers andgive me an opportunity.
Sometimes you have to say, I'mworthy enough opportunity or
I'll figure it out.
But my response has always been,you're true valued, have a
confidence on yourself, and beable to demonstrate in a room
where you are invited.
And if you can show yourconfidence, I think people
(31:14):
around the room would say, gladwe included this person.
And that has happened to me andmany times, uh, That's
David Kong (31:22):
a perfect segway to my last question.
I think anyone listening to thispodcast will find Mehul to be
passionate, to be dedicated, andhis enthusiasm is contagious.
And you just spoke to havingthat confidence, that inner
drive in you that enabled you tobe successful.
(31:44):
Is this something that's in allof us?
And if so, how do we discoverand ignite our own inner drive?
Mehul Patel (31:52):
I would say, stay humble, stay adaptable.
Humble is the biggest item thatI learned.
Our good friend, MarkApplemason, always remind us.
Be empathy, be grounded, investin relationship because I
learned from other leaders howto overcome some of my
weaknesses.
(32:12):
If you say here is my friend orhere is my network or here is a
group that I belong to, be openand be able to ask themselves,
can I get a help or I need someassistance here?
It's okay to ask for it, right?
End of the day, but that is whatyou call, I want to be able to
adapt.
I want to be able to change.
I have a belief.
(32:32):
I have the willpower, but whatdoes it take to close that
circle?
You have to be able to speak upat the same time.
You cannot just always say whatyou want to say, but sometimes
there is other people also havesomething to contribute in your,
thus the willpower can igniteyou time to time.
(32:54):
Sometimes you cannot be alwayssay, I know everything I always
look at in my room is when youhave a people full of rumor on
you don't want to be the smart.
You don't want to be thesmartest person.
You want a leader to make allother people smart in the room.
You shouldn't be the only way.
Always person say if you canmake 10 people smarter than you
are, you accomplish the biggestobjective of your day or your
(33:18):
life.
Because now, because of that 10people smarter, they're going to
make other 100 people smarter.
And so that is what really makesyou don't always feel like
you're the smartest person, giveother people opportunity to
rise, give other peopleopportunity to demonstrate their
leadership, their passion.
And that is how I stayadaptable, be able to change, be
(33:41):
able to deliver, be able to takethings forward.
And it's a journey.
It doesn't end here.
Our destination isn't final.
Success isn't about everythingthat you want to achieve
somewhere.
There is no success in life, inmy opinion, because you're
raising the bar every year.
You're getting older, you'regetting wiser.
You want to do better thingsevery year.
(34:02):
To me, there is never a successto me.
It's, can I do better thanyesterday?
Can I feel better thanyesterday?
Can I make people around me feelbetter than yesterday because I
may have not done a good enoughjob yesterday, but can I do
better job tomorrow?
And if I can bring smile topeople, it's the greatest joy of
my life.
I would say
David Kong (34:22):
so true.
I love everything that you justsaid.
And I particularly like what yousaid about surrounding yourself
with people that are smarterthan you.
You want to hire people that aresmarter than you.
Because that's how all of us canget better.
Thanks for sharing thatwonderful tip.
I'm afraid that we're out oftime.
I feel like I can talk to youthe whole day.
(34:43):
But regrettably, we are out oftime.
I want to thank you again, MeiHoo, for that wonderful insight
and tremendous advice.
Thanks for taking the time toshare your wisdom with us.
Thank you, David.
And to our audience, if youenjoyed this interview, I hope
you'll join us on our website.
It's personalstories.
com.
We hope to see you there.
Thanks again.
(35:04):
Thank you.
Greetings, I'm David Kong, the founder and principal
of It's Personal Stories.
We are a hospitality podcastwith a mission to empower
personal success.
Today, I'm delighted to welcomeMehul Patel, a dear friend.
He's also the managing partnerof New Crest Image.
He was the past chairman of theAsian American Hotel Owners
(00:24):
Association.
Really Mehul.
Thank you.
It's my pleasure to be here withyou, David.
Mayhoo, you've had a remarkablecareer journey.
You came to this country andtogether with your partner,
Chirag, bought a small bulk mailorganization and you were able
(00:46):
to quadruple the sales in thefirst year and then you
leveraged that and launched intothe hotel business and the rest
is history.
