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Justin Brady: Come with me to a magical place where being labeled the pork queen is a compliment, where being nice is just a way of life and where all leaders of the free world must pass through. Welcome to Iowa. Whether you’re a current Iowan, an Iowa expat, or an Iowan at heart, this show is for you. This is the Iowa Podcast. Real Iowans. Real talk. No drama. I’m Justin Brady, and if you didn’t see the news, inflation has picked up 3. 2%, which is a little hotter, a little hotter than expected. So it’s still, it’s still rising, which is a little concerning. So, are stay cations going to rule Spring Break? Now, obviously, Spring Break is happening right now, we’ll get probably some better data later. But we also have this weird effect where we’re coming off COVID and people want to get out there. They really, really want to travel. And so are people going to travel? Are they going to go to Florida? Are they going to go South? Are they going to stay in Iowa? I’ve been actually looking all through data and it’s very hard to understand what the trend will be. So let’s just bring in an expert Pritesh Patel, owner of the Hotel Pommier from Indianola. Right. Thanks for coming on the show.

Pritesh Patel: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. This is cool.

Justin Brady: So you, I have to say you were put on my radar because you had a post do unexpectedly well. You just did this. Thanks so much. Thanks. I think the story will tell the story here and, um, then I’ll ask some more questions, but tell the story on this post for people that haven’t seen it on

Pritesh Patel: Facebook. I don’t know. Like, yeah, I think it was the face. I think it was the Facebook one about you rebuilding the hotel. Yeah. So, you know, we just started getting serious about social media, you know, building an independent hotel brand. Um, you know, social media is how we get out there. Right. And we started putting out, uh, reels on, you know, Instagram and Facebook. And one of the reels, you know, one of my big concerns was, you know, we’re not, we’re A destination in of itself, right? No one’s traveling from Europe to stay at our hotel because it’s our hotel. You know, we don’t have, you know, a beautiful ocean side view. We don’t have like girls and hot tubs and bikinis and stuff. So going on social media, that’s a lot of what you see. So my concern was what are we, what, what eye candy are we putting out to the world that people are going to like our page? And the gentleman I’m working with, he’s a genius. He’s like, no, you have so much stuff. And part of it was just tell your story, you know, be authentic. Why? What are you about? And so we, we put out a real basically just documenting our renovation, right? Taking this old hotel, um, and ending all Iowa. That have been in the community for, for years and people got married and they stayed there after their wedding. I mean, there’s so many stories from that motel, but you know, over time it got better. It was a shell of its past self, right? It needed a renovation. So basically the long story short is real. Just went through some of the steps of, you know, two steps forward, one step back, right? The whole renovations, my first major one. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, uh, you know, halfway through I’m like, Oh wow. I guess I’m a general contractor. I didn’t even know, I didn’t even know what that was. So like, that’s how I, um, * So, the reel just talked about our journey and how we, we had all these, you know, setbacks, but in the end, you know, I had talked about my parents and them being proud and us launching this independent hotel and kind of facing the odds and really the American dream. And you know, we had posted it, I, when I first saw a draft, I honestly, I teared up a little bit and I showed it to my parents and they were just like, Oh, this is cool. So I kind of knew there was something there because it just, it spoke, it spoke to me personally. And it’s like, Oh, I can’t wait to put this out there. And, you know, the first couple of days, it, you know, did better than any of our other posts and then something just clicked and I think it has like six million views now on Facebook, which is insane. Six million views. Six million views. That’s unreal. Yeah, I did the math and. It’s been watched for like three years. If you, if you count how many minutes have been watched, it’s like somebody sitting in front of a computer, watching it for three years straight. * Like that’s the number of minutes viewed. And it’s like a 40 second clip. It’s not that long.

Justin Brady: Yeah. Yeah. And I saw it and it’s super cool. Now the journey. I do have to ask. Was there any initial concern from your parents? Um, like, because I’m assuming the idea is you, you’ve taken over. They’re probably taking a step back, maybe going to retire and depending on how well you do at this, maybe they’ll retire to a beach somewhere. You know, who knows? But was there initial pushback? Like, no, no, no, from either parents or, or local customers? Like, no, no, no, leave it as it is. It doesn’t need to be changed. Was there any pushback there? Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah.

