Investing in Hospitality | with Rupesh Patel

The Modern Hotelier - Episode #24 === Welcome to the Modern Hotelier. You're presented by Stayflexi. I'm your host, David Millili Steve Carran: and I'm Steve Carran. David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program? Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on Rupe Patel. He's a partner at Verakin Capital. Rupesh is a second generation Hotelier and an award-winning hotel executive. he's worked with top brands in the industry, including Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, ihg, and Windham. He was also president and CEO of a successful management company, Zenique Hotels that focused on the success and experience of its team members and investors. Welcome to the show, repress. Rupesh Patel: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Steve Carran: Yeah, we're excited to have you. David Millili: All right, so we've got three sections of the show. We're gonna go in and get to know you a little bit better. then we're gonna talk about your career, and then we're gonna get your, thoughts on the current state of the industry and what's happening. So we're just gonna kick right off and hit you up with a couple quick ones. So what was your first job? Rupesh Patel: First job. So my first job, people would think that it was at one of my family's hotels, but I actually never really worked in any of my, dad's properties. I did happen to do some housekeeping and maintenance at my uncle's properties cuz they were much closer to where I lived. so I kind of was a utility person. With my uncles at my uncle's hotels with my cousin. And that's kind of what my first, exposure to the hospitality industry really was. David Millili: Great. Who did you admire growing up? that would have to be my dad. you know, my dad's an immigrant from India. Came here with not much. he had the smarts, had the education. He was a civil engineer and graduated in India. Came here and had the right friends and family around him that helped him kind of achieve his goals. So, he was able to take support from the right people and really capitalize on it and to be able to do the way that he did and expand the business to where it was by the time I took over. It was extremely difficult. you know, you imagine coming into a poker room with a dollar and you're trying to compete with everyone else that has much bigger stacks and you have to go all in a lot of times, and that becomes very stressful. You could be completely out. And so he had to do that multiple times in order to grow, the business and. it's just difficult to do then, and even in today's environment, it's difficult to do now, so I can only imagine what it was like to come into a brand new country and build a business the way that he did. So I learned a lot from him. I continue to learn a lot from him. So, yeah, hands down, it would have to be my dad. David Millili: Maybe from him or somebody else. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? Rupesh Patel: Don't be afraid to ask questions. many people, that, many kids that I mentor, other professionals that I talk to and give advice to is just don't be afraid to ask questions. Many times people feel like asking questions makes them look like they don't know what they're talking about. But I say it's actually complete opposite. If you don't ask a question, that's probably the worst thing you can do, cuz you're never gonna get the right answer. And when you do ask questions and you get answers to them, it's up to you to take what you want and not take what you don't want. So, You know, I would say the best advice is to always ask questions, ask, you know, many people questions, no matter what their position is, and if they're not willing to help you, well, you know, really that's on them. But I always encourage everyone to constantly ask questions to those that are respected, those that are successful, or those that you feel have experience in what kind of you're trying to look for. David Millili: Who's a person that you would like to switch places with for a day? Rupesh Patel: Steph Curry, David Millili: Well, Rupesh Patel: I able to shoot from anywhere on the court. And David Millili: That's great. Rupesh Patel: I'm a huge Warriors fan, huge basketball fan. you know, sports is a big passion of mine, so it'd have to be a professional athlete. And I guess I would just say Steph Curry. David Millili: Right. What's a secret talent that you have that others don't know You have? Rupesh Patel: Oh. There's not many secrets about me, but, gosh, maybe I'm a good artist. I can draw. Yeah, I would I would say I can draw and, it kind of comes easy to me. My, my mom is a pretty good artist. My mom's brother, my uncle. Was a really good artist. And I remember when I was a kid, I'd always want them to draw me pictures that I could color in. And, I would draw as a kid, didn't draw for a long time. And now that I have a six year old son, he wants me to help him draw stuff. And he's like, dad, you're way better than me. Can you just draw it? And so now I started realizing, wow, that that talent is still kind of there. I could still. David Millili: That's funny. What's the favorite place you've visited so far? Rupesh Patel: Florence, Florence, you know, before I went there for a friend's wedding and leading up to it, all my friends and family that had been there were just saying, you're gonna love Florence. Florence is the best, Florence is the best. As soon as I got there one night in, I was like, this is an amazing city. Everything is just so walkable. a lot of character and a lot of history there. everything is walkable. Shopping is amazing. People there are very nice food is great. so I would say Florence is probably my favorite city so far. David Millili: What scares you? Rupesh Patel: Failing. you know, and everything that we do. Both when I ran my family business to, working with my partners, Verakin Capital, you know, with Verakin Capital, we're stewards of our friends and family investments and their dollars and we treat it like our own. And so, you know, although our, or my fear is always to fail, it's not really failing myself. It's failing others.but that also motivates us, right? It makes us make decision. That are gonna