Business Matters

Dhrushil Patel ’23 wasn’t always excited about a career in hospitality.

Growing up, he and his brother were tasked with helping his family run their hotel in Klamath Falls, Oregon. “People would say to me, ‘You’re living that sweet life like Disney’s Zach and Cody,’” Patel said. “And I would tell them, ‘Yes, if they were also checking in guests, doing maintenance, and anything else that was needed.’”

Later, Patel, who majored in business administration, realized that the work he’d done to support his family’s business gave him an early education and a mind for entrepreneurship. “Growing up in hospitality gave me a stepping-stone,” Patel said. “My parents instilled business-oriented values in me at a young age. However, it wasn’t until I was older that I understood how lucky I was to have received this foundational knowledge and structure in my formative years.”

Today, Patel is helping to manage his family’s lodging portfolio in Oregon and California and has demonstrated his commitment to driving innovation and performance through asset management and development.

“Over the past year, I have successfully reorganized business structures to prioritize asset protection, repositioned hotels into alternate segments and classes and modernized our management teams, services, and environments,” Patel said. “These efforts have revitalized our hotels, allowing for greater guest and team satisfaction with steady growth.”

Patel, who served as the first Indian American president of ASOSU at Oregon State University, has also been active in advocacy work. He is an Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) ambassador and serves as a primary liaison and champion advocate for hoteliers in six states across the Pacific Northwest. “With AAHOA, I have been able to travel regularly to Washington, D.C. to elevate the voices of hoteliers into the offices of our federal representatives and senators,” Patel said.

Patel is also a member of the Oregon Restaurant Lodging Association (ORLA) Government Affairs Committee and has been invited to join the Klamath County Chamber of Commerce (KCCC) Government Affairs Committee. “My work with ORLA and KCCC also allows me to proactively influence local and state policy, ensuring that potential impacts to the hospitality industry are understood,” Patel said.

In addition to his advocacy work, Patel is a dedicated member of the College of Business’s Career Success Center advisory council, where he emphasizes the importance of experiential learning opportunities and interdisciplinary courses for workforce readiness.

”I am a big advocate of developing interdisciplinary skill sets,” Patel said. “I have been in sociology classes before where I have learned information that intersects with marketing. You need to know how everything works to then bring it all together and apply it.”

Patel firmly believes that education is crucial for cultivating essential competencies, encouraging students to capitalize on their college experiences and put their knowledge into practice. “As an employer, I believe the focus should be developing college graduate hires through systems in which they can apply what they have learned rather than relying on rigid, lengthy corporate programs,” Patel said.

Ever striving to make a difference, Patel is preparing to launch his own coaching and consulting enterprise for fledgling business owners. His goal is to focus on the accommodation and food services sector, before branching out to other industries.

“There are a lot of individuals passionate about getting their business operations off the ground but may not have the foundational knowledge to lean back on,” Patel said. “I believe I can provide value in that area.”

With his diverse background and comprehensive skill set, Patel continues to forge a path marked by innovation and advocacy within the hospitality industry. Although he’s gearing up to start his consulting business, Patel is also looking to the future.

“I am working on graduate school applications at the moment,” Patel said. “My younger brother, Mitul, graduates from college at the end of the year, and he’ll be able to shoulder the responsibilities of the family businesses. I am really excited for what comes next.”