AMERICAN PRIDE, UNDER ATTACK...

[Henry Hawk]

I was listening to a national syndicated talk show, on my way to work this morning....they was discussing how a law is being requested, to keep from business owners from being able to display the words "American Owned".....some out there feel that this is discriminating against business's that is owned by foreigners....

any opinions on this?

[IYT]

I think it should be a requirement to disclose this like restaurants have to display food scores.

[Gryphon]

I think its bull.

[Henry Hawk]

from the story that was being told, a Indian motel owner is claiming "discrimination" because other motels around him are saying "american owned" and THAT is hurting his business....

[Sandy Eggo]

I think its bull.

In what way? For or against the business owners? Personally, if someone wants to display "American owned" why not? There used to be other products which had a tag that read "American made". I don't know if they still do or not, but at any rate, why not?

Although, you have to ask yourself, what does "American owned" mean. Let's say I'm a legal immigrant and I have my citizenship. I'm an American, so my business would be "American owned", right? So, on that note, I know we have foreign companies such as Ikea (perhaps?), who have businesses here...I'm guessing that would be the difference?

[Bo D]

As a side note, someone once told me that any business with the word "American" in it's name was very likely not owned by an American.

I checked it out and from my limited random sampling in my area, he was right.

[me]

from the story that was being told, a Indian motel owner is claiming "discrimination" because other motels around him are saying "american owned" and THAT is hurting his business....

Somehow I doubt that's all that is hurting his business he just wants to blame it on that sign.

[Henry Hawk]

IMO...........If the sign is telling the truth.....then, there should abe NO law, subjecting them to discard it....

[Y]

...any opinions on this?

Any source for this?   

[Henry Hawk]

Any source for this?   

naw, just heard it on a talk show....can't find anything to back it up.....sue me

[Y]

naw, just heard it on a talk show....can't find anything to back it up.....sue me

Ah tole ya' time 'n' time agin ta' stop list'nin' ta' that damn propaganda...

[Henry Hawk]

it was Mancow in the Morning....he is a libertarian, with a goofy sense of humor...kind of refreshing to listen to ... ONCE in a while....

[C91]

I personally won't stay at a hotel that advertises itself as "American owned".  They typically provide poorer service and are not as well maintained.  I guess they think that the toothless rednecks that eat that crap up don't care if their bed is infested with cockroaches...as long as they're not giving their money to some turban wearing Hadji.

There was an article in Budget Travel magazine about 4 years ago comparing "American Owned" motels to motels that were owned by families of Indian descent.  (By the way these families are usually American citizens -- many second or third generation.)  Most of the "American Owned" motels were lacking in amenities and service provided by the other motels.

By the way, it's not American pride that's being displayed.  It's racism being draped in the Star Spangled Banner.  Which means the motel owners probably vote Republican.

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Edit:

I found the article on a pay to access archive site.  I'm going to take the chance and post it here in full.  If admins want to take it down, I defer to their judgment.

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Do You Really Fare Best at an "American-Owned" Motel?
Or do you simply support an unworthy appeal to bigotry?

by Herb Hiller | Feb 01 '03

Last summer, travel-photographer Len Kaufman was on assignment in southern Illinois. He arrived in town near midnight. The first motel he saw had a sign outside that read, "American owned." Kaufman was put off. He remembers thinking there was something discriminatory about it, but he was tired and was only staying the night. He checked in.

He remembered afterward that it was an older property. "It wasn't horrible, but the toilet had mildew growing in it-something like that. I wasn't impressed."

Next day, when he learned he had to stay over, he explored further. A half mile up the road he found an EconoLodge. Someone of Indian descent was at the desk. The lobby smelled of curry. Kaufman felt encouraged that he might find Indian food in town. No such luck. He ended up at a barbecue place.

But he remembers that the EconoLodge was cleaner than where he had stayed the night before and it cost $5 less.

Chances are, you or someone you know has seen these signs that say "American owned" in front of roadside motels. In a quick survey among colleagues, I've had reports of the signs in New York, Missouri, Washington, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and California. A national hotel-owners' organization says the signs appear everywhere, but mostly at budget properties-places in the $25 to $50 range-and often around Interstate exits or among commercial strips near city centers. I haven't seen any affiliated with well-known lodging chains. Corporate policy generally doesn't allow it. And, while motel owners who dangle the "American-owned" carrot would, of course, disagree, others who look into the matter tend to conclude that the signs reflect a barely concealed prejudice, notably against Asian Indians.

I was curious about the matter of prejudice, but as someone who frequently writes about budget travel, I also wondered whether you save money at "American-owned" places or maybe instead at properties that don't make an issue about who owns what.

First, some background.

How did this schism arise? With the end of Indian immigration quotas in the 1960s, Asian Indians began migrating to the States in large numbers. Many who came from Gujarat went into the motel business. Some people say that Gujaratis have a tradition of hospitality. Regardless, those first newcomers provided a growing support system for others who followed. There have been many. According to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), Asian Indians today own about a third of all American lodgings. Among budget properties, the numbers reach close to 50 percent. Many, if not most, of these motel owners are surnamed Patel.

"It's a name like Jones or Smith in the States," says H.P. Rama, a founder of AAHOA, who heads a South Carolina company that owns 30 properties. "Some Americans think that Patel is an Indian word that means 'motel.'"

And so I began comparing "American-owned" motels with the others.

The one vs. the other

On a fall day I matched the "American-owned" Motor Inns Motel & RV Resort with the Indian-owned Horne Motel, both at the SR 40 exit of I-75 in Ocala, Florida. Each charged $27.95. The Horne was sharper-looking. Another Indian-owned property directly across the street from the Motor Inns was 4¢ less but less well maintained. A fence slumped around the pool and needed repair.

