No-Tell Motels

When Manoj Patel's family bought the Wigwam Motel in Rialto, Calif., four years ago, the iconic Route 66 property was rundown. Its stucco teepees, built in the 1930s by Kentucky motor-inn visionary Frank Redford, had been frequented by drug addicts and prostitutes because the Wigwam's previous owners tried to reel in customers with a cheesy sign urging them to DO IT IN A TEE PEE. The Patels, who left India for the U.S. in 1980, worked hard to restore the motel to its former glory and added some modern amenities, including free wi-fi access. Says the owners' son Manoj, 27: "It feels good to know that the motel has a place in history and that we are able to keep it alive." Which is why it's a shame that the Patels and other innkeepers of South Asian descent have prompted a xenophobic--some might say racist--response from competitors along the U.S.'s historic highways.

As the Indian share of the market has grown over the years--members of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) now own 37% of the U.S. hotel industry--AMERICAN OWNED signs keep popping up outside motels around the country. While this seemingly innocuous phrase may appeal to many customers, it can also be intended as code for "not owned by immigrants," an attempt to divert business from upstanding first- or second-generation citizens whose ethnicity distinguishes them from most of their small-town neighbors. To those in the know, like veteran road-trip author Michael Wallis, AMERICAN OWNED is a subtle reminder of the days when customers, too, suffered from prejudice--back when African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and, at least on Route 66, poor Oklahomans fleeing to California were all denied lodging. "[Innkeepers] are trying to prey on people's prejudice under the guise of patriotism," says AAHOA president Fred Schwartz. His group wages vigorous letter-writing campaigns urging motels to remove the phrase, which is found mostly outside independently owned motels because franchise agreements restrict what signs may say.

Like the Greek owners of many a roadside diner, Indian immigrants have become curators of a nice slice of Americana. In Tulsa, Okla., Jack Patel has lovingly refurbished the neon cactus in front of his Desert Hills Motel, and in Amarillo, Texas, Dipak and Sangita Patel decorated their Route 66 properties with rose gardens. The so-called Patel-motel phenomenon began in the 1970s when immigrants from Gujarat, India--where Patel is a common surname--started applying their business acumen to the U.S. motel market.

"To own an American icon--it means to value and preserve," says Manoj Patel, who was born in the U.S., adding that travelers should care about not who owns a property but how well it is run. Route 66 enthusiast Emily Priddy agrees. She refuses to list on her popular website any motel proclaiming itself American owned. But there's always a new bend in the American road trip. Shilo Inns Suites Hotels, a large chain that has long supported veterans' causes, advertises itself as American owned but considers the phrase an expression of appreciation, not exclusion. When Shilo granted the hotels' first franchise in 2001, it went to an Asian-American family named--you guessed it--Patel.