AAHOA
032 | Bridging the Generation Gap with Nimesh Zaver
AAHOA
Nimesh “Nick” Zaver was born and raised in London, England, and he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1981. After graduating from high school, Nimesh attended college-level courses in business and architecture at institutions including the University of Central Florida, the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Louisiana Tech University.
Before completing his college education, Nimesh opted to pursue a career in the hospitality industry with his parents, and by the age of 22, he built his first hotel. He now owns and operates 5 properties in local Lake Charles, La, and he has several more in the pipeline.
Nimesh served as AAHOA Gulf Regional Director for 4 years and he’s an AAHOA Lifetime member. He’s also a longstanding member of LPS (the Leuva Patidar Samaj). He served as a Board member for the Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau, President of Umrakh Seva Mandal, a committee member of the South Central Gujarati Samaj, and President of the Southwest Louisiana Hotel & Lodging Association.
Nimesh and his wife, Dipti, have two children, Ishan and Nakita.
In This Episode, Nimesh Reveals:
- What it was like to immigrate to the United States when he was 7 years old
- How his parents first entered the hotel business
- Some of the many struggles his family had as hoteliers over the years
- How shifts in the market and economy lead to his parents losing properties, and having to move several times to begin again
- Why he dropped out of college to pursue a career in hospitality
- How he built his first property when he was just 22 years old
- How he made the transition from single property to multi-property owner
- The painful lessons learned from the struggles of his early years … and how he’s now paving a more profitable future
Resources & Links
- Email: nimeshzaver[at]gmail.com
- Nimesh on LinkedIn
- Insignia Hotel Management Website
- AAHOA
AAHOA
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337 | Open-and-Shut Cases: How hoteliers managed decisions to close or stay in business
More than 1,700 hotels in the U.S. closed in spring 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of August, 1,200 were closed, reported Kalibri Labs. Meantime, 840 new hotels opened last year and 900 are on track to open this year, according to Lodging Econometrics. Episode 337 of Lodging Leaders explores the challenges owners faced in reopening closed hotels as well as what owners and operators did to ramp up business at hotels that were at such low levels of occupancy, they might as well have been closed. We also feature owners who opened new properties during the pandemic. One owner we interviewed opened two new hotels while doing what it took to keep his existing properties in business. This report is part of our ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hospitality industry.
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336 | Never Forget: 20 years after 9/11, hotel industry veterans remember the impact of the terrorist attacks
As America approaches the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on its homeland, Lodging Leaders explores the impact 9/11 had on the U.S. travel sector. We feature hotel industry leaders who were on duty that fateful day and can recall the shock of the attacks, how they cared for frightened guests and how the event changed hotel operations. They also draw parallels to the coronavirus crisis and remind listeners of the resiliency of the nation’s hospitality industry.