prevent that and or experience, you know, the ups and downs prevent us from actually failing. but that's always in the back of at least my head and that kind of keeps me motivated and going, that failure's just not an option. David Millili: What's something that you wish you were better at? Rupesh Patel: Oh man. I wish I was better at saying no. Maybe. sometimes I tend to just offer help anytime somebody asks and I'll think I can handle it, and then at times your plate gets full and once your plate is full, you can't turn back. I've gotten a lot better at that and. Kind of balancing out tasks and balancing out assistance to others. Cuz I always want to help people.but there is times where you have to kind of push back and do it at another. David Millili: All right, last one. If you could be one of these, would you rather be Batman, Superman, or Spider? Rupesh Patel: I'd rather be Superman so I could fly. I could just fly everywhere. Don't have to wait in tsa. Don't have to do any of that. Just fly around and still have the super strain. So I'll go with Superman on that one. David Millili: I know it's really quick before Steve goes in. It's very funny because, obviously most of our guests have been, you know, hos, they're all hospitality related, but travel, but everyone who picks. Flying. It has to do with travel. It's not like it's just cool fly around. It's like tsa. It's like I can just get to Florence and you know, I don't have to get on a plane. So anyway, that's funny. That's good. Steve Carran: Awesome, awesome. So impression. Now we're gonna get to know you a little bit, your background, what makes you take things like that. So, where were you born? Rupesh Patel: I was born here in the Bay Area, in San Mateo, California. Born and raised in Belmont, which is a small city right next to it. And I now currently live in San Mateo. Steve Carran: So how did that shape you growing up? So one thing is, you know, I went to the full public school system and I had a lot of diversity in, in all steps of my education, and so I was able to really, experience different cultures, experience different backgrounds, different family values, different wealth statuses. I mean, you name it. Rupesh Patel: We just had a lot of diversity around here. Maybe not so much anymore, but there was a lot of diversity at that. And it helped me open up my eyes to different ways. You know, my parents came from, from India. My mom was, was born in Africa and you know, they came to this country new. And so I'm the first born generation and I'm able to kind of really absorb in everything about America from a diverse standpoint. so I would say it really helped me in that. David Millili: So you got your degree from San Diego State and Public Administration and city. What drove you to, to, for those two things to go to school for? Rupesh Patel: That's a great question. I get it all the time. So when I, uh, went to college, You know, initial thought was, I'm gonna get into business, right? We're gonna go to business management, or finance. But I did go into college undeclared, and once I got there and decided I wanted to go into business, looked at business, and it was so impacted, it would've taken me seven years to graduate. I loved San Diego, but I don't want to be in school for seven years. so then I looked at finance, very much the same. Same. So a good friend of mine, him and I both were kind of in the same area. His family was also in, in development. and so we thought, what are some other majors that are out there? And so we looked at city planning, we looked at public administration, my personal thought was, well, my, dad's developing. All of the hotels, right? So I know I'm gonna learn the private side of things. Why don't I learn the public side? Let's see what the city's looking for when it comes to projects, when it comes to, delivering presentations to them. So once I learn that, and I do have to do presentations for. city council or planning, I kind of know what the trigger points are or what they're looking for. So it helps me in that aspect. It also helps me understand the cityside financing and where is their financing opportunities for private developments. so that's the reason why, I went into that field and I would say I didn't really use it that much at the beginning, but then shortly, I'd say in two. 14. We purchased land in Dublin and we developed the, the aloft there. And that happened to be a master development where we worked with two other developers, a large housing developer, Taylor Morrison was doing, a bunch of homes there. We were the hotel and another commercial developer was doing retail and commercial. And so we had to really work together and I was able to kind of provide some value on what things are gonna be, trigger points for our design and, and things like that. So I ended up using it. I'm sure I'm gonna continue to use it for future developments. Steve Carran: Absolutely. So, you've been learning hospitality from your dad. You kind of mentioned this already, but since the age of 14, pretty much. what was some of the best lessons that you learned from, from your dad? Rupesh Patel: I have confidence. I started really working in the, the family business. When I was 14. I was doing bookkeeping for all my dad's hotels. I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew how to use a computer. He didn't know how to use a computer, but he knew accounting. Rupesh Patel: So we kinda worked together and made it work. We were doing accounting and writing checks from a green screen dos accounting system. and so that kind of exposed me. I didn't know what I was doing. He would just tell me what needed to be done and I'd do it. but when I really joined in full time in 2007, at that time we had five hotels all in the Central Valley. We didn't have a above property team. It was really my dad and then the full staff at the hotels. And when I would go with him on, all the tours and visits and, you know, picking up bills and doing all that kind of stuff that he. You know, initially I didn't think I was gonna be able to do it. at one point I remember telling him, I think you should just sell everything. Rupesh Patel: I think this is too much for me to handle. I'm not gonna be able to do what