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What’s next for the hotel industry: Sheenal Patel, Arbor Lodging

Sheenal is the Co-founder of Arbor Lodging and Chief Executive Officer of Arbor Lodging Management. 

I find the stories of senior leaders in hospitality who don’t come up through the industry interesting, mostly because it’s fairly rare and there’s usually a shared camaraderie with others who know deep down what it’s like to work on the front lines of a busy hotel or restaurant. That’s often the precursor to earning respect in the industry. Well, Sheenal’s story is different and that’s why I wanted to have him on the show.

As a CEO, you have many stakeholders to manage and complicated problems to solve, all while motivating your team to achieve. If the past couple of years has taught us anything, it’s that the soft skills of leadership are the difference maker. And as discussions about culture dominate the industry right now, Sheenal is leading his team with a humble, ‘seek first to understand’ style, which comes in part from not coming up through the ranks of a hotel company.

We touch on the current climate, what we’ve learned over the past couple of years, and what is yet to come. If you’d like to know what keeps a hotel CEO up at night, this episode might help.

About Sheenal

Sheenal Patel is a co-founder of Arbor Lodging and Chief Executive Officer of Arbor Lodging Management, the management arm of Arbor Lodging. In this role, Sheenal leads general corporate strategy and all efforts related to property management. Prior to co-founding Arbor Lodging, Sheenal was a Vice President with Related Capital Company, a New York based investment firm, where he was responsible for the origination of approximately $800 million of tax-exempt bond transactions for LIHTC multifamily projects located throughout the United States. Sheenal started his career in the Leveraged Finance Group within the Investment Banking division of CIBC World Markets.

Sheenal earned his BA in Economics from the University of Michigan and at the London School of Economics completed a year-long General Course program in mathematics. He is a member of the IHG Owners Association Industry Advocacy Committee, a member of the Franchise Advisory Committee for Curio by Hilton, a Senior Executive Board member of Street Samaritans, a Chicago based non-profit organization, and is active in alumni affairs for Phillips Exeter Academy. 

Links

Website: https://arborlodging.com

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Thanks for listening to The Proven Principles Hospitality Podcast.