At the time of the article (granted, 20+ years ago), roughly 70% of all Indian motel owners — or about 1/3 of all motel owners in the U.S. — were named Patel. It’s a surname that indicates they are members of a Gujarati Hindu subcaste.
Does Patel mean hospitality?
The name has become so ingrained in the hotel industry that many people believe Patel is an Indian word meaning “hotel.” In fact, Patel evolved from ancient India, where record keepers were appointed to keep track of crops planted on a parcel of land, or a pat.
Why are there so many Patels in America?
If you’re talking about Patels dominant in business in USA, then it’s because they had migrated long time ago, soon after independence and some even before. They lived collectively there. Being a business community (Vaishya), they were always inclined to be entrepreneur.
What percentage of hotels are owned by Indians?
According to a 2017 Report by The Washington Post, more than 40 percent of the motels in the United States are owned by Indian-Americans and out of that 70 percent of them are owned by Gujaratis and most of them have the surname “Patel” or “Amin”.
How many Patels are in the United States?
150,000
There are roughly 500,000 Patels outside India, including about 150,000 in the United Kingdom and about 150,000 in the United States. Nearly 1 in 10 people of Indian origin in the US is a Patel.
What percentage of hotels are owned by Patels?
Patels are estimated to own between 80 and 90 percent of the motels in small towns and Indian-Americans overall dominate the hospitality industry, according to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, an advocacy group for Asian hotel/motel owners.
Why is the Patel name so common?
The last name Patel carries Indian roots and remains most common among Indians. The word comes from Gujarati, an Indo-European language spoken in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Hindu name originally translated to “headman” or “village chief” and was first given to those in positions of leadership.
Why are most motels run by Indians?
Once a family purchased a motel, they would live there, and the family members would do all the tasks needed to run it, from cleaning rooms to checking in guests. That helped keep costs down, and profits went toward acquiring new motels. By the 1980s Gujaratis had come to dominate the industry.
Why are all Patels rich?
“The Patels of Gujarat benefited largely from the Land Reforms Act of 1955; the Green Revolution that followed made the already well-off community rich landowners within a generation,” Shah said. “With water reaching to far-off villages and cash crops becoming the norm, the Patidars became richer.”
Can a Patel marry a Patel?
In a few regions of India, almost everyone is named Patel. By custom Patels are only allowed to marry other Patels.
Are most hotels owned by Indians?
But if you start looking at smaller hotels and motels, especially the privately-owned ones that aren’t chains, you discover that a lot of them are owned by Indian-Americans, many of them first, second, or even third generation immigrants.
Who is the richest hotel owner?
Here are five of the richest hotel owners:
- Sheldon Adelson. With a net worth of $21.8 billion, Sheldon Adelson is the 12th wealthiest American and the 24th richest man on Earth.
- Donald Trump.
- William Barron Hilton.
- Phillip Ruffin.
- Ty Warner.
Who dominates the hotel industry?
World’s Largest Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure Companies
| Rank | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | McDonald’s Corporation | U.S. |
| 2 | Starbucks Corporation | U.S. |
| 3 | Marriott International, Inc. | U.S. |
| 4 | MGM Resorts International | U.S. |
What race are Gujaratis?
Indo-Aryan
The Gujarati people or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language.
Which city in US has highest Indian population?
New York
Share this chart:
| Metro area | Indian population |
|---|---|
| New York | 666,000 |
| Chicago | 214,000 |
| San Francisco | 174,000 |
| San Jose, CA | 165,000 |
What is the most common last name in the world?
Wang
Wang. Wang is a patronymic (ancestral) name that means “king” in Mandarin, and it’s shared by more than 92 million people in China, making it the most popular last name in the world.
Are patels Patidars?
During the 19th century, the Kanbis generally adopted the Patidar term to describe themselves and thus emphasise the high status associated with their ownership. The community also adopted the surname Patel, which was traditionally applied to village headmen.
Who started the Patel family?
Brands and products
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food distribution |
| Founded | 1991 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Founders | Mafat Patel Tulsi Patel |
| Headquarters | Maspeth, Queens, New York City; Skokie, Illinois, U.S. |
What is Patel Brothers worth?
$140-million
Today, Patel Brothers has splintered into an $140-million emporium.
Why do so many Indians have the surname Patel?
Patel (101,463 bearers) – This is one of the commonest Indian surnames in Britain. It is a status name from a Hindi and Parsi word for a village headman. Singh (56,446 bearers) – from Sanskrit ‘simha’ or lion, hence “hero” or “eminent person”.
What is the most Indian name?
Most Popular First Names In India
| Rank | Gender | Forename |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92% | Ram |
| 2 | 100% | Mohammed |
| 3 | 100% | Sunita |
| 4 | 88% | Sri |