Pritesh Patel: To the chagrin of my wife, we argued like for, for nearly a year, every dinner we were talking about the hotel to a point where my wife was like, you can’t talk about the hotel at dinner. Like just put a rule. And for one day we just looked at each other. Like, what do we talk about? Um, So, yeah, because my parents had run it from, they bought it from the original owners, um, Bob and Ardine Downing, um, and so from 2005 to 2019, they had run it their way. Um, so when I came in and I’m spending a bunch of money, they’re saying, hey, the guests aren’t going to like this. This is too expensive. Um, you know, you’re not going to be able to pay this back because we have to get a loan, right? To pay for this huge renovation and nonstop. And I just wore them out. So eventually, um, perfect, uh, up until, and then they started seeing the vision come together. Cause basically my dad wanted to just not really do much in the rooms and just do the common areas. Cause we never had a big lobby. We never really had common spaces. And, but that would require knocking down walls and that gets expensive, right? And my mom just wanted to do the rooms. She’s like, the lobby’s fine. We had this breakfast area. It was okay. Just do the rooms. And I just came in. I’m like, you guys are both right and you’re both wrong. We need to do the whole thing. So we spent, you know, upwards of a million dollars doing this renovation and it wasn’t until you know, our rates did have to go up obviously, but yeah, I can honestly say almost none of our guests complained because they came in even the repeats that have been there for 20 years every year and paying, you know, 70 per room. Um, they just came in and they were like, wow. You know, you knocked out my room that I always stay in. That was my room, but you know, this is amazing. But it’s nice to have the upgrades. Yeah, they, they really appreciate it. And, um, you know, our rates are still super affordable, so it’s, it’s not like, um, We had to go above and beyond from, from that perspective. It’s still a competitive market. Um, but now at least we can, we have more ability to deliver a better guest experience.

Justin Brady: So it’s no surprise to everyone. Like what you said, we don’t have mountains, we don’t have oceans. We have cornfields, right? People are not coming to Iowa because we have slopes or something. People are coming to Iowa. I, I, I kind of call Iowa like a practical location. They’re coming to Iowa because there’s a business conference, an insurance conference. Um, there’s some sporting event. There’s an event happening in an area. We have to work pretty darn hard in this state for every tourism dollar, right? Uh, now, agritourism is obviously a trend now that didn’t used to be a trend, so that’s like, I think Iowans are like, what? Okay, fine, we’ll take your money, everybody, come on over. But, uh, in general, you know, our cities have to work our butts off to get tourism dollars. And so, uh, I don’t know, like, I think it’s a good Um, temper. It’s a good way to take temperature of just general economic impact, right? We’re not florida. People aren’t coming down there for a crazy spring break. Uh, and so is travel like post covid. I know that travel ticked up a little bit there for a while, but it was a little shaky for a while and now inflation is up record credit card debt. Americans have so Are like staycations, just in your opinion, right? But at least in Indianola, are people staycationing? Are they traveling more? Are they not traveling more? Are things is, are both these trends kind of balancing each other out? What are you guys seeing?

Pritesh Patel: Yeah. So, I mean, definitely after COVID, you know, 2021, everything kind of went gangbusters. There was a lot of cooped up demand for travel. A lot of the events obviously got canceled in 2020. So everything jumped back with a vengeance in 2021. And then I think sustained really after that, I would say this year, it’s been a little bit softer what we’ve seen. Um, just people, you know, I think you mentioned inflation at the start, you know, pocketbooks are tightening up. So some of that travel is becoming a little bit tougher and then just gas prices and all the usual things. That’s true. Gas prices. Um, but a hundred percent, I think. You know, hoteliers will look at COVID as, you know, kind of like a four letter word that don’t talk, don’t talk about it, even when you, when you talk about business metrics and KPIs, if you’re buying a hotel, you know, 2020, they just don’t even list because it’s not a good year to benchmark off of because it was such an anomaly, but * so many habits changed after COVID one of them being just, you know, the great outdoors, we had all of these things in America. Uh, That we kind of took for granted because we’re flying over to Europe or we’re taking all these, uh, international trips and COVID forced everybody to, to look in their backyard and be like, Oh, wow, we do have these amazing things that we haven’t even experienced. It’s kind of like my sister used to live in New York and, you know, everybody that lives in New York is like, Oh, have you gotten to see the Eiffel Tower? It’s like, no, it’s not the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty. Sorry. Like, have you seen the Statue of Liberty? They’re like, no, it’s, you know, it’s in our backyard. But. Meanwhile, people are flying from all over the country to go see the Statue of Liberty. It’s a great point. And I think everybody had that same realization after COVID. It’s like, wow, Iowa actually, you know, we don’t have coasts or these, you know, major attractions that other states have, but we do actually have a ton. Of tourist attractions and covert actually put some of that to the forefront. So a little bit of a blessing in disguise. * Justin Brady: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, do you see like people coming to India? I mean, obviously Indianola, I don’t even know if Des Moines is like a spring. I I’ve been in Des Moines most of my entire life, so I like Des Moines obviously, but I like Iowa, but um, do you see an increase? In staycations happening or, or a decrease? What are you actually seeing on the ground? So I would def, I, I’m not sure about staycations to Indianola per se. Right. Right. I mean, we definitely get our share of people that just want to get out the house. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. , right. Local people that, oh, I’ve, I’ve driven by this hotel a million times. Yeah. Um, let me just book a night. Yeah. But definitely regional travel is going gangbusters. Really? Yeah. Because * now you can drive 45 minutes and, and go experience something that. Again, it’s in your backyard, but you’ve just never had a chance. So if, even if I asked you, like, you asked the general population, Iowa, have you been to the National Balloon Classic? It’s this world class event in Indian Iowa, some of the best, the best pilots, like literally fly internationally to come to Indianola to fly in this competition because it’s a competitive ballooning event. Right. Right. And it’s a lot of bragging rights to win. In Indianola. When is that, by the way? Uh, it’s the last week of July, first week of August. Okay, so that’s coming up. Two weekends, yep. Um, so. It’s something else, by the way. Real quick

