A GROUP OF 12 young hoteliers came together to donate 25,000 facemasks to hospitals in their home states, California, Texas, Oregon and Washington. The group includes Neal Patel, secretary of AAHOA, and Bijal Patel, chairman of the California Hotel & Lodging Association.
It was a gesture that came naturally to them, Neal said.
“Hoteliers are experts at providing a safe, easy night of rest to travelers who have spent a hard day on the road,” Neal said. “During this crisis environment, we want to make work a little safer and easier for the health care first-responders who are working so very hard on behalf of the communities where we do business.”
Bijal said serving people is a lifelong bond.
“Although we are currently physically separated from our guests, helping our neighborhoods has no boundaries – especially medical workers who are facing and overcoming a very special level of hardship every minute,” he said.
The 12 hoteliers and their eight companies are:
- Taran Patel, managing partner at A1 Hospitality Group, which operates properties in Oregon and Washington.
- Neal and Avi “Sunny” Patel, founders and managing partners of Blue Chip Hotels, which operates in Texas.
- Shirin Patel, principal at Canterbury Hotel Group, with properties in Oregon.
- Suraj Patel, president, and Ravi Govin, vice president, of Clutch Hotel Group in Texas.
- Bijal Patel, who also is CEO and principal of Coast Redwood Hospitality, in Northern California.
- Mayur “Mike” Patel, managing partner, and Amish Patel, director, of Prosper Hospitality in Texas.
- Mitesh Jivan and Alpesh Jivan, founders and managing partners of TenSeventy Hospitality in California.
- Sawan Patel, managing partner at Unity Hotels Group in Texas.
The hospitals receiving masks in California include Adventist Health in Ukiah Valley and Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. The Oregon mask recipients are Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland and Providence Memorial Hospital in Hood River.
The Texas hospitals are Parkland Health in Dallas, Memorial Hermann in Sugar Land, Memorial Hermann Southwest in Houston and Ascension Seton Williamson in Round Rock. In Washington the masks went to Trios Health in Kennewick, Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco and Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.
“As our company thought about what our local communities needed, we quickly realized there was a dire need for protective medical equipment, masks in particular,” Taran Patel said. “We immediately put together an energized group of young hoteliers who could act fast to leverage our collective resources and to make an immediate, meaningful impact.”
Mitesh Jivan of TenSeventy, who also operates Jivan LED lighting used his contacts for that company in Asia to secure a large quantity of masks at a time when high demand has led to scarcity.
“Americans were being told to watch and wait, but my style is not to wait – I act,” said Jivan. “I never thought I would be figuring out the logistics of importing surgical masks as fast as possible, but it’s been great to mobilize our resources in support of the health care workers who are supporting us every day.”
Sawan Patel of Unity Hotels Group said hoteliers know the importance of working behind scenes for their guests.
“Providing these masks is a small way we can give medical workers a valuable tool as they fight for us on the front line,” he said.
Another group of hoteliers recently started making their own masks to share with the community.