Would you care to share the keymilestones and lessons of your
career journey with us?
Mehul Patel (01:01):
Sure, David.
Thank you.
First of all, having me on thisshow.
I'm really excited to be part ofthis show.
You have done a great job in theindustry and you were able to
attract many great speaker thatI admire and how passion.
to hear their personal story, soI'm, I'm really great to be here
with you.
So, my journey has been reallyinteresting.
(01:21):
I came into this country when Iwas 13.
I finished my high school andcollege here, and I didn't speak
any English when I came intothis country, because in India I
studied in my native language,Gujarati.
And went to boarding school, butcoming here really adaptive to
the Western culture.
When I went to high school, Ihad many struggles.
Language was one barrier, butjust understanding the sports.
(01:46):
How classes work, how educationsystem work, how grading system
work.
That was my first beginning.
And when you came into thiscountry, you don't have any
money.
You go in school bus navigatingthrough all those challenges
when you are 13, 14 was really aunique challenge.
So that was my beginning.
journey to set myself up for betough.
(02:06):
Get ready for this journeybecause you don't know anything.
You came to a country whereyou're going to explore and
learn yourself on it.
And then I was going in a highschool, we only had one car.
So my sister's got a job atmailing company, the mailing
company that I bought and oftenI would go with her because we
only had one car and I needed ajob.
So I talked to the owner, I gotmy first job and I was one of
(02:29):
the best employee for him.
Because I had a genuine interestto work and make a living out of
it.
I was in high school, sophomoreyear.
I worked after school 30, threehours a day in a mailing
company.
A year later, I got my drivinglicense and my owner was
struggling.
He had a big challenge withimmigration and he was going to
(02:49):
sell the company.
And so I had worked in a companyfor a year.
I made about 4, 000 a year and Iwas a mail courier.
And so one day he was like, Hey,I'm going to sell this company
and things going to bedifferent.
And I was like, curious, why areyou selling it?
So he told me all his problem.
And so then we said, why don'twe buy the company?
And he laughed at us, right?
I was 16 at that point.
(03:11):
And so we said, no, seriously,we would love to buy the
business.
And obviously both of us didn'thave any experience on buying a
first business.
So we talked to him.
So we agreed on 75, 000 price,25, 000 down payment.
So me, Chirag, and a coupleother guys.
brought the down payment 25, 000and he financed 75, 000 and then
(03:33):
we hired him because we didn'thave the education of how to run
a business.
So we hired him to work for us2, 000 a month and we said, we
will pay you your 50, 000.
More important, you know thathow the business is going
because while working, you'llknow that you'll get your 50,
000.
So it was a really trust factor.
And so that was what happened.
(03:54):
And I got a job, I bought thecompany, and we started changing
behind the scene, what theweakness we knew, because
sometimes people played.
Sometimes people didn't workproperly.
So once I bought the company, weall made it very efficient and
all the friends were workingtogether.
So it become a very unifiedgroup.
A team really worked together,all the high schoolers.
(04:16):
And one day we bought thecompany for 75, 000.
And the same year in December,we got a big contract.
Suddenly the company is worth amillion dollars in six months.
Couple years later I sold thecompany for a million dollars.
Before I finished my highschool, before I went to
college, and started my journeyin hotel business.
And I always wanted to be in ahotel because that's where I
(04:39):
started my journey when my dadand mom lived in a motel.
And so then I made all theinvestment while going to
college and high school in amotel business because I thought
that's where I can create abigger value.
And then I bought a roadsideindependent motel, would convert
to a franchise motel like I haddone at one Best Western.
We did Days Inn, Super 8,Ramada, Quality Inn.
(05:02):
So I would buy roadside propertythere next to McDonald's or
something and convert tofranchise and then create a
revenue and sell them.
And then completed my collegedegree.
And then 2001, 9 11 happened.
That was a really roadblock.
I didn't have many assets, but Iwas still quite young and didn't
realize what was happening tothe travel industry with 9 11.
(05:25):
I was still learning at thatpoint, what was going on with
the travel.
How deep the travel impacted onit.
And I was really learning,hearing everything on it.
And year later, I said, I wantto start building.
I want to start construction.
