I have traveled all over the United States and have found that there are very good reasons why some people do not want to stay in an Indian-run hotel and it has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the person’s skin color. But it has everything to do with CULTURAL DIFFERENCES in housekeeping and guest services. Perhaps Indians aren’t bothered by strong odors of floral sprays and curry dishes at all hours, but many customers might be.

Second, there is a huge game going on between Indian-American hoteliers and “white” hoteliers (Irish-American, German-American, Scots-American, English-American– you get my drift)…

Many Indian owners now refuse to show themselves at the front desk, hiring instead “whites” to act as managers. Some establishments are very reluctant to divulge Indian ownership. The desk managers (white) have been coached to keep this information from the patron.

Many Indian hoteliers also place “american-owned” signs in their windows to lure people in who want to avoid stong odors and varying standards in housekeeping. I have a relative who has made a detailed study of this throughout the South and it’s very interesting. Indian hoteliers seem to be trying to outwit what they consider to be irrational fears, while in fact, many people just want to stay in a place that’s cleaned according to certain cultural standards AND doesn’t smell like an Indian restaurant and a Glade factory. Believe me, this has NOTHING to do with RACE, but with CULTURE. It would be good to try and understand the customer’s perspective rather than assume racism right off the bat.

I read through this thread and find the discussion quite interesting. I would like to contribute my opinion on the matter.

I would like to begin by stating that I am a resident of San Francisco. I live in an SRO Hotel owned by the Patel family. The hotel is a very old remnant of San Francisco’s past. It endured the 1989 earthquake as well as several fires and suffers from an extreme infestation of rodents, cockroaches, and bed bugs. The windows have cracks in them, the doorknobs are loose, the sinks overflow and leak, the carpeting in the entire building is unsanitized and extremely filthy, the bathrooms and showers are covered in blood, semen, urine, feces and vomit, and are frequently out of service, resulting in them being locked from anywhere between a week to a month. Currently there is only 1 functional bathroom in my building, which houses a rather large number of tenants. One day, while cleaning my room, I noticed something written on the hotel vacuum cleaner. The words “Windsor Hotel” were marked on it with a sharpie. I found this a little odd, because the hotel I stay in is called The Entella. I looked it up online and found out it was owned by the same family of Patels. I began an investigation into the Patel family, and I was quite shocked by what I discovered: 55 residential hotels all linked to the same family of Patels. Many websites online state that the Patels are not all related, which may be true… However, here in San Francisco, one particular family of Patels hold a monopoly on low-income high-density housing. I have created a google map of these hotels, there is a link to it on my blog. The majority of these hotels are concentrated in the Tenderloin district, San Francisco’s most unwealthy neighborhood. I have found numerous reports online of these hotels being extremely filthy and unkept. Reports of landlords abusing tenants by moving them around before 30 days so that they can’t establish legal tenancy (also known as “musical rooming”), locking bathrooms for months at a time, and unlawfully trying to evict tenants by turning off heat and other utilities. Most if not all of these hotels are infested with bed bugs and rodents. They suffer damage from multiple fires, which probably resulted in the Patel’s neglect of fire safety systems such as fire escapes and smoke detectors. The department of building inspections has an online complaint tracking system, and you can confirm these reports by looking up the addresses of the Patel-owned hotels I listed. The Patels donate money to city politicians such as Mayor Gavin Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris (Willie Brown’s girlfriend) and Supervisor Fiona Ma. They have donated money in the past to a campaign which attempted to re-elect former Mayor Willie Brown, the city’s most corrupt mayor ever. There is a serious conflict of interest when they support politicians who are supposed to protect the rights of the city’s residents. It is obvious that there is an elaborate monopoly in effect. Visit my blog for additional details and research on the matter. I believe the reason why non-Patel-owned hotels have been putting up “American Owned” signs is because a large number of Indians who own hotels are members of the Patel family, who are notorious for neglecting their buildings and abusing the tenants. While some of them may have developed a stigma towards Indian hotel owners, I think they should have the right to put up those signs, as they may only appear racist to those who perceive it so. P.S. I am not biased towards people of Indian origin whatsoever. Also, I am not an American myself – although I am a naturalized citizen. However, I am a concerned, low-income resident of San Francisco who has been dealing with the Patels and their horrific treatment of tenants for too long. The Patels are victimizing the most vulnerable people in San Francisco: The disabled, elderly, and mentally ill – the majority of low-income tenants who live in the Tenderloin and surrounding areas. I think it’s a good idea that non-Patel hotel owners are putting up those signs, as they can help potential tenants avoid the serious health hazards of staying in a Patel-owned hotel. However, I do also propose an alternative sign- instead of saying “America Owned” just say “Not Patel Owned”

That’s you. Ask your average senior citizen here who of the two they have a harder time understanding, and keeping in mind alot of seniors themselves have southern drawls.

It is called running a business. Are you not familiar with the capitalist concept, dave?

Here in America we help each other and if a deal is good, we don’t feel the need to make it better for ourselves.

No, dave. Allow me to be as patronizing as yourself. Here in America and elsewhere, businesses survive only on profit.

I guess that’s why your countrymen would slit their parents throat if it would help them make an extra penny.

You must have lots of issues with your parents to bring up something so disgusting. Don’t need to make us feel unconfortable with you, as you can be our token klansboy: kluxie.

I have a harder time understanding somebody with a thick regional American accent than call center employees in India who have been trained to neutralize their accents. It got easier for me when they moved call centers from the American South to the Indian South.

This is so true and this is a gripe alot of senior citizens have with overseas call-center workers when they dial a 1-800 number. It’s hard enough for some seniors to hear to begin with because their hearing abilities are often challenged at their age, add to that a thick accent and they can’t understand a thing. Very valid point.

Also, perhaps that the term “American Owned” is just their way of saying “You can understand us and we can understand you when you ask us a question”. Sometimes with thick accents and poor understanding of English it becomes very tough even to ask for an extra towel or whatever.

In my experience, both the very best service and the very worst service I’ve ever received has been with desi motel owners. If some motel owners want their potential clients to discriminate against the supposed ‘non-American’ motel owners, there are also some desi motel owners, whether they call themselves ‘American’ or not, who will discriminate against other desis. This discrimination runs the gamut – from being denied a room when it exists; to being quoted a higher price; to being offered an inferior quality room relative to the price quoted; to segregating clients racially by floor, or wing; to steering clients of certain ethnicities to the ‘colored motel’ nearby, etc etc. This is endemic to the ‘hospitality’ industry, and more generically, the accomodation rental industry – and you can bet that some of the people doing it are desis, to other desis. The tighter a local market, the easier it is to discriminate – and my very worst experience has been in desi-owned motels in the ‘cosmopolitan’ Bay Area, while I’ve had very good experiences, for example, in white-ownde motels on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, one of the last places I would have expected it.

At the other extreme, some desi motel owners clearly value other desi clients, and I have also been treated as if I were a guest in their home – though somewhat less often, I have to say.