A lifelong dream comes full circle By Jodi Scott For many soccer fans, attending a FIFA World Cup match is a dream. For AAHOA Lifetime Member Raman (RP) Rama, serving as a volunteer at the FIFA World Cup in Miami represented something even more meaningful – the fulfillment of a lifelong passion that began decades ago on the soccer fields of India. Long before he … [Read more...] about From Goalkeeper to the World Cup
AAHOA Spotlight
Ten Years of Today’s Hotelier
A look back at this magazine's first decade By Cathleen Draper A little over 10 years ago, AAHOA was at an inflection point. The association had grown from a community connected by its shared heritage into something much larger and more ambitious – an industry-leading organization comprised of entrepreneurs, innovators, and industry leaders. AAHOA leadership felt … [Read more...] about Ten Years of Today’s Hotelier
A Trip Down the Mother Road
Hospitality on Route 66, then and now By Cathleen Draper One hundred years ago, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads created the first federal highway system in an effort to connect small, rural towns with the urban centers between them. The system included an east-west network of existing local, state, and national roads running almost diagonally from Chicago to Santa Monica, … [Read more...] about A Trip Down the Mother Road
From Humble Beginnings
How Indian Americans built the American hospitality industry By Cathleen Draper When Kanji Manchhu Desai of Digas, D. Lal of Orna, and Nanalal Patel of Butwada left their villages in Surat, they didn’t dream of America. Instead, Patel ventured to Panama in 1922, while D. Lal and Desai made the journey to Trinidad in 1930, all in the hope of providing for their families at … [Read more...] about From Humble Beginnings
Built in Hospitality, Competing on the Fairway
Manav Shah's journey to the U.S. Golf Open By Jodi Scott For Manav Shah, the road to professional golf began long before his first tournament tee time. It started inside his family’s Bakersfield, CA, hospitality business – an entrepreneurial upbringing that instilled the discipline, drive, and attention to detail that now define his game. “My parents (Sanjay and Bela … [Read more...] about Built in Hospitality, Competing on the Fairway