So we build our first bestWestern, the ground up
construction was inJacksonville, Texas.
So that was my first experiencewith best Western brand ground
(05:48):
up building construction.
And so we started fine tuning.
I had a couple of great guys tosay, we would like to build the
best Western.
And that was the beginningjourney in construction
industry.
And since 2003 to 2008, I builtprobably a dozen hotels and 2008
crisis happened.
In 2009, we were completing allthose assets.
(06:09):
Very tough time for me tounderstand.
And every downturn has given mea different new learning lesson,
whether.
Financial issue, liquidityissue, or not enough leadership
or enough bench in the companythat I was building for it to
take a new challenges.
And so that was a new learninglesson to how to manage risk on
(06:30):
your portfolio.
And then we overcame the 2008challenge.
Then since 2012, we have a newstrategy.
We said, we're going to have adiscipline investment thesis if
we're going to do it again.
And then we started buildingdual brand.
We converted to many MarriottHilton.
Really elevated our portfolio todifferent level and primarily
(06:53):
started building in urbanlocation And started forming a
management company a truemanagement company where the
leadership would take a role Andreally have all the discipline
in a company.
So it probably took me 15 yearsto learn from where I was a
rookie to become a, I would sayreally I was a true professional
running a hotel managementcompany.
But along the way there was manyfailures.
(07:16):
You name it.
Every challenge is from buildingconstruction, managing, setting
up a management company, gettinga loan, dealing with a downturn,
and managing lender expectation,brand expectation, and people
When your team is expectingtheir expectation as well.
So those were a beginningjourney of my getting into a
true becoming a hotelprofessional, I would say.
David Kong (07:39):
You've come a very long way, and I find it so
remarkable that at the age of16, you bought the company where
you had your first job.
That's just a wonderful story,and how you thought about the
wind solution of buying thecompany, having the owner
finance it, and retaining him sohe could help you run the
(08:00):
business.
That's just so smart at such ayoung age.
And the whole journey is full ofwonderful stories.
I love it.
You spoke to some of thechallenges that you face,
whether it be securing a loan orconstruction or the downturn in
economy, and you've excelledthrough all those challenges.
Would you mind to share youradvice on How to approach
(08:23):
challenges and provide some tipson how you remain resilient.
Mehul Patel (08:28):
Sure.
Over the years, what I havelearned and every downturn, the,
what things have helped me.
Every time you have a problem orchallenge, there is a bigger
opportunity.
Sometimes the problem arecreated for the big opportunity,
in my opinion.
And when you are dealing with aproblem or a opportunity, how
can you convert opportunity?
(08:49):
It requires, I always looked attwo or three different
attributes.
First one is strategic mindset.
You gotta think long term.
Any challenges you have, if youare thinking short term to solve
the problem, You're basicallyputting a bandage in my opinion.
So you really need a strategicmindset to think about the
decision you're trying to maketo solve a problem.
(09:10):
What is that impact going to beshort term, long term?
So that is what you really haveto think about it.
Second one is I would say yougot to take calculated risk when
you are in trouble or challenge.
You really have to take acalculation risk.
What is the risk factor, whetherfrom human capital side, what
other stakeholder may beimpacted.
So you really have to thinkabout a calculated risk
(09:32):
approach.
And then the last one is peopleand leadership.
I think that's the mostimportant.
When you have a challenge, youreach out to your leadership,
your team members to say, howcan we solve together as a team
effort?
Sometimes you're not the onlysmartest person in the room who
could solve everything, butsometimes who's surrounding you
They may have the answer.
So you just have to include themrather than exclude in my
(09:53):
opinion, because many times thesame people in the room, they
were also part of the problem,or they were also part of the
solution.
So sometimes working together,solving a challenge, that would
be my approach.
It has always been anything Ihave always done.
Look around the room and say,Hey.
Could you help me?
Or you might have a betterperspective than I do.
(10:14):
So sometimes hearing peopleperspective before coming down
to a conclusion would be abetter opportunity conversion,
in my opinion.
David Kong (10:23):
That's so true.
And it's wonderful advice.
And I particularly like the waythat you think about a
challenge.
It's actually could be anopportunity.
And yeah, but you have to thinkstrategically and you have to
think long term.