Justin Brady: interjection. It is something else. It’s incredible. I’ve seen it. It

Pritesh Patel: is crazy. Yeah, it is. It’s awesome. And, you know, you could say the same with the Knoxville Nationals. I mean, people are flying from all over the country to do these things in Iowa. Meanwhile, the general population that lives in Des Moines or Ankeny or Indianola, they don’t even know about. These things, or they don’t care to go to them, or they don’t realize the impact or how big these events really are because it’s in our backyard. And we, you know, it happens every year. We take it for granted. But I do think after COVID people have started to look at some of those things and be like, wow, it is kind of embarrassing that I live in Iowa and I haven’t been to X, you know, haven’t been to the national bone classic. I’m into the opera. I haven’t been to the nationals or even the state fair. * You know,

Justin Brady: what, what, what is one of the reasons you think that local travel is going gangbusters? Because, um, first of all, That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s why I wanted you in here. I wanted to see like what’s actually going on, but I do see some national trends where like people flying around and this is like despite the fact that there’s inflation credit card debt and like Boeing can’t seem to like go one day without like having a wheel fall off a freaking plane. United’s no better. And like, but despite all of this, like there is still an increase to like Florida and like beach vacations and stuff. Um, I think it’s a, I can’t remember the exact data. It’s still, it’s a slight increase, but not Iowa. Maybe like, is this just because Iowans traditionally Aren’t crazy like they’re like, Hey, we do see the writing on the wall. We do see record credit card debt. We do see inflation and Iowans, at least from a financial standpoint, are often a little bit more conservative with their dollars. Is this driving the trend of like local tourism going gangbusters? Or is it something else?

Pritesh Patel: Ooh, that’s a tough one. Yeah. I, I don’t know if I could put my finger on it. I don’t know if I could put my finger on it specifically. I mean, I read one. Like abstract of a research paper, basically saying after COVID everything for it changed travel preferences that year and then everything went back to normal. So the people that stayed at hotels before COVID stayed at hotels after COVID. The people that stayed in Airbnbs before stayed in Airbnbs after. So it didn’t really impact it that much. But what I will say is that the places that have those outdoor experiences definitely are benefiting. And that’s why a lot of the downtowns aren’t doing as well. I mean, even if you look at Des Moines and some of the, you know, obviously the larger cities, they’re, they’re struggling really hard because it’s less about like the, the just blatant, like retail experience, right. That you would get in like a downtown area. And it’s more about. Going into a sunflower field and taking photos on Instagram, right? Um, and I think as an Iowan, one thing I have noticed is I’ve, I just feel like we’re just generally more cautious and more humble, not humble, but we’re less, we’re less willing to put ourselves out there. So while another city with the exact same assets that we have would be posting it about it on social media and running ads and saying, Hey, we’re the best. Come visit us. We’re awesome. Come stay here. Iowa has always been, I feel like a little bit more timid. And I think now just looking at what the state office, the state tourism office down to like a local chamber of commerce is doing in Iowa. I feel like we’re finally breaking that shell to be like, Hey, actually we are pretty awesome. We’re really nice. It’s super affordable. Come visit because you’re going to get things that you’re not going to see in a Chicago, in a St. Louis, maybe not skyscrapers and these magnificent type, you know, architectural structures. But in place of that, you’re going to get a hundred hot air balloons flying in the sky while you’re sitting on the grass. Right. And that’s something that not a lot of other cities can can boast about. I

