SAN ANTONIO, April 14, 2017 — Members of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) elected Texas hotelier and current North Texas Regional Director Biran Patel as the association’s new secretary today at the group’s annual convention and trade show.
“This election was an exciting and very rewarding experience, and I am deeply honored to have been chosen to serve as an AAHOA officer for the next four years,” Patel said after the result was announced.
A second-generation hotelier, Patel began his career in the hotel industry as a teenager while his family lived at the hotel they owned. A member for more than 15 years, Patel has served on five AAHOA committees, was previously an AAHOA regional ambassador and has led North Texas as regional director since 2014. He lives in Irving, Texas.
“Biran has repeatedly proven his dedication both to AAHOA and to the hotel industry in general,” said AAHOA President and CEO Chip Rogers. “I am delighted to welcome him to the officer ranks and look forward to his continued invaluable contributions to our association.”
Patel defeated Cabot, Arkansas, hotelier and Director at Large Jayesh (Jay) Lallu in the election.
“I would like to congratulate Jayesh Lallu, my extremely worthy opponent, on a well-run race, and to sincerely thank the AAHOA members for their confidence in my ability to one day lead this association as chairman,” Patel said.
Officers are elected to the position of secretary, and ascend through the treasurer and vice chairman roles before becoming chairman. Patel will become chairman at the 2020 AAHOA convention. Other successful candidates at this year’s AAHOA elections include Piyush Patel (Director at Large); Lina Patel (Female Director at Large – Eastern Division); Purvi Panwala (Young Professional Director at Large – Eastern Division); Nitin (Nick) Patel (Alabama Panhandle Regional Director); Bharat Patel (Florida Regional Director); Girish (Gary) Patel (Gulf Regional Director); Naresh (Nick) Patel (North Central Regional Director); Sunil (Sunny) Patel (Northeast Regional Director); and Mayur (Mike) Patel (North Texas Regional Director). Georgia Regional Director Kapil (Ken) Patel, South Carolina Regional Director Mahesh (Mike) Patel, and Washington District Regional Director Vinaykumar (Vinay) Patel were re-elected.
For more information on the 2017 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show, please visit AAHOA.com. Founded in 1989, AAHOA (www.aahoa.com) is the largest hotel owners association in the world, with more than 16,500 small business owner-members. AAHOA members own almost one in every two hotels in the United States.
