How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels • Hacker News Board

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#201

Post by erikpukinskis » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:32 AM UTC

sidlls wrote: post #28

stephengillie wrote: post #3

This model has led to success for other immigrant groups in other industries. > Many followed his advice. “They would give each other handshake loans—no collateral, no payment schedule, just pay when you can,” Doshi explains. Once a family purchased a motel, they would live there, and the family members would do all the tasks needed to run it, from cleaning rooms to checking in guests. That helped keep costs down, an…

It's not (just) that most Americans feel these jobs aren't worth their time. There is a very strong individualist streak in American culture and a very strong taboo against lending friends or family members money for any reason. There are plenty of American families who have relations who could easily help bootstrap a profitable small business in the way described here. It just doesn't happen that way very often. Ins…

> There are plenty of American families who have relations who could easily help bootstrap a profitable small business in the way described here

The problem is a lot of those business aren’t vetted. How do you know if anyone’s going to eat at Uncle Ned’s crab shack?

These motels are more like new franchises than a startup. They’ve already been partly de-risked.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#202

Post by scarejunba » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:33 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #64

stephengillie wrote: post #3

This model has led to success for other immigrant groups in other industries. > Many followed his advice. “They would give each other handshake loans—no collateral, no payment schedule, just pay when you can,” Doshi explains. Once a family purchased a motel, they would live there, and the family members would do all the tasks needed to run it, from cleaning rooms to checking in guests. That helped keep costs down, an…

> The "killer app" here appears to be a lack of resources beyond established relationships. Because of this, whole families were willing to spend their time doing work that most Americans feel is not worth their time. I really dislike this argument. It makes middle-class Americans sound like a bunch of ungrateful churls, because they think that is beneath them (at the price the employer is willing to pay, but that pa…

> at the price the employer is willing to pay, but that part is always left unsaid

The price the employer can offer is denominated in a currency you cannot use. For the family member, it's more like receiving massive equity stake with little to no salary.

A friend of mine had his great uncle come to America penniless in the '80s. They own apartment buildings in Queens now.

That's because a 12-year-old kid is going to come home, finish homework, and then man the store for three hours, taking over from his older sister. Daycare is free because the 15-year-old will manage the 12-year-old and the 12-year-old will manage the 6-year-old when the teenager is out. It's a tough life, and I don't wish it upon my kids but that shit went straight to equity. Those kids are now well off middle aged people, and when their parents (the original immigrants) pass, the grandkids will be fabulously wealthy.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#203

Post by la6470 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:50 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #139

sidlls wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not (just) that most Americans feel these jobs aren't worth their time. There is a very strong individualist streak in American culture and a very strong taboo against lending friends or family members money for any reason. There are plenty of American families who have relations who could easily help bootstrap a profitable small business in the way described here. It just doesn't happen that way very often. Ins…

Americans want less risk, and fiscal policy drives consolidation. Hotels aren’t a Business that requires immigrant labor because it’s undesirable —- it’s a business that needs capital and SMB are starved of capital. Many Americans come from a cultural background where there is shame involved in talking about money and doing business with family, and prefer dealing with institutions.

These people in TFA are also Americans - not white Americans but Indian Americans

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#204

Post by balls187 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:50 AM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #190

selimthegrim wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is good in Seattle?

Everything good is actually within a 5-7km radius of Microsoft HQ in Redmond, on the east side. There's a really good chaat place. And a grocery store where the clientele are 99% Indian, a half block from the chaat place. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chaat+House/@47.6326521,-1... If you are far south of downtown in the Renton/Kent area, this Pakistani kebab place is great: https://www.google.com/search?client=ub…

Mayuri (the grocery store) does have a great selection of staples items.

In that same parking lot is Teapot Vegetarian House (not Indian) and Malay Satay Hut (though the quality was lacking last time we went).

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#205

Post by th1nkdifferent » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:52 AM UTC

ahstilde wrote: post #164

balls187 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good Indian food doesn't exist in the US. Take a trip to BC, or the UK, and you'll see what I mean.

This is incredibly diminutive of Indian cuisine in America. The Bay Area itself has Zareen's (Michelin guide) and Rasa (Michelin star). Yes, the UK has much more phenomenal Indian food, but to say the US has none is wrong.

