It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Mitch Patel, President & CEO, Vision Hospitality Group, Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey (1)

• David Kong

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Mitch Patel shares his personal journey to leadership and the many lessons he’s learned along the way.  Mitch discusses the impact his parents, both immigrants to the US, have had on his life and how he has evolved into the parent and spouse he is today, all the while growing his hotel business.  He discusses the critical importance of having a personal brand, how that has impacted his ability to build deep relationships in the hospitality industry, and how those two combined to help him lead through the pandemic. Mitch also shares how Vision Hospitality Group has developed and lives daily its world class reputation for the best corporate culture.

Rachel Humphrey:

I am Rachel Humphrey on behalf of Advisors, and today it's my pleasure to welcome an industry champion and a personal champion of mine, Mitch Patel, president and c e o of Vision Hospitality Group. Welcome, Mitch.

Mitch Patel:

Thank you.

Rachel Humphrey:

Good morning. Good morning, Mitch. We're gonna jump right in. We're gonna spend about 30 minutes today just sharing your story, some of your insights. I've had the opportunity to hear you speak at a tremendous number of conferences and one-on-one as well, and really excited to have you be able to share some of that wisdom with everybody else out there. One of the things that makes the hospitality industry so special is that no two people share the same path to leadership. Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up where you are today.

Mitch Patel:

Sure. Rachel, first of all, honored to be on this program and congratulations to you and David and this exciting new journey that you are on. Very important work for sure. Honored to be a part of it today. You mentioned that no story is really the same, but our story is unique, but it also is very similar to many Asian American stories that have gotten into this hotel, this beautiful hotel industry. So our story started with my father coming to this great country with$8 in his pocket to pursue something really powerful. And that is the American dream, right? And he was the first person to graduate from high school. On the small village in India. And, but he wanted more, the expectation for his parents was to be a farmer to take over the family farm, but he wanted to do something more. He had a passion to be beyond that and not just be a farmer, what that expectation was. And so he would walk over three. every day. One way to this high school that was in a neighboring village and when it rained like it's doing today behind me, oh, which it rains a lot during the monsoon season. He would walk barefoot because his slippers would get stuck in the mud, and so that's that grit and that determination I owe him. And so many people like him so much because if he didn't do that, then who knows where I would be. And so he went up to graduate first from his high school, and that opportunity gave him to this opportunity to come to this country. So he came here to study, but he could only bring$8 if they didn't have much anyways, and he was able to bring$8 in his pocket, pursued his PhD in food microbiology. Then after college, he got a job as a research scientist at a pickle company. But this is where the American dream takes a little. So we're living in this modest two bedroom townhouse, and he is working at this pickle company. He as a research scientist, and I'm about seven, seven years old at this time. And this is in Stockton, California. Not some San Francisco or Los Angeles. And he decides to lease an 11 room motel and he couldn't buy, afford to buy it, so he decides to lease this 11 room motel. There was an apartment behind the motel. And my father was gonna continue to work in this pickle company, and it gave an opportunity to get a leg up for my mother to run this business, our family, to run this business for a place for us to live and safe on expenses. And so that became life. I was at this age of seven, eight years. Helping the family, clean rooms, do laundry, take out the trash, and even check in guests at that age. And if you recall back then, Rachel, we're both, we're still young, but I remember that we would charge$10 for a room and the actual rate was$8, but we gave$2. To the guests if they returned the key oh my god, And so that, that was life. And then after doing that for several years, my father decided to get in this business full-time and we moved cross country from California to small town. And I'm gonna talk about this a little bit later in our discuss. This small conservative town of Cleveland, Tennessee, and he buys this Scottish Inn. And again, this time we don't move into this motel, but I do find myself helping out in this family business, cleaning rooms, doing laundry, taking out the trash, doing front desk, and we've got a pool this time. And because I grew up in this business, that's the last thing I want to do is pursue it as a. It, and my father and mother would say, we made these sacrifices. We are working hard in cleaning rooms and doing this, so you don't have to. I think as a parent Rachel, you and I often talk about our children, by the way, our children, the audience our daughters are the same age arising senior in high school and arising senior in college. And so we have a lot in common in many ways. Rachel and family obviously is very important, and I think every generation simply wants a better life for the next generation, right? My grandparents want a better life for my parents and my parents want a better life. That's why they came to this great country and sacrificed so much simply for a better life for the next generat. And so here, my father and mother would say, you've gotta be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer. Be a professional. A professional, so you don't have to be in this, a business like this. And so I took the path of least resistance. I know you became an attorney, and so I became, An engineer. And so I pursued my bachelor's and masters in civil engineering and at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, which was just down the street from where I grew up. And, but there was some challenges. Number one, I didn't really enjoy it. So after college here, I'm working now at this company down in Atlanta, designing highways and bridges and doing traffic plans and transportation. And by the way, I apologize Rachel, for all the challenges with traffic down in Atlanta. I may have contributed to some of it. But