you did. but he just continued to give, you know, push me in confidence. Say, yes you can, you can do it, and you just gotta keep your head to it. It'll happen. and it took me probably about 18 months or so. To really believe that, okay, I, I could do this. And once I did, never looked in the rear view mirror, David Millili: So you mentioned you had a six year old son. what are you looking to pass on to him? Rupesh Patel: really, I wanna pass on him the work ethic. Me growing up, I was able to see the struggle. You know, I could see it. I saw it build, I saw all of that. Now he's in the kind of a different, environment where there is already a foundation there. So he is not gonna really be able to see the foundation built. But that doesn't mean you can't have work ethic. It doesn't mean you can't. Work hard or you shouldn't work hard. and primarily that's my biggest goal is to make sure he knows you always gotta have grit. You always have to have grind, you always have to be ready to fall, because people do fall no matter what stage in life you are. And it's a matter of how you get up. And. You know, dealing with obstacles is a, big part of people growing themselves, growing their abilities. and so, selfishly I want him to fall a couple times, but I really just want to teach him how you can always overcome obstacles when there's a problem. You don't dwell on it when there's a problem, all you do is immediately go towards what are the options for. So, Steve Carran: Awesome. That's great. That's great. So yeah, now we'll talk about your, your career a little bit, kind of where you came from and where you are now. So, a couple years after you graduated, actually you became president and COO of Zuni Hotels. There were, there were a couple years. Between. You graduated and you started, were you working with the hotel, with the family business, or were you trying something else? Rupesh Patel: My dad's thing also was, is you can't join the family business until you work for someone else. And so, at that time, residential mortgage, I was in the lending space for residential loans. And, um, I've had a lot of friends in the business, so I thought, Hey, let me give this a shot. And that was actually a, a pretty critical point in my career where, you know, in that space, you don't get paid unless you're closing deals. Right. It's full commission based. and in the first three months, I, I didn't make a single dollar, right? I, I couldn't, I couldn't do the cold calls. I was writing down scripts. I was just a robot. I was reading it. but then I had to learn how to be more natural and how to be more, I don't wanna say sales oriented, but just natural in the conversation and not scripted. Once I got that, then things started to really roll. and that's what really taught me sales. That's what taught me, you know, doing things like this. There's a podcast and trying to be more natural and let it flow. That was the area that really taught me. That was what the couple years I worked there. and then in 2007 I was already kind of foreseeing. The housing market crashed and at that time my dad was finishing a build what is currently our holiday in Expresso Modesto, and I thought, Hey, this would be a good time for me to jump ship and go over. To the family business. Rupesh Patel: And so that's what I did, at that time. But I did start as vice president. I didn't move up to, to president until shortly after that, until I proved myself, and that's when I was able to kind of get it. I was lucky enough that my dad had enough confidence in me that he shared a lot of business information to me that, you know, people, other, many others that I know in my. That was kind of blocked off from them. Their, their parents held on tight to it and essentially said, you don't need to know the finances, you don't need to know the pnl or any of that stuff. But realistically, how can you make good decisions if you don't know the data? And my dad was a good proponent of that. And once I started to learn all of that, that's when he had, you know, continue to give more and more responsibility to me on it. And I was able to grow by him giving it to me. So, Steve Carran: Sure. What was it like moving over to the family business? was it, you know, I'm, I'm sure it was kind of fun to go work with your dad in post-college professional setting, but, but what was that like? Rupesh Patel: It was love hate. I mean, it was love hate, you know, my, dad and I are, very similar. but also when you're, working with your dad, he's still your dad and, but he is also your boss. And that crosses over a lot. Right? Especially at the beginning. And at that time, I'm still living under his roof. And so work never stopped, right? It doesn't matter. Work is 24 7 and that's kinda how it was. But having those headbutts with him. And having the arguments that we did was just, it was healthy and that's what made us grow our relationship tighter. but also helped me grow better as a hospitality professional. Cuz there are things that he learned and he knew that are unscripted. They're not in any textbook that you can have. And those things I would learn from him and there'd be new ways that I kind of look at things that we should be doing it this. Lucky enough for me, he was open to those, things where in many other people's situations it's, no, this is the way it's worked forever and this is the way we're gonna continue to do it. But he was always kind of a, a Modern Hotelier. Steve Carran: Yay, David Millili: Yeah. You're the first to work that in, by the way. Steve Carran: That's impressive. That was good Rupesh Patel: you know, he was the first to put in hardwire internet in his hotel. Iron and ironing boards as standards before the brands made them standards. he was on the owner's committee for IHG and kind of pushed them to get those as, general standard amenities into the room. So he was always thinking in the future and I think, you know, when I was coming up with, in his mind, futuristic ideas, he was much more open to it. So that made it healthy and it made me more motivated to seeing that, hey, my ideas are actually getting implement. Or at least being tried. You know, many times my ideas didn't work, but at least we tried them and I was able to try