But the more
Mehul Patel (10:40):
the time and time you do that level of involvement
with your team, the team becomesstronger and they're thinking
day to day problem.
They're solving it much betterin a strategic way.
So your, your company or yourleadership isn't getting into
the same issues that justhappened.
So that has been a pivotal pointfor me to solving for long term.
(11:01):
Every time we had a problem, wesolve for long term that issue
and people learn from that.
So that was a really goodlearning lesson in my opinion.
David Kong (11:09):
Yeah, that's very true.
You bring your team along andthey grow through the process as
well.
Now, you alluded to this, butsetbacks are actually great
opportunities that can shapeyour career.
Would you mind to speak to aspecific setback that you faced,
any of the financial crisis orAny of the other challenges that
(11:29):
you faced?
Mehul Patel (11:31):
Yeah, I think now I'm been 25 years after my
college here in the hotelindustry, banking industry.
There is, I would call manychallenges.
I wouldn't call it such afailure.
Sometimes the failure makes yousay it's a wake up call or kind
of saying.
This is my wheelhouse.
I can fix it because I know howto deal with it.
I'll talk about 2000 challengeswhen 9 11 happened very young
(11:54):
age, didn't knew much about howto deal with it.
And I think the country hasn'tdealt with 9 11.
We didn't have that big ofterror attack.
So the world was trying to learnon it.
And as a young entrepreneur, Iwas also learning.
How to take care of my business,how to take care of my people
and people weren't coming tohotel and when people came in, I
learned from CNN.
San Francisco people wereserving cake when the travelers
(12:16):
came just to give a travelerconfidence and all that.
So I was living in Texas in asmall town.
So I did the similar stufflearning from CNN.
Other hotelier were doing rightin a big city.
So that was learning from otherleaders who's doing a great job
out there.
2008 and 9 financial cries werevery detrimental.
I had 10 hotel underconstruction and convincing a
(12:38):
lender when the hotel isn't openand they're asking how is your
performer looking when thedownturn is that the travel
demand was downturn and you'retrying to show your performer
that you're going to meet thedebt service.
And so I had to convince alender to talk about how my
management style is different.
We're all hands in approach.
(12:58):
We're a day to day operator.
We would go to the property andreally meeting with the
customer, meeting with our teammember and trying to best
downsize our operation to makesure managing the expectation of
the guest and expectation ofemployee to make sure we cram
down all the expenses and everymoney we would make, we'll make
sure the lenders get taken careof on it.
(13:20):
The best part we did in 2009 wasinvited all the lender in one
meeting and given them ourstrategy.
How are we going to survive?
And I said, if we don't survive,we'll call you again and ask
you, how can I survive becauseeither you have the answer or I
have the answers.
And so we navigated through thatsetback as well.
And I think the last setback wasCOVID.
(13:42):
I think we all, I think theworld was put to a challenge
that how are you going tosurvive?
And I think March 16, when theworld shut down, I had 47
hotels.
I think we had to shut down 26hotel and asking every single
team member to go home and notsure if you're going to get a
paycheck two weeks from now whenthe hotel is shut down.
(14:03):
I didn't even have the answer.
And every day at four o'clock Ihad a call with the team and I
would update them what's goingon.
I'm talking to the lender,talking to the brand, talking to
all the lodging association,right?
HNLA, who we were all exchangingideas, what they're doing.
And it was an all day long zoomcall.
Luckily we were working fromhome, but it was.
12 to 14 hours a zoom call andtrying to share best practices
(14:25):
and help everybody.
And what we came about is ourteam was behind the scene to
come up with a plan to say.
Mike, you're working on a frontend.
Let us work at the propertylevel, grassroot level.
And that is how you build acompany culture.
Our leaders were working, takingcare at that point.
It's not your problem.
It is our problem to solve also.
So we all came to, uh, togetherand we make sure that all of our
(14:49):
team were taking care, theirneeds were taking care, food
were taking care.
And we said, we'll survive 30days at a time.
And luckily we open all thehotel after 47 days.
We brought the team back.
We did a deep cleaning andmanaged taking care of their
families and whatnot, but mostimportant, we looked at their
safety in COVID, make sure thatno one was impacted and anything
(15:10):
we could help them with family.
So I think that was the biggestsetback financially for the
company, but we had a strongbalance sheet.