Arlene DeVault at Motor Inns Motel & RV Resort was outspoken about her Indian-American competitors. She said, "Their motel conditions are deplorable." She defended her complaint by adding, "That's not because of anything racist. The public just wants a clean facility. You get two or three of their places at an exit and it has to hurt. Guests say, I'm not stopping at that exit anymore."

As it happened, the night before I had stayed at a Howard Johnson two exits north for $29.95. It was superior to any of the others and, though four or five front-desk people with whom I spoke while checking in and out were all Caucasians, I learned the property was Indian-owned.

In Florida's Panhandle, the "American-owned" Bay Villa motel on U.S. 98 was getting fixed up by new owners after years of renting to what manager Mark Disbrow called "various disreputable types." It had the look of a place where people new to town stayed by the week while job hunting. Disbrow was renting rooms with fridge and microwave for $26.75. The place had a nice bayfront location.

The Budget Inn, a plain, comparably sized Indian-owned property across the highway, was renting standard rooms at $30 but the operator right away said I could have a king room for the same price. Neither had a microwave or fridge. A modern, Indian-owned Days Inn had both. The rate was $47.

When Disbrow spoke of his Indian competitors, he complained, "They won't give back to the community. Most of them charge more. And they're pretty sneaky. You see," he said, talking about one motel, "they've got an American operating it, and when I came to collect for Muscular Dystrophy, she gave me $5 out of her own pocket."

Yet examples are easily found that show Indians don't gouge customers and do care about more than their own properties.

A budget-traveler colleague, Sally McKinney, writes that on her trips near Lafayette, Indiana, she always stays at Lincoln Lodge, "an inexpensive motel operated by a couple from India. They are lovely people who greet me warmly, give me one of their best rooms for $30, even remember that I like an extra blanket. I consider them friends. I cannot fault them for housekeeping."

Motel-industry progress H.P. Rama, the first minority hotel owner to be elected chairman of the 92-year-old American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), has made a priority out of stemming the industry-wide loss of hotel workers, a long-standing problem. AH&LA has since raised a $3 million endowment to help attract and keep workers. Says Rama, "From high school we start introducing young people to the hospitality industry, so they make a judgment whether this fits their aptitude, rather than just as a summer job. We help them understand they can own the business, like Asian Americans now do."

Rama also understands where some of the prejudice against Indian hoteliers comes from.

"At one time the Asian-American operator was less professional. We were accidental operators looking for opportunities. In the initial stage, we were acquiring properties that nobody else wanted. They were very old, dilapidated, and losing money. Asian Indians didn't have money. If a Caucasian runs one of these properties, it's okay, but if an Asian American runs it, it's not okay. It's easy to talk about somebody who is clearly identifiable."

Today, he says, Asian Americans educate themselves about the hotel business the same as Caucasian Americans. He points to a nephew who has an MBA in hospitality management from Cornell University and "many Asian Indians who are studying in hotel schools."

The recent flare-up

Why, in a nation of immigrants, this demonizing of Indian operators?

Partly it reflects America's ambivalence about immigrants. As sociologist Joe Feagin points out, "We welcome immigrants because we're a nation of immigrants. What do you do for workers without immigrants? They are the heart and soul of this nation."

Yet the matter gets complicated after an event like 9/11. It was after 9/11 that current AAHOA Chairman Mike Amin, native-born to Indian-American parents, reported a new spurt of "American-owned" signs. "It was the first time since the oil embargo of the Seventies that they started appearing again. AAHOA was formed in part because of the problem."

Feagin, a professor of sociology and coauthor of a widely used textbook on ethnic and race relations, says, "9/11 is what social psychologists call a 'priming event.' It doesn't create new stereotypes so much as it reactivates existing ones. Asians get lumped in with Middle Easterners and all people of color. Most Americans don't distinguish between them." This suggests that the spurt of signs after 9/11 reflects a grab for competitive advantage cloaked in patriotism-a grab that leaves Indian owners potentially twice tarnished by the absence of an "American-owned" sign and by anti-immigrant hostility. Of course, many motel owners of Indian descent who are native born or naturalized Americans could put up "American-owned" signs. They don't. They're offended by the idea. (I should note that I have seen an Indian-owned motel in Saint Augustine with a sign that read "God Bless America.")

Where does it lead?

Where the budget and moral considerations come together in this matter is over the long run. Even though there is no apparent consistent savings or difference in quality between "American-owned" and Indian-owned properties, the overt patriotism unleashed by 9/11 suggests that if travelers, in their own patriotic choices, avoid motels without "American-owned" signs, there are likely to be fewer budget motels in the future.

Although "American-owned" operators may improve low-end properties and keep them available, Asian Indians have become this category's dynamic movers and investors. In the last analysis, there's no physical difference between one or the other, and no practical difference in a choice either way-unless, of course, you'd rather not subsidize prejudice.

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Herb Hiller is a contributing editor of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel.

[me]

I don't know what motels you've been staying at but I'm finding it the other way around.  As a matter of fact there was one here in town that was shut down they had so many code violations.  They did finally get it fixed up and partially open again but it took a while.

[me]

I guess you edited your post after I posted the above statement so I'll add this. 
Yes, there are good Indian motel owners but in my experience I have only ran across the bad ones.  I have found them to be extremely dirty, in ill repair, and no supplies. 
As in anything the bad ones make it hard on the good ones.
As far as the sign is concerned I don't see any difference in that and putting it on American made goods like clothing, appliances, or other products.