it instead of just getting a. David Millili: So Anique is, was known, is known for creating unique designs. You've got what you call the zen of service. how did you get employees, corporate, everyone, to really buy into that, notion of just giving great exp guest experience? Rupesh Patel: first thing that comes is you have to take care of your staff, you take care of your staff, your staff, 'em, to take care of the. So we were very people oriented and so is my current management company. ZE is no longer an operational company, but I partner with Peachtree Hospitality Management led by an amazing leader in Patrick Short. but they're also very people oriented and you can see it the way that they take care of their staff and. Vacation reimbursement programs and trying to create that work life balance, even in a environment that we're in right now where staffing is so tough. but we really focused on people. And so we had many programs in there that, focused on their wellness, focused on their wellbeing, vacation packages, benefits packages, reimbursement programs for. wellness, things like massages or even getting your nails done, right? That's, that's a wellness, you feel confident about yourself. And so we really wanted to make sure people felt appreciated, that we're not just another management company or another owner and you have to take action in that. We always took action in that, and, when it's consistent, your staff, you know, they can recognize that and that's, that's kind of what we. we did operate, I do miss it at times, but I'm just at a different stage in my career. where the OP did the daily operation, wasn't the best use of, of my time and where I, what I wanted to achieve. Steve Carran: Makes sense. That makes sense. And then in 2021, you moved to a managing partner role and also founded Verakin Capital with three other, partners. what made you make that move? Rupesh Patel: So initially, you know, in, the pandemic was tough for everyone, right? It was very tough. And throughout that time, already pre pandemic. Staffing was a big issue. Line level staffing was a big issue, and once the pandemic came around, it just accelerated like no other. And so it was becoming very daunting. And for us, being a very small management company, we just didn't have enough resources to be able to weather that storm. And so I thought really long and hard about hiring a third party operator. And, um, good friend of mine, Metul Patel, who's a co-founder and COO of Peachtree Hotel Group. You know, I talked to him with some advice and, you know, one conversation led to another and we decided to utilize them. And it wasn't, you know, what I was looking for was not just a vendor, right, like a third party management company. I. Partner we discussed them operating my properties and potentially doing joint ventures together and helping each other grow. And, you know, that worked for what my goals were. And so I partnered with them and, I was planning on taking a couple months off, but my mind, you know, races and so I went to two of my really good friends, heat and Sage and Bemo Pat. And thought, you know, guys, I think we should do something different than what everyone else is doing. long story short, they were completely on board and what our goal was in creating Verakin Capital was. To bring access to investment opportunities to those that did not have access to the types of investment opportunities we get. prior to, we would do our own investments, no. Outside investors, it'd be all of our own capital, US three individually in our own family environments. where our businesses were, it didn't make sense to go continue on the path of the all in bets, you know, the way that I explained my, all of our parents did the same thing. And we thought, well, instead of investing X amount of dollars into one property, why don't we spread that and put X amount of dollars into five or 10 properties and let's bring all of our friends and family that have been asking us for years to invest with us. Let's bring them on board. And now we have a solid, nationwide operational, uh, management company in Peachtree that we're able to kind of do that and expand our horizon to further than just the Bay Area or just California. and so we created that and, it's been going really well. And the partnership with Peachtree grew exponentially higher than I ever imagined in the first year. Since creating Verakin Capital, we've purchased seven hotels with Peachtree. we've done another joint venture with a general contractor who my family's worked with for over 30 years in Huff Construction. and, uh, another great landowner and developer that we partnered with in trucking, our building 24 luxury town homes there. So we're also able to kind of diversify our investments into other asset classes. and I've also worked with other groups such as RevPAR companies. We're working with them on a development in Atlanta downtown. And so our goal is, you know, to really work with other well established companies, be partners with them, like-minded individuals, and kind of help everybody share risks, share reward, and have everybody grow. Steve Carran: So what types of hotels or hotel groups are, are a good fit for VER and capital? Rupesh Patel: The ones that I named, you know, those are our, our current partners we, we've done business with. we're always open to meeting others, but we are very, I guess you can say we're very detailed in what we look for, because it's not a matter of, just the project or just the location or just the brand of a hotel. It's really the partners that we're choosing. You know, we wanna be able to work with like-minded individuals. Cause when you work with people you enjoy working with, it becomes very smooth and it becomes very, And that's, the way we choose partners and who we co-invest with. But that's also what we take into factor when we're bringing on investors into our, into our platform. don't necessarily look for the biggest pockets. We look for the best people, and that's really what everything is centered around with Verakin. David Millili: So you're also an investor and an advisor to companies. What drove you to get involved with startup? Rupesh Patel: Being in the Silicon Valley, you know, venture