And we had a strong escrow.
So we were able to survive thatthe biggest setback in my life I
would say and most of thecompanies right the largest
company had a big setback offThey had to draw their line of
(15:31):
credit and luckily we had a gooddiscipline in escrow And the
biggest item is having a bestrelationship with your brand
partner your lender When youknow that when you call and say
something, you live by yourword, that meant most of the
lenders saying, if I had myborrower telling me something,
they stood by it and theysupported us.
(15:51):
So that was my biggest learninglesson is the relationship.
David Kong (15:55):
That's true.
And we're going to learn moreabout how you build those
relationships.
But first, I want to alsocomment that you have built a
wonderful team.
People have stayed with you fora long time.
What do you do to find the rightpeople?
And also, what's your philosophyon coaching and developing that
talent?
Mehul Patel (16:16):
I think in a leadership style, first is
attitude.
Are their attitude willing to doeverything?
Be part of a team and not justdefine their role as their role.
That has been a key factor onpicking the attitude.
If the person has a positiveattitude and willing to do
anything and everything fortheir team, then that is the
check mark.
In my opinion, I would say,that's the person I want to work
(16:38):
with attitude, right?
I should be able to feelcomfortable to work somebody.
I always tell my team, youalways want to hire a person
that can you work for thatperson?
If you can work for somebodyelse, that's the person you
would have a better.
Synchronization, crafting,collaboration, relationship.
So that is a true quality and welook for it.
When, once you identifyexecutive team, I always look
(16:59):
for empowerment.
You have to empower your team todo the right thing and let them
give them a challenge, give themthe opportunity.
And let them run with it, givethem opportunity, give them
their own space to show theircreativity, show their ups and
down and let them navigatethrough it.
If you don't allow theempowerment to happen, then the
leader doesn't flourish.
(17:20):
You don't see their best qualitycoming out of it, right?
So you got to give thatopportunity to a leader.
And that's always beenempowerment is one of the factor
that we look at our company tosay you have to empower your
leader.
And then see continue growth,right?
Once you have a leader, you wantto see around the room is, are
you helping grow other leadersin the room or are they just
(17:40):
staying there?
Many times people don't getopportunity for growth, then
they'll think about outside thebox.
But sometimes you invest all thetime and effort.
on the human capital.
They don't want to leave youright.
It's a simple philosophy.
Invest in your people, help themgrow, empowerment them, and
that's your team.
That's your core team.
(18:01):
Those are three simplephilosophy I have lived and
breathed by.
But that's not just me.
But this is a universal, I wouldsay, approach to it.
A good culture, bringing theright executive leadership to
your company and surroundingyourself with the right leader,
in my opinion.
David Kong (18:19):
So true.
No wonder you've been sosuccessful.
Very good advice indeed.
Now you've managed some reallydifficult situations and I have
always admired your politicalacumen.
How do you navigate a situationwhere there are strong opinions
and very diverse opinions?
and achieve unity towards aproductive outcome.
(18:41):
As a
Mehul Patel (18:42):
leader, you always have to think about Not taking a
position left or right your jobas a leader to always Actively
listen your job is to I alwaystell people in my it's funny.
I'm gonna show it to you This isthe principle.
I live word by two years onemouth.
Can you read it?
I always say active listening.
That's the biggest aspect of myOffice too.
(19:04):
I tell people active listeningthat is if you can listen what
the person is saying And notwhat you want to hear that is
two different part on it.
So my always philosophy isActive listening, not taking
sides as a leader and trying tofigure out a common goals when
you have two person or twodifferent approaches.
(19:24):
What is the common goal for eachparty?
And if you can figure out acommon ground, I think you
accomplish the objective ofbringing two people together.
And often we use the wordcollaboration, but people don't
understand the collaborationword.
That you're not supposed to takea side or not pick a path.
Bring two people together andreally hearing what they have to
(19:46):
say.
And really, I call it a, that'swhat I call it a strategic
mediation to be a degree.
We're trying to help mediate twopeople together.
And that is the I would saysuccess of a unity on anything
you accomplish, whether work inany organization, whether in
your family, whether I have sonand daughter, they both want
(20:06):
something that goes to theparent.
