User:Vpatel225/sandbox

Modernization
In the modern age, the motel industry is dominated by people of Indian descent, particularly those that are from an area of India, Gujarat. Indian Americans own over half of all motels in the US, and an even greater number of new hotel and motel construction is by Indians(CITE).

In the late 20th century, a majority of motels in the United States came under the ownership of people of Indian descent, particularly Gujaratis[41][42] as the original "mom and pop" owners retired from the motel industry and sold their properties. However, some families still kept their motels, and to this day, one can find a motel that is owned by the same family who built and ran it originally (i.e. the Maples Motel in Sandusky, Ohio) with a subsequent generation continuing the family business.[43]

Amenities offered have also changed, with motels that once touted color television as a luxury now emphasizing wireless Internet, flatscreen television, pay-per-view or in-room movies, microwave ovens, and minibar fridges in rooms which may be reserved online using credit cards and secured against intruders with key cards which expire as soon as a client checks out.[Note 2] Many independent motels add amenities simply to remain competitive with franchise chains, which are taking an increasing market share. Long-time independent motels which join existing low-end chains to remain viable are known as "conversion" franchises; these do not use the standardized architecture which originally defined many franchise brands.

While many former motel chains left the low-end of the market to franchise mid-range hotels, a handful of national franchise brands (Econo Lodge, Travelodge, Knights Inn and Magnuson Hotels lowest tier M-Star[44]) remain available to owners of existing motels with the original drive-up-to-room motor court architecture.

Most of these establishments, previously called motels, may still look like motels but are now called hotels, inns, or lodges.

Indian Ownership
Indian Americans control a significant portion of the motel industry in the US today. Half of all motels in the country are owned by this small segment of the population. This phenomenon is truly staggering, considering that Indian Americans only account for about 1.4% of the US population (CITE). Many of these are first or second generation immigrants that came to the country looking to get away from their struggles back in India, and instead live out the "American Dream". These immigrants largely chose motels as their investment of choice because they were able to get connections and financial help from their family members who already might be in the motel industry, and also because they could live at the property itself. By living at the property, these immigrants were able to save a large amount of money on housing costs, and saved money on labor because it simply allowed them to work at the motel more often. With the added convenience of living at their place of work, many found themselves working grueling hours at the property, which found itself to be a nonstop affair. Indian motel owners generally pride themselves on their hard work as well. A large number of these Indians succeeded, and run profitable motel ownership companies and partnerships, with many of those owning dozens of motels, with the largest companies owning 100 or more separate properties.

Out of the nearly 60% of motels that are owned by Indians, a large majority all have the same last name: Patel. These motel-owning Patels are jokingly referred to as the Patel Motel Cartel. Many motel-owning Indian people found themselves without a community when moving into the US for the first time. The lack of community generally meant that many of these Gujurati motel owners turned to their fellow motel owners in the area to seek a place of community because they usually shared a similar heritage. Gatherings in their area, especially around the Indian holiday of Diwali, are commonplace.

Due to the large number of Indian motel owners, the group created an organization for themselves to stick up for their interests within the industry. The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), despite its more broad naming, is almost entirely comprised of Indian Americans, mostly from Gujurat. It is the largest hotel owners association in the US, and its 20,000 members own 60% of the hotels and motels in the entire US, and are responsible for roughly 1.7% of the US GDP. Between all of the members, there are billions of dollars of revenue, and over 1,000,000 employees (CITE).