I'm sorry Michelin star means squat for Indian food. I have tried both and they are pretty crappy.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#206

Post by AlexCoventry » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 5:15 AM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #170

jlg23 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have some references, I'd call this a "nice theory" (to be read with a British accent). Spontaneously: * South America appeared to be more catholic than any Western European or US-American place I've visited, but family and extended family are still a big thing. * Calvinists seem to be much more "open" than catholics to me. * Damn, I want the secret recipe that lets me set a policy and enforce it in vast a…

Extended family may be a thing in Western Europe and derived cultural areas but clans are not. Descent based political groupings are for backwoods peasants at best, not the commanding heights of the polity, unlike every other meta cultural grouping. The recipe for setting and enforcing a policy over vast areas of time and space is incentive compatibility. It is always in the interest of one powerful political group t…

He would have tipped his hand as a purveyor of speculative, just-so, white-supremacist garbage, if he'd cited her. Also, there is nothing in that paper to support your claim about the policies of the Catholic Church.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#207

Post by adventured » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 5:48 AM UTC

skookumchuck wrote: post #117

sidlls wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not (just) that most Americans feel these jobs aren't worth their time. There is a very strong individualist streak in American culture and a very strong taboo against lending friends or family members money for any reason. There are plenty of American families who have relations who could easily help bootstrap a profitable small business in the way described here. It just doesn't happen that way very often. Ins…

I believe Gates started Microsoft with a $5000 loan from his parents. Not that "immense".

Gates did not start Microsoft with a loan from his parents, it was entirely bootstrapped financially.

Paul Allen and Gates had saved up a small amount of money from contract work. Together they provided all of Microsoft's seed capital. They had customers for Microsoft essentially from the start of the business (MITS being the first), making it profitable nearly from day one.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#208

Post by pajalock » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 6:03 AM UTC

sumedh wrote: post #193

walrus01 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of famous financial fraudsters and crooks from any community. Look at the Ivy League graduates working on Wall Street who caused the 2007/2008 financial crisis.

> from any community Which is not relevant to this post and the GP comment.

yea true

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#209

Post by kamaal » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 6:18 AM UTC

justboxing wrote: post #66

The story totally checks out. I moved from Boston to San Francisco in 2006, did a cross country drive. Back then we only had flip phone, so I would use my laptop and The Microsoft Streets software with a GPS. Every day, around 3 PM, I would pull in into the parking lot and locate a Motel 30 or 40 miles ahead using the GPS and Streets software, and call and book a room. 8 out of 11 motels I stayed in were owned and ru…

>>8 out of 11 motels I stayed in were owned and run by Gujjus (Gujaratis, originally from the state of Gujarat in India).

I had a Gujrati friend while doing my Engineering in Bangalore. He quit round about the 5th Semester, went to the US to start a Motel. And from what I heard the last he had like a chain. Never returned and finished his engineering though.

I remember starting round about the 2nd semester he would frequently visit the US to see his cousins who ran Motels. He was quite famous in the class that he used to get us all sorts of rare merchandise from the US not available back then in India. I'm talking about the time when a bar of Snickers was like an exotic chocolate in India.

One of things you will see in certain Indian communities(Gujrat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal) is a very high degree of community affection and willingness to help their kind.

I heard the family based GC, I guess that EB3 wait times are now like 16 years, largely because once a family comes, they apply GCs for everyone in their family.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#210

Post by davidgay » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 6:29 AM UTC

pard68 wrote: post #145

jlg23 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have some references, I'd call this a "nice theory" (to be read with a British accent). Spontaneously: * South America appeared to be more catholic than any Western European or US-American place I've visited, but family and extended family are still a big thing. * Calvinists seem to be much more "open" than catholics to me. * Damn, I want the secret recipe that lets me set a policy and enforce it in vast a…

By Calvinists I assume you are referring to Protestants? Or are you actually referring to Calvinistic Protestants? Just curious, outside of Christian circles and history I don't think I have ever seen someone reference Calvinists.

Calvinists get plentifully referenced in general circles when you grow up in Geneva ;)