How do you listen to both ofthem and really finding what
they really wanted and finding acommon ground, right?
So I have been such a lucky thatbe able to bring people together
and really not take a side andreally give them a middle ground
to say, I think here is we canall work together and that has
(20:28):
been a true success.
When I was at a whole, I hadopportunity to work with you.
And when I was dealing with 35,000, 35 board member, very
diverse group of board member,different education sector,
everything dealing withdifferent issues.
And then 16, 000 who are boardmember at that time and dealing
with all the industry brand.
And I was really careful inlistening to high profile
(20:51):
leader.
My job was to listen.
And then when I listen, I wentback to my team and say, this is
what I heard.
This is what they say, not whatI thought.
I said, this is what I heard.
And this is the way for us tosolve it.
So that was my true success onbringing people together and
working with the peopletogether.
David Kong (21:10):
I'd love that.
I also think that activelistening is the key to
coalescing diverse opinions andidentifying common ground and
Also, the common goals of theparties involved.
Very good advice.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Now, you were an early adopterof the Boutique Lifestyle Hotels
(21:33):
before it became the mainstream.
I remember you talking aboutthat.
And I was just wondering, what'syour advice on staying ahead of
the curve?
Mehul Patel (21:43):
Thanks to our industry, America's Lodging
Conference.
I was sitting there, I thinkthis is in 2008.
In Microsoft theater, one of theengineer came in and he showed
us what Microsoft windows looklike 98 windows, 2000 windows.
And I think that was a windowsXP.
And then now office three 65,right?
I was sitting at 2008 and Isaid, if you are in technology
(22:06):
world, if you don't continue toevolve and change, this is in
2008, I'm thinking, reflectinghow I'm giving you my answer
today, but staying ahead of yourcompanies and the world, it's
the most.
important aspect of a leader anda company to think ahead of it
because The mindset often changepeople wants and needs are
(22:26):
different time to time And youalways have to think today is my
routine how my routine is goingto change five ten years from
today From my behavior myworking behavior to everything
And so at that point we were thehotel industry had a core brand
and then every time this newbrand were coming up and every
hotel owner would say Why wouldwe invest in a new hotel?
(22:48):
It's the same guest room, butdifferent name.
I saw something different.
I said, no, their style isdifferent.
Their offering is changing, eventhough it's the same guest room,
but we're differentiating theoffering, differentiating a
guest room experience, eventhough it's changes only 25
percent of the wholeprogramming.
And so that's where I fall inlove with lifestyle.
(23:10):
I'm sure in 2000, we all heardthe word lifestyle to say, okay,
that's the new segment has.
in a big way.
And so I said, okay, I'm goingto focus on it.
And dual brand was a new conceptto say, you put two hotel
together, uh, complimentary,whether a courtyard town place
or Hampton and Homewoodtogether, every brand has that
(23:31):
same combinations.
And so I was early adopter in2011 to start building courtyard
and town place and AC hotel andresidency.
And we built probably dozen sofar.
And we were really successfulbringing those two brands
together And many times we wouldhave a family who lives in a
residence in and a businesstraveler stays in a courtyard
(23:51):
But they were all able to meettogether whether they're friends
or whatnot Uh, their wants andneeds are different even when
two friends are travelingsomebody wants because they have
family They want extended stayand someone wants lifestyle
whether he's here or whatnot Sowe made an early investment in a
lifestyle space in a dual brandin urban city center and that
become a huge Differentiate forour company to say, you know
(24:13):
what this guys have figured outa way and then we hosted many
events to share our success.
With all the brand partner andit become a really true game
changer for the industry to say,you know what, two brand can
concide and now there are peoplewho have done triple brand three
together, right?
Two weren't enough, they did athree brands together.
(24:34):
Kudos to industry that we tooksomething out of the industry
and really took a challenge tosay we could create something
unique in the, in the industry.
So we were the first, we taken amany old office building.
Class C office building, butclass B location and converted
them to a historic building intoa hotel, we would convert
historic building into alifestyle boutique hotel or
(24:57):
convert them into a dual brand.
So we really looked at aredevelopment, completely
different approach than justtraditionally building or buying
something else.
And that was a really gamechanger and local municipality
were given us a really kudos tosay we had a vacant building.
You came in.