Rachel Humphrey:

wow. Mitch, I have to think if you were still there, maybe we wouldn't have the challenges that we have now.

Mitch Patel:

I don't know. I don't know. But I will tell you, I'm in my cubicle and I say this often, Rachel and I wind up looking at my. I just couldn't wait till noon. I couldn't wait till five o'clock. I was designing two-lane roads to four-lane roads in 25 foot increments in South Georgia and there was, I didn't have that passion for engineering and engineering's a great field for all these engineers out there, but it just wasn't for me. And so three years of doing this, I said, you know what? There has to be another opportunity. And I started questioning myself, right? In those moments, am I lazy? Do I have what it takes to be successful? And then I realized that I wasn't in the best position, or I had the best opportunity to find success. And so I took on this challenge of developing and managing my first hotel, 27, around 27 years of age at this. My hometown area of Chattanooga, Tennessee, never heard of this brand before. It's called the Homewood Suites. It's the two in Atlanta had extra, was exterior corridor and the housekeepers at golf carts, and I'm like going, I don't know, is this a hotel or is this apartments? And and it was a very new and novelty, idea at the time. And so for, definitely for Chattanooga. And so I took on this challenge. There was a many challenges. One, I had no capital. There's a very capital intensive business. I'd saved up$3,000 working as an engineer, so nothing was given to me. My parents didn't say, here is a bunch of capital, or Here's a bunch of hotels. They were discouraging me from getting into this business for the reasons that I'd mentioned earlier. And so I went, A lot of what drove me, Rachel, wasn't that I wanted to get in this. I didn't want to be in that cubicle designing roads for the rest of my life. And so I wound up building this hotel as a general contractor, even though I never built a shed before. And I literally took off my hard hat and I'm the opening general manager of this hotel, even though I never managed anyone at that point. That's amazing. It's a lot to learn. We struggled early. It's an extended stay hotel. Lot of backyard sales. I had no idea what I was doing. We did 10, 15% occupancy. I started questioning myself, right? Did I make the right? Here you have on this side you have guaranteed paycheck every two weeks. Nothing is guaranteed, but pretty much a guaranteed paycheck here every two weeks. And on this side, there's no guaranteed on anything. I thought about quitting, but I couldn't. I couldn't let my team down. I couldn't let my bank down. I couldn't let my partners down. And so we dug. And we learned every aspect of what we could of this business. And I will have to say, in 18 months of hard work and determination, we became the number one hotel in the market. But more importantly, Rachel Fire started burning in my belly and I found my passion where I never expected to. Wow. And when you have a passion for something, you're gonna wanna learn more. You, if you fall, you're gonna get up. Quick. and you will find success. So I'm so blessed that I found my passion where most people don't have that opportunity to find that and the rest is history Today, I think, we're, over a billion dollar company and we're an eight states with an incredible culture and incredible team, and and I still have my passion today.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's fantastic and I, I do wanna talk about your culture and your team, but first I wanna jump into something. You were, you brought up our children and I've had the pleasure of spending some time with your mom and dad and seeing you around your family. And I know when you and I talk you, the quote I always love is family is everything. But you are a busy man. You are on the road for development of the properties. You're on the road for conferences. You're doing a lot. How do you find time? To both be, you're a very present president and c e o, you're not an absentee investor in other things. How do you find time to really devote to your family as one passion and then to your business as a second?