Justin Brady: don’t know if you collect data on like guests coming into town, at least when I was in hotels, that was one of the questions we asked. Are you in town for any activities or groups or companies? Yeah. And so, do people, are, are people reporting why they’re coming to the Hotel Pommier? Are there any trends that you’re seeing? What’s driving a lot of traffic to Indianola?

Pritesh Patel: For us specifically, we’re not, we don’t ask, you know, if it’s leisure or business, but just knowing our guests, it’s, it’s everything. It’s a mix of blue collar folks that are in town because they’re fixing a road, right? And they’re staying for two weeks or they’re doing a construction project somewhere. And it’s, it’s people that are flying in from Seattle cause they want to go see the opera. So I can literally have a construction guy next door to an opera singer, next door to somebody who got their carpet shampooed and they don’t want to stay in their house. Um, you know, it’s a, it’s a smaller town. Sounds like the beginning of a sitcom. Yeah. So we don’t necessarily have the luxury of being the, the family hotel or the business hotel or the romantic couples retreat hotel. Um, so it really is, and it’s a, it’s a cop out answer because it’s not, it’s, it’s really everything. Obviously in the summer, it trends heavy on tourism. I mean, it just shocks me if I’m ever behind the desk, how many people. Like, I wish I could just tell, and I’m starting to try to do that. How many people come to Indianola from out of state? I mean, there’s, uh, Cementek is this huge company that makes, uh, concrete trucks, cement mixers. They’re like number one in the world. Oh, so they have people coming from all over. They’re in Indianola. They make these trucks in Indianola. Um, so you have people literally coming from like California. To pick up a cement truck. Sure. It’s incredible. And then it’s Simpson college, obviously brings in tons of speakers and faculty and sports teams, and, um, just to the random person sitting, you know, in the park, they’re not going to know all these people are coming to Ninola, but as a hotel, we’re kind of a hub to see all of that activity. And it really is all the above.

Justin Brady: Yeah, I mean, but that’s, that’s kind of the nature of a smaller town hotel, I would imagine is you have to be a workhorse, a general workhorse, whereas like a hotel, a luxury hotel in New York City. is pretty much catering to people coming to see the like, like you said, the Eiffel Tower, right? Otherwise known as the Statue of Liberty. Um, yeah, both French, both French designers. Um, uh, so you know, it would make sense that a bigger city, which with like Thousands of hotels, right? It would have their unique like we are basically the wedding destination hotel, right? We are basically the business executive hotel when you go to those cities. You see they have to differentiate themselves that way Yeah, but when you go to a small town, you don’t they don’t have you don’t have the thousand hotels in Indianola You have to be that general workhorse, which gives you interesting perspective On these travel trends, right?

Pritesh Patel: Yeah. And I, and I didn’t even mention, you know, weddings and all the, the standard things that community needs housing for. Right. So if you have a travel nurse in town, right, or you have a wedding or a funeral or a birthday party or graduation, I mean, all of those are the standard things, any community has housing needs for. So obviously we have that on top of things like tourism and, um, workforce and that sort of thing.

Justin Brady: Yeah. So it is interesting to see that, um, like post COVID. It changed habits. You guys are apparently doing fine. Um, one of the questions, uh, you sent this via email. You mentioned like boutique hotels, like this isn’t a big city thing anymore. Um, now we’ve tried in the past, like Iowa and just Iowa in general, like we’ve tried boutique hotels, right? I think of the hotel Patty, which has struggled for years. Like it struggled to stay open. That being said, you know, there wasn’t a ton of things supposed porting, uh, Perry in that area. Like, you know, you have, like you said, Simpson college, you have balloon class, give a lot of stuff like that that are driving a lot of, um, a lot of stays. I don’t know if Perry necessarily has that same like breakdown of activities, but why are you seeing what you called gangbuster activity? Whereas hotels like the hotel patty, which I think is an amazing piece of property, like unbelievable, no expense spared on that thing. If you haven’t seen it, you have to go see it. It’s, it’s incredible. But why, like, what’s the difference? Is it just the local Indianola community that drives the hotel or is it something else?

