Imaginative and prescient Hospitality Group Founder and CEO Mitch Patel rose to his present place from “humble beginnings” as proprietor/operator of a small lodge, a job that gave him an appreciation for each the aspirations of hospitality workers in addition to the hurdles house owners face in pursuing their American Dream. He brings that basis, together with many years of {industry} expertise, to his new place as 2025 board chair of the American Lodge & Lodging Affiliation (AHLA), following his tenure as vice chair. Succeeding 2024 Board Chair Kevin Jacobs, whom he praises for “excellent management … significantly in a difficult yr,” Patel goals to construct on final yr’s advocacy successes by persevering with to make sure the collective voice of the {industry} is heard on Capitol Hill and dealing to finish AHLA’s five-year strategic plan.
Within the following unique interview with LODGING, Patel elaborates on his priorities for 2025 in view of the alternatives and challenges for house owners, operators, and builders in at present’s political and financial local weather. He additionally discusses the fervour for hospitality that drives him to reach his personal enterprise and to pave the best way for anybody in search of profession achievement within the {industry}.
How did your early profession experiences put together you to your management roles in hospitality?
I began our firm with humble beginnings, proudly owning and working a small lodge. These early days supplied me with firsthand expertise of each the challenges and alternatives our {industry} faces.
On one hand, I developed a deep appreciation for the folks facet of this enterprise. Alternatively, as an proprietor, I gained a transparent understanding of the every day challenges house owners face, from workforce points and market uncertainties to rising prices of doing enterprise.
This distinctive perspective—empathy for the individuals who drive our {industry} and perception into the proprietor’s function—has ready me for this management place and to advocate for safeguarding the enterprise mannequin that sustains livelihoods throughout the hospitality panorama. As leaders, it’s our accountability to inform our tales of the American Dream and make sure the continued success of this superb {industry} for all who rely upon it.
What do you discover most rewarding concerning the lodge {industry}?
Our {industry} creates unimaginable alternatives for thousands and thousands of individuals—not simply to have a job, however to construct significant careers. I’ve had the privilege to witness the alternatives our {industry} offers for people to succeed. It’s inspiring to see people begin as housekeepers or on the entrance desk and work their manner as much as turn into common managers and past. By means of these alternatives, we’re really altering lives and enhancing folks’s futures. That’s a robust and deeply fulfilling objective.
What are probably the most important hospitality {industry} traits that emerged in 2024, in your opinion?
In 2024, key traits embody sustainability, with higher demand for eco-friendly practices, wellness-focused stays, and the combination of AI to reinforce visitor experiences and create higher operational efficiencies. Vacationers are in search of extra experiences, whereas workforce challenges stay crucial as we attempt to draw and retain expertise.
Out of your vantage level because the chief of Imaginative and prescient Hospitality Group, that are a very powerful latest traits in lodge administration particularly?
Our enterprise mannequin continues to be challenged. The rising prices of labor, items, insurance coverage, and debt has positioned important stress on the hotelier’s enterprise mannequin. This has impacted the livelihoods of so many in our {industry} and considerably restricted our potential to develop. Hoteliers must concentrate on bettering and rising their companies slightly than navigating exterior operational challenges like labor shortages, regulatory overreach, onerous laws, and inflation. With these points, it’s turn into extra vital than ever to advocate for a greater enterprise surroundings going ahead.
What are your prime priorities as chair, and the way do you propose to construct upon your work as vice chair?
First, I want to thank our outgoing chair, Kevin Jacobs. His excellent management was instrumental, significantly in a difficult yr. I’m humbled and honored to be standing on the shoulders of so many nice leaders who’ve made AHLA what it’s at present. We’re lucky that we now have an engaged board, we’re in the midst of a five-year strategic plan, and most significantly we now have a proficient crew right here at AHLA. In the end, our job at AHLA is to efficiently advocate for this superb {industry}. My priorities are to realize that by focusing our work in just a few key areas:
We’ll passionately inform the {industry}’s story to lawmakers and most people, highlighting how accommodations are a pathway to the American Dream for small-business house owners, and thousands and thousands of workers throughout the nation. Advocacy is storytelling—it’s about shaping the narrative of our {industry}. If we don’t take cost of telling our story, another person will outline it for us.
We’ll aggressively advocate for insurance policies that promote and defend our {industry}. The lodge {industry} is inherently fragmented, making it important to construct a stronger, united coalition throughout each state and main metropolis in America. Collectively, we are able to guarantee our collective voice is heard at each stage of presidency.
We’ll proceed to develop AHLA’s footprint of industry-leading conferences, like The Hospitality Present—the world’s main hospitality know-how and operations occasion—in addition to vital AHLA Basis occasions like ForWard: Advancing Ladies in Hospitality and the Evening of a Thousand Stars Gala.
Lastly, AHLA will proceed its thought management in rallying the {industry} round vital priorities like AHLA Basis’s No Room For Trafficking effort in addition to AHLA sustainability initiatives like Accountable Keep and Inexperienced Key International.
On a associated word, I used to be proud to be a part of the search committee for AHLA’s new president & CEO, Rosanna Maietta, and we’re thrilled to have her again on the affiliation. Her deep data of the lodge {industry}, AHLA, AHLA Basis, and our members shall be very important in shifting us ahead in 2025 and into the longer term.
What do you see as the largest alternatives and challenges for U.S. hoteliers going ahead?
I’m at all times an optimist in terms of the lodge {industry}, and searching on the legislative panorama throughout the nation, I feel AHLA can ship some vital wins for hoteliers within the close to future. That is significantly true on the federal stage, the place momentum to increase the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and move nationwide lodging charge transparency laws is rising.
Ongoing challenges embody the enduring workforce scarcity, the lingering results of inflation consuming into the underside traces of hoteliers, and the rising risk of state and native insurance policies that concentrate on accommodations with burdensome operational mandates. However 2024 confirmed as soon as once more the progress we are able to make when hoteliers work collectively and converse with one voice by means of AHLA, and I’m very optimistic about what we are able to obtain in 2025.
Please share your viewpoint on the potential influence of the presidential election consequence on the lodging {industry}.
AHLA has at all times been a bipartisan group that works with each administration and each Congress to advance insurance policies on behalf of the lodge {industry}, and we are going to proceed to do exactly that.
Our pitch to lawmakers on either side of the aisle is easy and efficient: communities, economies, and employees in each congressional district throughout the nation profit from the roles and alternatives which are created when hoteliers get a good probability to succeed and develop their companies.
Relating to the brand new stability of energy in Washington, we’re clearly excited concerning the prospect of getting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act prolonged, and we’ll be working intently with Congress and the Trump Administration to make sure key hotelier priorities like pass-through deductions and like-kind exchanges are maintained as a part of that effort.
AHLA is an advocacy-first group. Over the previous 115 years, our group has developed right into a unified voice that represents probably the most impactful and dynamic industries on this planet, however our dedication has not modified. We’ll proceed to advocate for this superb {industry} of ours that sustains thousands and thousands of livelihoods throughout this nice nation, and I’m deeply honored to be part of it.