capital and all that always seemed like it's really fun. of course I always heard all the horror stories, which are all 100% true. but I just wanted to kind of explore, you know, and, in that I, I really told myself I'm gonna do these angel investments, but realistically, it's my tuition. It's my tuition to learn how this space works. I'm really intrigued with technology and in advancement in technology. And if it's something that has to do with hotels, then I have some type of value to bring to that. And so I thought, let me, give this a shot. And so I picked a couple companies that came on my plate. and I've enjoyed doing it, you know, especially with Stayflexi. I've, I've enjoyed working with them. And, you know, the growth that we've had since the first day I met with the founding team to where we are today is, it's fun to see things grow. And that was another part of kind of getting into that and the advisor side of it, again, to bring value to. But in a sense, even though it's very minuscule investment compared to the big picture, I kind of have a little bit of control over what's happening with my investment and so that, you know, that was also a positive in. Steve Carran: That's awesome. you mentioned this already, but as you said, one of the companies you advise and also invested in is Stayflexi. so what caused you to not only advise Stayflexi, but also invest in it? Rupesh Patel: So, PropTech space is blowing up right now, and it has been, but when I first saw the automation that Stayflexi had, I, I just saw so many. Applications. This can happen with just people that I knew.you look at the smaller properties or small, smaller motels and hotels that have resident managers or even families that are living there. And that's how a lot of you know, my community and my culture got into the businesses living and operating and doing everything at the hotel. And a lot of times when there's weddings or. There's always has to be somebody from that family that stays back to run the desk. And so that was the first thing that popped in my mind was this can create so much more freedom for people where they can turn on the automation, still have the guest experience, still have all of that. And I thought it was going to, you know, and I still think it's a game changer. that's really what intrigued me the most. I hadn't seen what they had and how easy it was to use the property management. And then obviously the founders, you know, they're, they're super smart, come from a really good background and they have a lot of grit. I mean, the obstacles, of course, you're always gonna face obstacles as, as a startup and as founders, but they just tackle through them. And, and I love that. And that that's what you really need to be able to build a startup. that's probably the main reasons why I invested. And then on the advisory side, I just felt like I can definitely help them. Being from the hospitality space. I've been in the independent space, mainly in the, the branded side. But we can also have a lot of, complimentary factors between those that I can help them see things that operators are gonna look for versus what a guest is gonna look for. They're the tech guys. I don't know how to code, I don't know how to do any of that. I'll tell them, Hey, I think this feature would be really good. How hard is it? Can you do it? And nine outta 10 times they know how to. David Millili: And they're very open. I think what's great about the guys, you know, I fortunately have been able to, to work with them a little bit, is that they're really open to suggestions and they, they're very hard working. They want to get it right. They just don't want to get it. So they really are open to listening to people, old guys like me, who've been around forever, who, know how things should, should work. So it's good to see that in the industry. And we do need kind of that fresh wave of the younger generation coming in and helping, I think the older generation understand automation Rupesh Patel: Absolutely. And there's so many, you know, new brands out there like Casa, right? CASA's a good example where they're fully automated as. you look at CASA as being like a Marriott, you know, there's still a lot of other properties that are not Marriotts, right? And using technologies like Stayflexi, you can kind of mirror the operations of a larger company like Casa at your own property. in a similar to how I explain like the independent properties versus the branded properties. The non-branded or the companies that, or the hotels that are not going to be branding it as Casa or you know, one of the others that are out there, they still wanna have the same kind of experience cuz that's the way kind of the experience is moving. And so Stayflexi provides that to those type of hotels. Steve Carran: well that was great. Now we're gonna move on to the last section here. Just industry thoughts, you know, your ideas of what's happening in the hospitality industry and with hotels. So what's your advice for somebody that's just starting out their career in hospitality? Rupesh Patel: That's a tough one. We don't have so many people that wanna start off in the hospitality industry anymore, which is what kinda the big problem we're having with staffing. But I would say, you have to be patient and you have to be able to understand all the different facets of the hotel. Even if you wanna be a revenue manager, let's just say, Hey, I just like numbers and I just want to do revenue management. Well, you still have to understand the different departments of the hotel. How do they operate? How do the dots connect? So you really do need to know the entire big picture and try to get yourself exposed to as many different facets of the business as you can. not only is that gonna help you in your hospitality position, but I'm, I'm a big advocate that any kind of experience in hotels can translate into many different industries. You know, you have accounting, you have customer service, you have problem resolution, you have yield management, you have all those things at sales, you have all those things in it that many other industries, many other businesses have. In the future, there is always possibility to pivot, but be patient. And most of the time