The building's been sitting 20year and you came in and really
(25:18):
given a new life.
And so that was a many what Icall it is giving back is fun So
we've given back manycommunities a lot of fun what I
call it that people still enjoythat experience today They're
taking old and giving them a newlife.
David Kong (25:33):
I love that and it really ties into what you were
saying earlier sometimeschallenges opportunities and You
look at a situation that youidentified opportunities because
you're thinking strategicallyand you're thinking long term
and you're not afraid to take arisk and you surround yourself
with a great team.
All the things that you said sofar has been wonderful advice.
(25:56):
I really appreciate that.
Mehul Patel (25:58):
Thank
David Kong (25:58):
you.
Now I see that we're running alittle tight on time, so I'm
going to ask you just three morequestions.
The first one ties intonetworking.
You alluded to this earlierbecause of the strong
relationships that you had withyour lenders, your friends, and
also your partners, you wereable to not only survive but
excel through the differentcrises that the industry faced.
(26:22):
So what's your advice onbuilding a strong, meaningful
connection with all thosepeople?
Mehul Patel (26:29):
I think it's the most valuable network you could
build.
I always tell in life, when youwere born, your name was given
by somebody else.
Education was given by somebodyelse.
The food was given by somebodyelse who made the food for you.
Whether you go eat outside,somebody given the food, a job
was given to somebody else byyou and your salary was given by
somebody else.
And even when you die, somebodyis going to carry you in the
(26:53):
grave.
So there's nothing a humanbeing.
would do by yourself besidehaving the right network, your
friends, your influential,obviously your friend, family is
always there, but networking iswhat impacts your life
professional and personally.
Many times you're going throughindustry and you're meeting with
the people and really connectingwhat's going on with your world,
(27:15):
connecting with them.
And I always learned that it'snot about always calling
somebody being a selfish to say,I need help.
Sometimes you have to be thefirst one to say, how can I help
you?
Check on somebody to say, howcan I help you?
Sometimes you have to giveyourself before you ask
something else in return, right?
Don't expect always the first ina network to say if I'm
(27:37):
networking with somebody, whatcan I expect in return?
That should never be aboutbuilding a network, right?
You're building a network shouldbe very selfish to say I would
always give If I get somethingin return, I'm gifted, but don't
ask anything in return fornetwork.
Network is just to be there,you're giving something,
somebody's life can be impacted,whatnot.
(27:57):
Second one is, I would alwayssay be authentic.
When you build a network, it'shonesty, ethical, it's integrity
of who you are.
And people respect more of thatthan anything else, because when
you have established thoserelationship with the network,
they will open the doors for youwhen you need it.
They'll help you when you needit, or they'll help you along
(28:18):
the way to find your nextchapter.
I met a lot of the people, andwhen I was buying a portfolio,
this is a classic example, twoof the gentlemen I'm going to
name, L.
Patel with Baywood and Jam Patelfrom Oklahoma City.
I was buying a 25 Lakinda fromRaj Trivedi, one of our best
friend as well, and Raj said Elfrom Baywood might want to buy
(28:40):
some and Champ would want to buysome.
And so I called Champ Patel inBaywood.
I said I'm buying 25.
Instead of us competing, can wejust buy together?
Both of them say yes, and theyhang up the call That was a
simple question that they didn'teven ask how what price or
anything because the mutualrespect was set up to do a 75
million dollar transaction thatboth gentlemen didn't even ask
(29:03):
me anything.
They said we're in mike.
That's it.
And so this is what Trust willcome out of your network on it.
But it has to be authentic.
It has to be honest.
And it's not always that youwant something we we worked on
to give something else, right?
I could have been selfish tosay, I wanna buy my portfolio,
and I could tell them to backoff, but that wasn't my call.
I said, I'm buying this.
Can we do it together?
(29:24):
And they were like, sure, whynot?
We do it together.
And so that's a true power of anetwork in my opinion.
David Kong (29:30):
That's a wonderful story.
I love that story.
It really illustrates the pointthat relationships are built on
trust, and you are authentic,you regard relationships as a
two way street, so it's notalways asking for something, but
also checking on other people tooffer help.
(29:52):
And it's because of that trustthat opened up these
opportunities for you.
And I love what you said aboutthat transaction.
