The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) represents nearly 20,000 hoteliers across America. Also, with more than 1 million employees, more than 34,000 member-owned hotels represent a significant portion of America’s economy. An election is being organized soon to elect the president, general secretary and board members of this association. An effort has been made to make this event, which is being held in Los Angeles from April 11 to 14 as a convention, very grand. This organization is contributing 367 billion dollars to the GDP of America. Election voting for which will be done on April 13 not offline but through e-voting.
AAHOA’s network in 22 US states
AAHOA’s network spans 22 US states. All these states appoint a director known as Regional Director. AAHOA is structured around 10 different bylaws. AAHOA’s entire network operates under these rules.
AAHOA has 7 different committees functioning
AAHOA has 7 different committees. These include East Chair Council, Strategic Planning, Independent Hotelier, Government Affairs, Franchise and Industries Relations, Finance and Audit and Education and Professional Development. Thus, AAHOA holds the lion’s share of the US-based hotel industries.
Sadhguru and Brahma Vihari Swami will deliver speeches in the convention
AAHOA’s convention will be held from April 11 to 14. This time the convention is going to be held at Los Angeles. Different issues will be discussed at different times during the program. In this program, seminars for education, young professional sessions, training and certification courses to prevent human trafficking and trade shows will be held. Speakers including Sadhguru and Brahma Vihari Swami will deliver speeches in this program.
The election will be held through e-voting
Elections for AAHOA’s new chairman, general secretary, and board directors will be held during the convention being held in Los Angeles. Until now AAHOA members could vote both offline and online. But this time the voting process has been done completely online. AAHOA members can only do e-voting.
Talks on with government for H2B visa: Neil Nishant Patel
Divya Bhaskar had a special conversation with Neil Nishant Patel, Chairman of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. He said that the price of the hotel industry in the US has increased by 30 percent, because the competition is high. Competition has increased as people come from outside and buy properties. So there will be a big benefit. The entire US runs on foreign money. As we understand, the process to apply for a visitor visa is lengthy.
This process should be shortened by the US
Nil Nishant Patel further added that this process should be shortened by the US. No one should plan a vacation or visit too soon. So we are communicating with the government that if possible more people should be stopped and this process should be shortened. In addition, if the number of countries included in the visitor visa is increased, the output of the US economy will increase. Currently, H2B visas which do not have India, we also demand with the government to let them come here, so that people from Gujarat can come.
AAHOA delegation visited Gujarat recently
The US-based Asian American Hotel Owners Association also held two separate meetings with the Gujarat government last January. The meeting was held with Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Among all the meetings held under the coordination of Chamber of Commerce Industries NRG Chairman Himanshu Vyas, one meeting was also held at Ahmedabad. The main purpose of the discussion in the dialogue held in different meetings was under what kind of planning the US-based Asian American Hotel Owners Association wants to do in the future in the US, Gujarat and India.
Discussions with the Federal Government on issues affecting hotels positively
The Asian American Hotel Owners Association has a total of 34,000 hotels in the US, with 20,000 members. Among all these hotels, 90 percent are Gujarati hotels. Some time ago we had 100 delegates go to Washington DC and also had a meeting with the US government. AAHOA members have proposed implementing regulations that positively affect hotels.
AAHOA pays higher wages than federal
In 2019, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association conducted a survey that 90 percent of the hotels had job openings. Even now there are job openings in all the hotels. Demand is even higher than in 2019. Job availability is such that if one comes to America, there is job guarantee within one month. AAHOA claims that jobs will be available within a week in the hotel industry. The federal government currently pays a minimum wage of $7.25. Neil Nishant Patel said as we give 15 dollars. Also the minimum wage is higher in some states. We have told the government that if the tax is kept low, the improvement in the property will also increase.
Study of national and state level implications of AAHOA
To measure the significant impact on the US economy, AAHOA engaged Oxford Economics, an international leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis, to conduct a comprehensive economic impact analysis. The study analyzed AAHOA member-owned U.S. hotels and their share of room rates. A study of the indirect and induced impact of AAHOA hotels supported on hotel operations, hotel guest incidental expenditures, capital investment and other parts of the US economy on both national and state.
US hotel performance declines- STR
In keeping with the usual ebb and flow of the spring break season, US hotel performance declined from the previous week, according to STR’s latest data through March 25. According to the STR findings posted by AAHOA on its website, hoteliers are worried about the declining performance of hotels. The newly appointed board is likely to decide the strategy after the elections on how to improve this performance as well.
STR report findings
(19-25 March 2023 (percentage change from comparable week in 2022, 2019))
- Business: 64.9% (-0.6%, -6.3%)
- Average Daily Rate (ADR): US$158.61 (+4.7%, +19.5%)
- Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR): US$102.98 (+4.1%, +12.0%)
- Among the top 25 markets, Chicago saw the largest year-over-year increase in business (+12.2% to 63.4%).
- Phoenix saw the only occupancy lift in 2019 (+3.1% to 81.5%).
- Washington, D.C. showed the most significant ADR (+20.9% to US$194.18) and RevPAR growth (+33.4% to US$139.83) over the year.
- Las Vegas saw the biggest increases in metrics when measured against 2019: ADR (+42.7% to US$187.21) and RevPAR (+31.5% to US$148.86).
- The sharpest RevPAR declines from 2019 were seen in Seattle (-11.8% to US$101.31) and New Orleans (-11.4% to US$124.47).
- New Orleans also reported the largest year-over-year RevPAR decline (-12.4% to US$124.47).
About STR
STR’s world-leading hotel operations model includes 77,000 properties and 10 million rooms worldwide. STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 15 countries with North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, international headquarters in London and Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. CoStar CoStar Group, Inc., a leading provider of information and analytics in the online real estate marketplace, commercial and residential property markets. (NASDAQ:CSGP) acquired STR in October 2019.
AAHOA Fights for the Homeless – Yogi Patel
Yogi Patel, who lives in Los Angeles and is the president of Labon Hospitality Group, says that the service is good in America. Helping every hotelier. It guides everyone to overcome the problems they face. These people fight for the increase of homeless people. Counties of different states work together for people.