when people get into the hospitality space, it usually happens by mistake. Before, like, oh, I had a college job and I was doing night audit, and then I started to cover some day shifts and, and then I just fell in love with it and I became a general manager and a. You know, and that's pretty much how most people that I communicate these days is, oh, what got you in the hospitality industry by mistake. Right? And so I think that'll still continue. But the mistakes I had and they had patience and they had patience with, you know, staying in a position for a while and then moving up to another. Nowadays I see a lot of people that are in a position for a very short period of time and then think they can make the jump up to the next level. And sometimes it seems like such a small. an employee or an associate's mind, but many times that jump is much larger than they think, especially if it comes from being like a line level associate to not becoming a supervisor. Managing people is very tough and you have to really have those soft skills to be able to take those leaps forward. So always expanding your knowledge base and your skill set so that you are ready to make those next jumps. But just being patient with it and, and the good things will. David Millili: Is there a trait that you've seen in people that are in the hospitality field that makes them successful? Rupesh Patel: Grit. Steve Carran: I love Rupesh Patel: It's grit. because especially today, right since the pandemic and, and, and even continuing, general managers have so much on their plate. and I appreciate every single one of my general managers and, and every other general manager that's out there, cuz they're, wearing multiple hats and they always do. But now you have to physically get in there, you have to clean rooms, you have to do houseman duties, you have to cover desk shifts. And just because staffing is such a big issue right now, but the general managers that have all the. They're proving to be extremely successful, even in times like this. And if you can get through times like this, you can get through anything. So I would say the, best trait to have is grit and being flexible. You know, there's, times where it's gonna be really, really tough, but once you get through it, the next time you get through that obstacle or that brick wall, it's gonna be that much easier. Easier to break. it may not even seem as big of a brick wall where the first day you see it, it's 10 foot high. Next time you see it, it's like four foot. You just step over it, it's good to go. so I really think grit is the biggest trait and really not even in just the hospitality space. Even in startup space, right? I mean, you have to have grit. You have to be able to wear multiple hats. and you have to be willing to do that. and not just rely on everyone else, right? I mean, you do when you have the team, you do, when you have everyone there, you wanna empower your team. But at times when you just don't have bodies, you have to step in as a leader, and you have to, you have to get it done. And without grit, it just becomes, you know, very bogging. And if it becomes bogging, then it's gonna influence your work life balance. It's gonna influence your, your soul and your wellness. You're at home life. And so you gotta have that grit. And if you truly have grit, those things don't bother you. David Millili: But outside of labor issues, what's the biggest challenge you think is facing our industry right now? Rupesh Patel: I'd say that's, that's hard cuz I, only thing I keep looking at is labor's the big issue. Labor's the big issue. But because of labor, you know what's happening is people and brands even are kind of being forced to look at technology quicker than they might have thought they would. and it's not a matter of replacing people, you know, before when all these technologies were coming out, it's, why are these robotics and all this stuff coming out is taking away people's jobs. Well, today it's not taking away anyone's job. they're taking a job that nobody wants to do. And so, I think for hotel years is to start thinking more in the future, and thinking about using technology and, and becoming more efficient in operations, you know, making your team more efficient. So, you know, hypothetically, let's say if you had two front desk agents at your property, or three, maybe you downsize. You still have live people there, but you're having them be able to do other duties while they're working. While there's also another technology that's taking away some of their responsibility scope so that they can be more efficient, and provide better guest service. to people that are there, rather than being bogged down with administrative work on a computer and things like that. For example, you know, Stayflexi is automated night audit. So, night audit is, has a lot of downtime if you also don't even have to do the audit portion of it and you still have somebody on staff at the property, well they can be doubled as a security guard, laundry, various other positions. Rupesh Patel: So you may not even eliminate the position, but you're making it more. So I think people just have to. Think about different ways of being efficient operationally utilizing technology and not being afraid to invest in technology. That's, that's the big thing people are afraid of. This is gonna be a big CapEx, but when you look down the line, once it's implemented, if you've chosen the right softwares and technologies, That it becomes a much much more positive experience for your guests, much more positive experience for the staff that you have, and down the line, it'll eventually even save you money. David Millili: you're a hundred percent right because you know, I just was at World Travel Mart. The hotel I stayed at had self check in. I checked myself in in less than 60 seconds. Everything worked perfect and I didn't miss the interaction with the front desk agent, but yet the staff behind the bar and for breakfast were fantastic and I had to interact. In some shape or form with them. So it wasn't like everything was automated and it took away that human element. It just, it served the purpose, the technology served the purpose for somebody like me who was able to basically just put in