You've thought of a winsolution, which is very
meaningful to buildrelationships.
Thanks so much for sharing thatstory.
We often have a negative innervoice that prohibits us from
(30:12):
reaching our potential.
And that voice is particularlytroublesome when you are in a
setting where you feel like youdon't belong.
How do you maintain confidenceand presence in those
challenging situations?
Mehul Patel (30:28):
First of all, English is my second language.
I wasn't born here.
And I always define myself asaccidental hotelier.
I'm accidental banker now.
And so when you talk about aroom, you always have to be
confident.
So you always have to feel like.
I can figure it out or I'll finda way to get things done.
(30:53):
Those are the two answers andgive me an opportunity.
Sometimes you have to say, I'mworthy enough opportunity or
I'll figure it out.
But my response has always been,you're true valued, have a
confidence on yourself, and beable to demonstrate in a room
where you are invited.
And if you can show yourconfidence, I think people
(31:14):
around the room would say, gladwe included this person.
And that has happened to me andmany times, uh, That's
David Kong (31:22):
a perfect segway to my last question.
I think anyone listening to thispodcast will find Mehul to be
passionate, to be dedicated, andhis enthusiasm is contagious.
And you just spoke to havingthat confidence, that inner
drive in you that enabled you tobe successful.
(31:44):
Is this something that's in allof us?
And if so, how do we discoverand ignite our own inner drive?
Mehul Patel (31:52):
I would say, stay humble, stay adaptable.
Humble is the biggest item thatI learned.
Our good friend, MarkApplemason, always remind us.
Be empathy, be grounded, investin relationship because I
learned from other leaders howto overcome some of my
weaknesses.
(32:12):
If you say here is my friend orhere is my network or here is a
group that I belong to, be openand be able to ask themselves,
can I get a help or I need someassistance here?
It's okay to ask for it, right?
End of the day, but that is whatyou call, I want to be able to
adapt.
I want to be able to change.
I have a belief.
(32:32):
I have the willpower, but whatdoes it take to close that
circle?
You have to be able to speak upat the same time.
You cannot just always say whatyou want to say, but sometimes
there is other people also havesomething to contribute in your,
thus the willpower can igniteyou time to time.
(32:54):
Sometimes you cannot be alwayssay, I know everything I always
look at in my room is when youhave a people full of rumor on
you don't want to be the smart.
You don't want to be thesmartest person.
You want a leader to make allother people smart in the room.
You shouldn't be the only way.
Always person say if you canmake 10 people smarter than you
are, you accomplish the biggestobjective of your day or your
(33:18):
life.
Because now, because of that 10people smarter, they're going to
make other 100 people smarter.
And so that is what really makesyou don't always feel like
you're the smartest person, giveother people opportunity to
rise, give other peopleopportunity to demonstrate their
leadership, their passion.
And that is how I stayadaptable, be able to change, be
(33:41):
able to deliver, be able to takethings forward.
And it's a journey.
It doesn't end here.
Our destination isn't final.
Success isn't about everythingthat you want to achieve
somewhere.
There is no success in life, inmy opinion, because you're
raising the bar every year.
You're getting older, you'regetting wiser.
You want to do better thingsevery year.
(34:02):
To me, there is never a successto me.
It's, can I do better thanyesterday?
Can I feel better thanyesterday?
Can I make people around me feelbetter than yesterday because I
may have not done a good enoughjob yesterday, but can I do
better job tomorrow?
And if I can bring smile topeople, it's the greatest joy of
my life.
I would say
David Kong (34:22):
so true.
I love everything that you justsaid.
And I particularly like what yousaid about surrounding yourself
with people that are smarterthan you.
You want to hire people that aresmarter than you.
Because that's how all of us canget better.
Thanks for sharing thatwonderful tip.
I'm afraid that we're out oftime.
I feel like I can talk to youthe whole day.
(34:43):
But regrettably, we are out oftime.
I want to thank you again, MeiHoo, for that wonderful insight
and tremendous advice.
Thanks for taking the time toshare your wisdom with us.
Thank you, David.
And to our audience, if youenjoyed this interview, I hope
you'll join us on our website.
It's personalstories.
com.
We hope to see you there.
Thanks again.
(35:04):
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!