8 CALIFORNIA LODGING NEWS www.calodging.com MEMBER PROFILE “Patel is synonymous with hotel nowadays,” said Raj Patel, Founder, Chairman and CEO of INNsight. “Our last name means landowner or landlord. Folks emigrating from India to the United States parlayed their experience in land ownership into hotelier-ing.” Patel’s family hospitality business started with Nanalal Patel, Patel’s great uncle, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1920, “pioneering the way for countless individuals from our region in Surat, Gujarat,” said Patel. The family still owns two symbolic and historic hotel properties across from the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Patel grew up selling rooms at hotels owned by his immediate branch of the family, whose history of ownership stretches from the 1960s in Fresno, as well as long-time properties in San Francisco’s Mission and SOMA districts. Today the family also counts properties at top tourist destinations along the California coast and mountainside as part of its extensive portfolio. Taking a brief detour to attend the University of California at Berkeley and pursue management consulting in Silicon Valley, Patel was responsible for the product and business strategy behind eBay Marketplace— where he learned how to build software for e-commerce. After nearly eight years of work in high technology, Patel decided it was time to return to the family business. “I started seeing some of the challenges that hoteliers faced. It’s a fragmented industry: you’ve got franchises, you’ve got online travel agents, you’ve got all these challenges that technology either solves or creates for hotels.” After noticing that third parties hindered mom and pop hotels from performing on their own, Patel realized what they needed was a set of tools and services, and someone to guide the way. “I took a backpack, left my career at eBay, and started building out requirements and software into INNsight.” INNsight is a hospitality technology company that offers a complete digital marketing and distribution solution for the hospitality industry, or a “full Guest Engagement Platform,” according to Patel. The suite of software tools includes a property management system, website content management system, reputation management system, facilities management system, email marketing system, and more. “A lot of people don’t understand that it takes a lot to drive a hotel reservation,” said Patel. Explaining how variables like inventory dynamics and expiration dates complicate selling a hotel room online. Patel believes what separates his company from other providers is their unique pulse on the hotel landscape as an innkeeper. Possessing certifications in hotel administration, revenue management, and food and beverage operations, Patel has been involved with his family’s tourist portfolios, including deal shaping and real estate acquisition, as well as managing operations, marketing, sales, and revenue management. “We’ve been in the hospitality industry for decades, and I married hospitality with my understanding of technology to really drive innovation,” he said. Patel also believes the hotel industry should lead the charge with innovation, explaining that online travel agencies “don’t want to see disruption.” There’s a lot of risk associated with companies who use third-party connections, whereas INNsight is a “full stack proprietary software”. “Fundamentally what we’re trying to do is connect with hotels and connect with guests in multiple fashions.” According to Patel, the software is the service model. “We don’t have upfront costs for our products, we keep the hurdles low. We don’t use third parties; we don’t bolt things on.” “Whenever there’s a new thing out there, we charge ahead and start building out technologies,” he added. Later this year, Patel shared that the company is planning to launch a keystone property management system, which will be a robust cloud that ties all INNsight’s product features together and rounds out the Guest Engagement Platform. Starting as a kid greeting guests at the front desk to designing software that helps hoteliers, “the most exciting part of my journey in the industry is having taken that experience of operating hotels from a young age and leaving the industry to pursue a career in technology, only to come back and build software that encompasses all of that experience and memories,” said Patel. Embracing his longstanding family hospitality legacy, Patel hopes to continue pioneering new frontiers in guest experiences, and provide hotels tools to manage, promote and sell their products and services in new and effective ways. “We’re not looking for fanfare. For us, it’s to drive change and innovation, build cool products, and help hotels connect with their guests.” RAJ PATEL
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