my name, swipe a credit card, and you know, get my own key and go but I still, if you ask me what was the experience like, I wouldn't say, oh, it was horrible. Cause I didn't see anybody when I checked in. It was great. And the, like I said, the staff was great. I interacted at other times with. But you know, that actually to your point, saved them. They probably would've had to have two or three people and they had one person who was just kind of wandering the lobby in case you stumbled to check in. So, Rupesh Patel: Exactly. I was just gonna piggyback off your comment that instead of having somebody stand behind the front desk, they're now a lobby lizard or. Property lizard that may be in the lobby area during a high checkin or checkout period and assisting guests with, if there's a kiosk or a technology that's there that they can assist a guest there. Or if there's not a high check in period checkout period to walking throughout the property, you know, seeing garbage that's out there walk, stumbling upon guests, asking 'em how their stay is. You're doing all of that. You end up actually getting more touch points with the guests when someone is wandering. Rather than when they're behind a front desk. And so I actually think it'll elevate the customer experience when you implement it the correct way. Steve Carran: Absolutely, and I feel like those touchpoints are more personal. Instead of standing behind a front desk, having that barrier there, you know, it's like you're obviously the employee, I'm the guest, but now somebody walking around the lobby, it is a little bit more personal. And I had the same experience, great experience with the same group that David's talking about, but that person roaming around the lobby just like made it a much better experience. Rupesh Patel: Absolutely, and, and. On top of it, it's, it's just like the airline industry, right? How many times do you see people going to an actual live agent rather than just going to a kiosk, checking in, getting their boarding pass bag tags, and then when even when you get the bag tag and you're handing it off to somebody, they're still there. They're still checking your id, how's everything, yada, yada. And then you're on your way. I don't think I miss any of the interaction of waiting in that line to check in my bag and get my boarding passed. And that's a. David Millili: There's another side benefit that Steve knows, which is one of my biggest pet peeves is in the brand we're talking about, there's nothing behind the front desk, so there's no door for that. The front desk agent to leave open so that your multimillion dollar lobby, the guest is looking at it. The Okie data printer, the radios, the fire panel, you know, some sort of choking hazard poster that's on the wall. So that's what I like too. There was no door to be left open, so I'll leave it at that. Rupesh Patel: Absolutely. That's actually one of my biggest pet peeves too, is that door being open behind the front. David Millili: Yep. Steve Carran: Oh yeah, we, we've talked about it quite a bit. David. David, David's biggest pet peeve. So but that's great. David Millili: Xgm. Yeah, XGM. So Steve Carran: absolutely. So we're, you guys are on the same train, , perfect. So you mentioned a couple of ways that hotels can use technology to, to be more efficient, help with, you know, the labor shortage issue, but how can they use it to bring in more revenue? Rupesh Patel: There's a lot of softwares out there. I mean, a lot of the brands have their own softwares of yield management. I'm a proponent of some of that automation in yield management, in revenue management, but I am also a proponent of it needs a human element. and so what technologies can do in that space is kind of do a lot of the calculations in the back end, automated the human sees it, can analyze it and make the final decision. The software is gonna tell you a recommendation. You put in your own element into it, what you know about what's happening right now and whatnot. And you can take, you know, override it or whatnot. So it saves time and it's saving time in that person. If you have a revenue manager and if you don't have a revenue manager, it's automating it for you. Rupesh Patel: You can, have it auto yes to all recommendations and it's helping hotelers that can't afford. An individual revenue manager still have some yield management that's fully automated. because, smaller groups or even a single property owner may not have the resources or even revenue to afford someone like that, or the time to be able to go in there multiple times a day and adjust rates to maximize it. So they're gonna have it at one rate, whether it's too low or too high, and they're leaving a lot of money on the table that way. So I. Technologies with revenue management and such are definitely gonna help hotel years like that. generate higher top line and, and of course higher bottom lines with that. and then you have, other softwares like CRMs and. other sales tools which are gonna make sure your sales teams are efficient, or if you have a gm, doubling as a dos helps them stay organized and efficient instead of having to write things down or memorize it in their head and things like that, we all forget. I'm a proponent of let your computer remind you. So put everything on your calendar, put a reminder on everything, and forget about it. When you turn off your laptop, when you turn it back on, it's going to remind you what you need to do. So even using basic technology, To, have a better balance of, or priorities is gonna help you focus your attention on certain areas, which is gonna make you more money. so yeah, I would say those are kind of the, the areas that I would say you can use technology to, drive more revenue. David Millili: Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent. I just recently took a, uh, leadership role at a revenue management company, and our tagline is that we're your revenue management co-pilot. The idea that you have a system, but just like the plane can fly itself, or there's always, there's never just one pilot. so our whole philosophy is that it's really the systems there to guide. The pilot who is the revenue manager in that case. So anyway. Very interesting. So any secrets that