Mitch Patel:

Yeah. Look I talk about PA passion is one of the most important ingredients, entrepreneurial success, but there is a downside it could consume. And if you look at some of the great leaders and great entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs, to Bill Gates and on, they were so consumed about what they were doing that they didn't put the time into What's most important at the end of the day, and as is family. And so it wasn't easy. You're asking me what did I do? I'm gonna tell you I didn't do a great job. When I first started this company, I was consumed with really growing this company, putting every ounce of my energy, and then I took for granted that's most precious, and that is your spouse and your young kids at that time, and I wasn't putting the time and energy that I. And I know you, you hear this from so many people, you've gotta find that right balance, right? And I will tell you that I would give myself or my wife would give me a, even a lower mark than I probably would, but I'll give myself a three. About 15 years ago, and I'll have to say that it has gone up every year to probably an eight or nine today and beyond, just came back from. Last week where we spent about two weeks with the family and I put that device up. We have a no device zone in our house. We have a drawer. I recommend that, by the way, for everyone, especially if you have children, and even if you're empty nester, being present is very important. You used that word. Yeah. Being present. I will never forget one day when I came home and. My wife was saying, when are you coming home? It's seven o'clock at night. And I wouldn't get home till seven, eight, even nine o'clock, many nights many years ago. And she was getting frustrated that I would do that. And then finally when I got home, she knew I wasn't present physically. I was there and she said, why don't you go back to the office? And I said, what do you mean I'm here? She said, you're not. Yeah. And so we have to work at it. There's a lot of things we have to work at, Rachel and I have to work at that every day. And so when I go home on my drive home, I'm getting into the zone of leaving this and focusing on family. And so when I get home, we do dinner together. I highly recommend that do not miss dinner with your family and your children. It's a great opportunity for you to share what happened that day, share stories and listen to your children, listen to your spouse. I do a lot of talking when I'm here at my company. You can't go home and be doing that, right? and we put our devices up and we talk and we listen and and we laugh. And that's what life is about. And so it's it's not easy for sure, but we work on it every

Rachel Humphrey:

day, and I think that's the biggest takeaway, Mitch, is that we are constantly evolving and constantly growing and reflecting and learning and yeah, I don't know that anybody is a 10, but I'll take an eight or a nine as a good day. And I've been down in the twos and threes like you have before is finding that right mix and that right honesty and saying, I wasn't good at it then. One of the other things that we all work at in this industry and I think is really special about hospitality is relat. This is an incredible industry where not only everybody knows everybody, but there are people with incredibly deep relationships, and you have some of the most special I'm honored to call you one of my personal relationships. How, what what strategies do you use, what personality traits? Do you have that you really double down on when developing those relationships or what has been it's very intentional, I know for you as it is for me. How have you built those relationships over the years?

Mitch Patel:

Yeah, absolutely, Rachel. I think that's your, it's a very important topic. And I'll have to tell you a little story. Growing up in Cleveland, Tennessee, there was really no one that looked like. And this is 1980 and beyond, and we visited India for the first time, and I felt like, wow, I didn't really belong there either because I'm as American as apple pie. And I had a, there was a cultural challenge when I visited India for the first time. And so there was a time in my life where I felt like I didn't belong. and that word belonging, I think, is a very powerful word, right? For thousands of years, human beings wanting to belong. And I know that's work that de and I advisors is absolutely working on for everyone to feel like they could belong in the workplace or just in life and in the environment that, that we're. and I, my father, has been one of my greatest role models of whom you've met. And my dad would tell me, look, life is not fair. Okay? Life is not fair. And you could fight it or you could embrace, the challenges that we deal with. Make something happen with it. So he would tell me to smile wider. Put your hand out first and introduce yourself and get to know that, that individual, and you know what? Change the perception of what that person thinks of you. I can't tell you. I could tell you stories and stories. I remember going to my first time I went to a car dealership in Cleveland, Tennessee. A gentleman came the salesman came up to me and said, let me tell you, I know you're kind and you're not going to beat me up on the price. Wow. And I'm like, going, what? And I'm like, 21, 22 years old. And there are many stories like that. Overall, overwhelming number of people have been kind and generous. But there are instances like that do happen and you start you start thinking, I start thinking what my dad would say, change one by one. And now I have a platform as to, for hundreds and even thousands of people, we have an opportunity to change a perception of what that person may think. and it's up to us. And I say this often, Rachel, it just came to me. Brands I've worked I partner with the brand partners with Marriott and Hilton and I h e and others. And Hyatt. And also we've developed our own brands, right? Edwin Kinley, the Grady. So I each individual, you, me, all of. We are our own brands. What is your brand ethos? Yeah. You have an opportunity and only you control your brand and the destiny of that brand. No one else could dictate that your brand for you. So you have an opportunity to go market it, go sell it, lift it or diminish it, and that's up to. And so I felt long time ago that I own this brand, Mitch Patel, and let me take advantage of that brand. And so when I go to conferences, I'm representing myself, not this vision hospitality group and doing the right thing every time, treating people with respect, putting your hand out and smiling wider, and showing your personality and being a good person. and genuinely, I think that's an important word. You've gotta do it genuinely with authenticity, right? You've gotta be yourself, you people could see right through that when you're not, and I've been able to do that and build a tremendous relationships in a network like you have over the years. And let me tell you why that's, I. You can't do this by yourself, right? We're always learning. We're always learning. I can't tell you even 25 years, and we were honored that you came to celebrate with us a few months ago. In our 25 year celebration, we even 25 years later, always learning. I'm pick up the phone and I'm calling my friends. I just talked to MIT Shaw, my really good friend, right? Just the other day. And we talked about not just business, we talked about. we talked about our children, our families, and so forth. So we're always learning and and having those relationships I think are so important in not just business. Absolutely helps in business. But in life and in the darkest hours. Two years ago right when the pandemic hit, we had groups set. Where we were talking to each other, we were navigating this crisis for the first time. This unprecedented crisis together. Yeah. We had no idea. And it, we really leaned on each other for support. We were all in it together. And you know what was so different, Rachel, this crisis. What's different about 2001 and 2008, nine and what happened in 2020, first of all is unprecedented. What happened, number one, but. it disproportionately impacted our industry. So my friends that are in the logistics business, in the manufacturing business and the other IND in the insurance industry, they were having record business record profits. I couldn't, they couldn't relate to us and we couldn't relate to them. So we leaned on our friends in the industry, and I really mean that they're true friends, not. Okay. Business associates. My wife even knows that these are some of my best friends that I have happen to be in the same industry. And we relied on each other. I even connected my development. I mean my investment folks that handle our finances with the fellow CFOs of their companies, our hr, VP of hr, I have them connect with fellow. HR professionals at the other companies so they could learn together best practices and really make a difference and navigate through a very difficult time. Yeah,

Rachel Humphrey:

and you bring up a great point that those relationships were instrumental, as you said, no men, no one could mentor you through it cuz nobody had been through it before. I know I called you for advice to hear what was happening at your properties and other things. For each leader who has successfully navigated the pandemic we dug into certain parts of us, certain traits that we had. What would you say either personally or professionally, were your character traits that made you able to, you have a corporate team there, you've got all your hotel teams as well. What did you lean into down deep to actually navigate that time

Mitch Patel:

and, it's hard to talk about yourself and. What I did we have a, we're very blessed to have a great team. We've got some great leaders in our organization, but something that I talk about often, Rachel, is storms will come and go and using that analogy in 2001, it was a pretty bad storm in oh eight, nine, it was at the time unprecedented. And then in 2020, of course, the most vicious storm that we have ever seen in this industry. and so I always talk about in 2019, just one year prior to the pandemic, I was at the Hunter Conference and TEG Hunter asked me about the economy. And I said, look, I can't tell you when the next storm is coming, but I know it's closer than it was yesterday. And the lightning just struck right when I said that behind me. And I said, but what we can't control these storms, right? But what we can do is how we could prepare for it and how we react to it, right? And so we always say, we're gonna build the best brick house in the industry. Okay? What is a brick house? Want a storm? You want a straw house or a brick? We want a brick house. And a brick house is the brands you partner with, your debt service, your locations, your market, but very important. This is a service business on top of a real estate business, right? What is your company culture? And that we double down on our company culture and it was so important to us that if we're gonna. These storms and we better have the best culture that we could absolutely have. It's what Howard Schult says, right? The culture will trump any business strategy, any day. A business cannot be sustainable without a strong set of values and a great culture. And you gotta be calm and to be more specific, I think if we're not, and we don't show confidence that we're gonna get through this together on the, and see the light at the end of the tunnel, then how do we expect everyone else to, right? And so I think it's really important. And it's not easy, it's easy to say these things, but when those challenges occur it's hard to behave in that manner. But I think that we've been through these storms. And I will tell you, another storm may be coming or will be coming. We know it will be coming at some point. We're gonna be even better prepared than ever because there is this African proverb that I use often, and that is a smooth sea, never made a skilled sailor. And so bring on the storm. We're gonna be ready for it, and we're strong. We're more together as an industry, we're smarter, we're more efficient, and we're resilient than ever. And that's what gives me confidence going forward.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's amazing. And I definitely wanna touch on co corporate culture. We're gonna run out of time as I predicted at the top that we would since you have so much to share. Lots of companies talk about culture for vision, hospitality group. It is a critical component and very successful. As you mentioned, your 25th anniversary, that was one of. The overarching themes that you couldn't help but feel when you were there. You've got your seven core vision values. You've got your true blue, you've got your culture wheel. Really thinking about the people that are trying to empower their own personal success, how do you identify that talent? If you need your team culture to be what you envision it to be? What is so critical for your success? How do you identify people during that interviewing, onboarding process that you think are gonna make a good fit for that culture?

Mitch Patel:

Yeah. I know we're running in time, so I'll be quick. This first and foremost, you have to believe that this is a people. First and foremost, and a lot of times at these investment conferences, it's funny, no one's talking about the people. And so I like to steer the conversation back to people because that's where you're gonna find success or not, and how you service your hotels. And it has to be about the people. And so number one, we use the word select instead of hire, right? There's a difference in those two words, and we select great people with great attitudes. Everything I'm about to say is not rocket science, okay? It's simple, but you gotta execute it and work on it every single day. And that's select people with great attitudes because you can't teach. you can't teach positive attitudes. You can't teach the willingness to learn. You can't teach that. That's the, to smile, to have that personality that you're looking for, let's say a front desk or if it's in another position. So we spend a lot of time, we've got HR tools, we've got a HR department our two, we have two people. All they do is recruit for. One is an African American individual and another is a Latino female. And that was very purposeful, right? And that these two people that recruit for us in our organization, and we're not just talking about housekeepers and front desks. We're talking about all the way to VP levels. These two people, that's what they do for us. And there's a process and a system that we go about looking for. For leaders as well. Second thing that I'll be quick on is we, it's very important we spend a lot of time making sure that we have placing that person in the right place to find success. Okay, so I'm gonna go back to my story. There's something that I always say is place the squirrel in the tree and the fish in the sea. I was that squirrel in the water. We're all inherently different, Rachel. We're all inherently different with different strengths and different weaknesses, and I wanna play off my strengths, right? Rather than weakness. You should always understand your weaknesses. You should learn from your weaknesses, you should improve on your weaknesses. But let me be happy and play off my strengths, right? And so I was always gonna be an average engineer. I don't think I would've solved all of those traffic problems down in Atlanta if I continue to do it, because I didn't love what I was. and that wasn't my natural strength. So we spent a lot of time finding the scroll in the tree and the efficiency in our organization. Not everybody is meant to be in every position. Okay? And so we do that, and this is the most important and there's so much more, but I'm gonna be quick. This is where people fail. Now you have the right person with the right attitude, and you've got the squirrel on the tree, right? But you've gotta take care of your people and. You. Everyone's born with an emotional register, but too often, Rachel, we want to make withdrawals without making deposits. And so we stress in with our teams and our leadership that you better lead with your heart, not just with your mind. And if people cannot lead with their heart, then you can't be a part of this organization. You can't be a part of this culture. And so we measure these things. By the way, every. and it's really important. And that's the trunk of the tree is the culture that we just talked about. And then the branches are guest satisfaction and market share and profitability. And by the way, if you don't have a happy and engaged team that's full of the deposits and their emotional register, then you will not have happy and engaged guest and so forth. And that's where the wheel comes full circle. And so it's really important there, there's two ways to lead. I always say if you want to dissect it, there's just two ways. One is out of fear, which is never sustainable or out of deep admira admiration of mutual respect. And too often people say the president, ceo, I'm the general manager. I'm the VP of operations. You have to do what I'm what I'm telling you to. no, that doesn't work today. May have never worked in the past either. You have to build that admiration and mutual respect that has to be earned. Earned. And so if you want to be a great leader, that's how you lead. To lead means. You have to followers and if you want followers to to lead in the vision that you have and where you want to go, then you want people to say, I will do anything for Rachel. I'll do anything for Steve or Mary, and that's the kind of leaders that I want. And by the way, associate engagement is also directly proportional to the relationship they have with their immediate supervisor. The keyword is immediate, so you can be floating around here trying to make deposits, but you've gotta make sure at every. step that those deposits are being made. And that's what our culture is about. And there's a whole book that we wrote about it which I believe you have a copy of. And if you don't, do you have a copy of the True People? We don't. Oh, I'm sorry.

