Asian hotel owners - 20,000 strong

Reporting from Charlotte, where I'm chillin' - actually for a story coming up later - with 8,000 hotel owners who are of Indian background (as in the Asian country). They're here until Saturday for their annual convention put together by the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. Little known fact: 35% of all hotels in the U.S. are Indian-owned, and 60% of all budget hotels. And they're all from one state in India - Guajarat. It's a good cash flow business if you can put together several hundred thousand dollars for down payment. You can save money by living in the rooms and hiring relatives. And being vegetarians, they don't have to mess around with having a kitchen if they own limites service hotels. Sounds like many are making serious revenues. This got me thinking as to why Koreans toil in the toughest of startups - liquor stores, laundromats, gas stations, restaurants or anything else having to do with food. I think I saw maybe on two Koreans all day. One key advantage for Indians - many are comfortable speaking English. Newly arrived Koreans aren't, requiring them to seek out businesses that have minimal contact with customers.
-Roger in DC