you've learned that you wanna share about working with hotels? Running hotels? Steve Carran: Some secret sauce, Rupesh Patel: I don't think there's any secret sauce, David Millili: maybe that's it. There's no secrets. Rupesh Patel: secret. And if I did, I David Millili: right? Rupesh Patel: really, I mean, there's just, there's really no secret sauce. I mean, I think you always have to make decisions on data, right? Whether you're purchasing a hotel, building a hotel, or even in operational hotel on making certain decisions with how you're operating or how you're gonna build it. How are you gonna renovate it? Stick to data. You know, if you get stuck into your emotion, you may overspend or you make a poor decision. Operationally that's not Right. for the overall hotel. just making decisions based on data, as much data as you can. I mean, there's always gut and the gut's gonna be your final straw of if it's on the fence, you go with your gut and you go, and I use my gut a lot, but you know, you gotta use data to get to that. and taking emotion out of it is probably a, a key thing. and I've been on both sides of the table, growing up in industry and having my dad build these properties. And we always owned, we, never really transacted. We have transacted since, since I joined on board on exits and, and acquisitions, but, we grew emotionally attached to all the properties, which was a good thing. but also at times you have to kind of take emotion out of it cuz it is a business. Rupesh Patel: And I'd say in the recent couple years is when I've started to kind of, evolve into that of, you know, there's always gonna be emotion, but don't make decisions based on your. last question here. So looking into the future, how do you think the Metaverse and Web three is going to affect the hospitality industry? Steve Carran: I've been trying to figure this out a lot. Um,and everyone else, don't Rupesh Patel: yeah, the sales and marketing side of me. Tells me, I have a lot of ideas around that. You know, somebody has goggles at a home and you have an app, or let's just say Marriott or ihg, or Hyatt. Hilton, any one of those, you can now browse their website on these virtual goggles, right? And to go into it, you can as actually physically walk through the entire hotel. So now you've stepped foot in it, in the metaverse you're making. You feel more confident about your decision on booking that hotel. And as a hotel, you're, you're able to sell your hotel in a much better experience rather than just images and 360 degree tours, you're inside the hotel and the metaverses. So I see that as being a good sales tool. same with director of sales of maybe doing, Pounding the pavement and going to accounts or trying to secure new accounts. They might have their own set of goggles and have them put it on and go through a full thing. So sales and marketing wise, I think there's huge, huge opportunity there that's going to happen. In terms of like people staying in virtual hotels, I, I'm not there anywhere close. I still don't fully understand the whole people buying virtual land. but I'm sure at some point, it'll be there, right? I'm probably too old to fully be in it, but that space is more for people like my, my son, you know, he may be fully into it through all his mindcraft and roadblocks and all this stuff. They're already kind of playing in the metaverse, and this will be a different, different aspect just for me. Most, all of my friends. We just don't understand the metaverse that much yet from that type of standpoint, but from sales and marketing and all that. Yeah, definitely. I like it for that, from that sample. David Millili: We've got a couple podcasts that we did with people who were in the Metaverse that we'll share with you. the one we had, you know, somebody said to me, you didn't smile the whole podcast because I was learning. So much that I couldn't focus. I was just listening so intently that like, because just like you, I don't know my same thing. My son's older, but you know, he's got the headsets on and he's doing stuff and you're like, meanwhile anyone our age puts them on and we feel like we're gonna throw up. But anyway, that's a different story. So we're at the end. We like to ask our, ask our guest, is there a question that we missed? Or something you would've liked us to? Rupesh Patel: I don't think so. not really. I mean, I think we already talked about just when you work with people, choosing the right people you work with. I mean, I guess my final advice is just selectively choose the people you do business with and. Your path will be that much smoother. David Millili: Good advice. So anything, this is, we also let you plug, how can we find out about your hotels, your firm, anything plug away, give us some websites, some places we can. Rupesh Patel: so as Verakin capital, as I mentioned before, you know, we wanna work with other groups and well-established that are successful in developing, operating, and, um,acquiring hotels. And we wanna be partners with good people. so we always welcome conversations with well-established groups to see if we can be part of their cap stack. And so I kind of opened that opportunity for people to reach out to us and to reach out to us at, you know, ver and capital.com. our website and contact information is there. for those that are looking for third party management services, I highly recommend Peachtree Hospitality Management. that is not a biased opinion, but you may think so. I've thoroughly enjoyed working with them, not just from. talent level that they have on the operations team, but even further up the talent level that they have in their private equity arm. Greg Friedman jut and Desai Maul Patel, you know Michael Ritz. Everyone that's on that team, I've just thoroughly enjoyed working with all of them, and I highly recommend those that are looking for a third party management company to give Petree Hospital Society management an opportu. David Millili: Well, thank you very much. That brings us to the end of another episode of The Modern. Hotelier, presented by Stayflexi. We appreciate you. Hope you had a great time and we, we enjoyed it. Rupesh Patel: Absolutely. I enjoyed it as well, and thank you for having me. Steve Carran: Awesome.