Rachel Humphrey:

I know off the Christmas list. I guess

Mitch Patel:

I will. look at this, send you a copy, okay. Of our True Blue book. And it's basically a book on our journey and our story and our company values and Yeah. I love so forth. And you will be, you'll have a copy here in the next day or two. And so there's a lot in this book. And we did this because all those things that I just talked about, we wanted to put it on paper and for perspective. you asked your initial question was, how do we go about bringing in those folks that fit, our culture? One thing is we did this and we wanna make sure that our values and beliefs are in here. And we want to, we want people that share our values and beliefs to join our organization. And that's really the first.

Rachel Humphrey:

Mitch, is it, like I said, a million things I still wanna ask you, but taking into account, d e i advisor's, motto of empowering personal success, people that are out there that have set whatever goal it is for themselves, whatever level of the industry or leadership they want to achieve, what would you leave as your parting advice is the most important thing for.

Mitch Patel:

Yeah. Just a few things real quick. One is you've gotta have a strong vision for yourself. That brand that we talked about. Think big, be bold. Nothing big has ever happened. Thinking small, right? There's an old quote that I always use Michele. Our greatest danger is that we aim too low and we reach it, right? So go think bigger and be more bold. There is nothing wrong with that. And then of course, this is so important. I already talked about it. Really look in the mirror and make sure that you found your passion. It's really hard to be successful in something you don't love. Yeah, I really believe that to my core. And I don't feel like I'm working right. There's not a day that I feel like I'm working. I love, love, love what I do, and I wouldn't change anything. Of course you gotta balance like we talked about with family, very important which is another passion, of course, of mine. And then finally, we talked about culture, right? Culture will absolutely define company's destinies, but character will define. And so always do the right thing and treat people with respect and all those other things that we talked about your personal brand that you have and go lift it. And just like we talk about Chick-fil-A as a great company culture, and Disney and some of these organizations have a great company culture. What would people say about. what would people say about you? And I think that there is a huge opportunity for an individual to go and absolutely go in any direction that they would want to because this is the greatest country in the world with the greatest opportunities. I started with that and I'll end with that. And the sky really is the limit. And thanks to you and David and so many people. We are in a better place today. We got a long way to go, no question. We got a lot of work to do in, in, in De and I, but we've made also tremendous progress in the last 10 years, and particularly in the last two, three years. I don't even know what that, that acronym was right. A couple of years ago. So there, there's a lot in our organization, in our company that we're doing today that we weren't doing three, four years. And but the opportunities are there, but it must, at the end of the day, success, no one else is gonna take you from point A to point B to point C. It's you and your brand that's gonna take you

Rachel Humphrey:

there. That's fantastic, Mitch. It is a delight to sit down with you as always. Keep on leading. Tell everyone at the Vision Hospitality Group family that great job and delighted to have your leadership and to have you join us for d e I advisors. But thank you so much again. Thank you, Rachel. It

Mitch Patel:

was an honor. Appreciate it. Thanks.