"Automation is a big reality check for many small and midsize businesses."
Vimal Patel Tweet
Meet Vimal Patel, a leader in the hotel management and development industry. He’s known as an advocate for fair franchising, taking on one of the world’s biggest hotel chains in a class-action lawsuit to put an end to years of price gouging.
Vimal is the president and CEO of QHotels Management, which owns and operates hotels in Louisiana and Texas. He’s been featured by Fox Business, Newsweek, the Associated Press, Nerdwallet, Authority Magazine, NOLA.com, WWL-TV, and many local media outlets. He’s also routinely tapped by journalists who cover the hospitality industry, including Today’s Hotelier, Asian Hospitality, and Long Live Lodging.
He is also a tech entrepreneur and the founder of INNRLY, proprietary software that streamlines the day-to-day duties of hoteliers. – working on solutions that increase efficiency and profitability by helping hotel teams to make better, quicker, more-informed decisions.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Vimal Patel: I’m a leader in the hotel management and development industry. I’m known as an advocate for fair franchising, taking on one of the world’s biggest hotel chains in a class-action lawsuit to put an end to years of price gouging.
I’m the president and CEO of QHotels Management, which owns and operates hotels in Louisiana and Texas. I’ve been featured by Fox Business, Newsweek, the Associated Press, Nerdwallet, Authority Magazine, NOLA.com, WWL-TV, and many local media outlets. He’s also routinely tapped by journalists who cover the hospitality industry, including Today’s Hotelier, Asian Hospitality, and Long Live Lodging.
I am also a tech entrepreneur and the founder of INNRLY, proprietary software that streamlines the day-to-day duties of hoteliers. – working on solutions that increase efficiency and profitability by helping hotel teams to make better, quicker, more-informed decisions.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Vimal Patel: I’ve learned that it is important to look at the current challenges you and other businesses are facing and try to create solutions, look at the new trends, and examine the change in behavior in the customers and clients.
- Look for the opportunity to solve the problems created by Covid and Covid regulations for the businesses and their clients.
- Find ways to automate and use outside resources rather than doing everything in-house.
- Diversify your revenue stream
Set up the infrastructure to work remotely as much as possible. - Build Cash reserves and strong relationships with Lenders and vendors
I would rethink being part of a franchise model business versus independently branded hotels.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Vimal Patel: Customer service has become a big headache due to the lack of face-to-face contact with the customer. Automation is a big reality check for many small and midsize businesses. Business owners need to find ways of providing creative benefits to their staff, providing flexible scheduling, understanding staff needs, and accommodating other family needs. We all need to build redundancy with financial liquidity; this requires a line of credit and a good relationship with the lenders and vendors. If you are part of the franchise space, you may want to explore non-branded options.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Vimal Patel: Pandemic has forced us to rely more on productivity with less workforce. Labor shortages have been another challenge, reducing services and using less labor-intensive products. Being proactive with the guests, being upfront, and managing their expectations from arrival to departure has been a significant shift in our business practice. We started using a lot more part-time staff to be more flexible in scheduling. Also, liquidity has been a significant issue, so now we have to start building reserves for the future.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Vimal Patel: We were at status quo, complacent, and unwilling to change because things were just working simply fine. I wish we would have created multiple outlets to outsource different tasks and jobs; We will have to develop flexible scheduling, have more part-timers team members, and focus on mental well-being.
Outsourcing repetitive tasks instead of in-house staff can be advisable even though that may require you to partner with your competitor and share each other’s resources., like sales and marketing or accounting.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Vimal Patel: Technology will continue to dominate – virtual meetings will remain. In addition, we’ll see many hospitals and medical facilities continue to provide virtual consultation, online shopping will continue to increase, and technology to provide guest user experience will improve.
More artificial intelligence technology software and products will be utilized in businesses.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Vimal Patel: If I’m in the office about four hours outside of the office, probably about two hours in front of a screen. This includes a PC or smartphone.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Vimal Patel: We are in the hospitality industry, so most of the interactions and work have to be done on-site. The corporate office team members were given some options along with the remote working, but at the same time, I believe face-to-face problem-solving triumphs over remote management. It will vary by the industry as accountants can get most of the work done remotely versus customer service businesses need onsite presence
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Vimal Patel: Capital and cash flow have been the major problem as most of the liquidity were used up in pandemic, so getting a business line of credit with less revenue will be the most challenging in 2022. We need to have relationships with lenders and vendors, so requesting extensions on payables or deferment can be accommodated in crunch time.
- Use contract labor services to fill gaps.
- Streamlining and automating the operations and team members embracing these changes.
- Seizing the opportunities that were created during the pandemic, finding ways to connect with the guests in a personalized way, using technology.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Vimal Patel: I would be more interested in learning about NFT – we have a new project in multifamily that is coming up, and I want to create a platform for artists and give them resources to publish the artwork as an NFT and display it at my new project. This will create a new revenue stream for the artists. I would love to provide this platform for artists in India, Africa, and other countries.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Vimal Patel: The complacency mindstate existed before the pandemic, so neither the bosses nor the labor force was ready for drastic change, and the status quo mindset ruled as everyone was afraid of the change. However, the pandemic allowed the labor force to enjoy a social life, family life, and work remotely at their convenience.
So unless the bosses in the companies create flexibility and accommodate staff needs, they may find it challenging to fill the open positions.
The new labor force wants to be heard, valued, and be part of the process and wants flexibility with their family life social life – and they want a choice to work remotely.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Vimal Patel: What intrigues me would be to be part of the group of CEOs in the technology industry, understand how their minds work, and know what they know – that’s the direction I want to go in. Spending time with them and learning how the new technologies get developed and implemented. I have always been fascinated with technology fields, and being part of the process with these brilliant CEO and founders will be enthralling.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Vimal Patel: Post pandemic has created many opportunities, a lot of new connections, and so with the new networking – build more resources and partner with like-minded individuals and entrepreneurs to do new projects rather than go solo. Use each skill set to offset the weakness and have a fun ride along the way. The journey should be valued the most as you will spend the most time with these individuals to reach the goal instead of valuing the result.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Vimal Patel for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Vimal Patel or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.