Meet first Indian to own hotel in US, it’s not Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Gautam Adani

The US is regarded by many as the place where dreams become realities as the land presents several opportunities. Every year, hundreds of people from India and other parts of the world arrive in the US with a dream to do big and earn huge amount of money and Kanjibhai Manchhu Desai was also once such person. Kanjibhai Manchhu Desai came to the US in 1937 and he is the first Indian to own a motel in the US. Kanjibhai Desai bought the Goldfield Hotel in San Francisco and this paves the way for several other Gujaratis to leave India and open their businesses in the US. Since Kanjibhai was an illegal immigrant it was not easy for him to do business in the US but he tackled all the challenges and emerged as a successful businessman.

Kanji Manchhu Desai struck gold when Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbour as a Japanese woman sold Kanjibhai a hotel lease. Kanjibhai started his business by renting hotel with single-room occupancy (SRO). Very soon he decided to expand his hotel business and he got success too. Kanjibhai then started calling other Gujaratis to the US and they were made to stay in his SRO.

According to reports, Kanjibhai initially worked on a farm picking fruit and he was not paid enough for this hard work but since he was an illegal immigrant he had not many choices.

According to a report by the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), Indian-Americans are the owners of over 40% of all hotels and motels in the US. Out of that, Gujaratis owned 70 percent of these properties and most of them have the surname “Patel” or “Amin”.