Pritesh Patel: I, you know, I wish I could take all the credit for, You can go ahead and do that. I mean, we can put it on the record and just take all the credit. That’s fine. Um, no, I think it’s, it’s, it has, it has to be a combination of both. I mean, ultimately, again, for, for our hotel, you know, it’s not a, it’s not a resort. It’s not a destination in and of itself. I would love it to be that where people travel all across the U. S. just to stay at our hotel. But in reality, We’re capturing the demand that’s already there, right? So the people that are coming for Simpson, the parents, the sports teams, that sort of thing. So I can’t speak to what’s happening in Perry, but you definitely need to have that demand as a baseline. Now, * once you have that demand, if they’re going to stay at a chain hotel, Or an independent hotel that’s family owned and supports the community. That is in our control. Right? That’s something that we Interesting. So, and, and my hypothesis is that given all this stuff we’ve gone through, I mean, you know, I mentioned like the great financial crisis, you know, 07, 08. Yeah. That had a lasting impact on people’s view of the economy and how the world works. Then you had COVID like not that long after and people are just shook, right? A lot of corporations did their shenanigans is there’s documentaries about all these things that happened and people now, at least the guests that we have, they want to stay at a place that is not part of that system. Really? Yeah. So this is a, this is a driving

Justin Brady: factor when people come to town. One of the decision, like in their, in their little intellectual decision tree. , one of the things Nope. You know, no pun intended. Uh, poer is apple tree you were telling me. Yeah. Yep. . So in French. Um, but one of the decisions they’re making is, is this a locally owned, unique experience?

Pritesh Patel: 150%. Yeah. Wow. So anytime you go to a. What do you do? You go on Google, you search hotels in town X, right? And you’re going to see a list of 30 names, blank in town, suites, blah, blah, blah. And they’re all corporate chains. I mean, obviously they’re independently owned and blah, blah, blah, but they’re all part of a corporate behemoth. Yeah. So then when they see a name that they haven’t seen before, And then they see the photos and the reviews and the rates are pretty competitive. They all, why not? Let’s take a chance. You know, I’d rather support that business and I have a reasonable expectation of having a good experience there. Then support this kind of cookie cutter hotel that I could stay at in this town, another town that’s going to be exact same. Yeah. So, and our guests tell us that they say, Hey, we took a chance on you. Somebody in town told us it’s a good hotel. Yeah. And, and people say it in the reviews and on that reel, the, the, one of the great. Things that’s been just so electrifying is that one reel that did really well a lot of the comments are our guests Hey, we stayed there. And yeah, it’s actually really nice. You know, it’s not just this thing You’re seeing on social media like it It’s a good place and it’s good people that work there and it’s a good family and all the things are Authentic about what what you’re seeing here, which has been super super amazing * Justin Brady: That that is a noticeable shift, actually, because I told you before we started recording, I have a history in hotels in Minneapolis, and then I worked for a local hotel company in Iowa. That’s a different shift. It used to be the local properties. The now we call them boutique. I mean, not all local properties are right. You probably agree with that. Um, the local properties, you wanted to stay away from them because they didn’t have the credibility, they didn’t have the quality associated with them. And I was working with a local hotel brand and they were like, we’re going to probably carry a flag because we have a local boutique brand. We think that people want to look for a flag and I was pleading with them, please don’t do it. I think that people are sick of chains because it’s the same experience everywhere they go. And what’s on the rise is unique experiences. That’s what people are looking for. I think you have that. I think you need to wait it out a few years. And they did. And they’re successful. Not because of me. I think there were other driving factors. But. What you’re telling me and you know, is that the industry has shifted and maybe at least just in Iowa, but people aren’t looking for the same exact routine experience over and over and over again. Again, like a, I’m not going to throw a hotel brand in the bus, I guess, but and what they are seeking out is something unique and something that is, is, is. Unique to the community in which they’re visiting a hundred percent. So what I would say is I’m not going to pitch that every single hotel should deflag and go independent. That’s not, it’s not what I’m, I’m, I’m advocating. But I think what happened was. Uh, * the reason these franchises got so big is because the hotel industry was so fragmented and you did have so many varied experiences and there wasn’t a level of quality or consistency. So people gravitated towards these chains, fifties, sixties, seventies, when the Marriotts and the Hiltons got started and they established that quality baseline and got their name out there. So the pendulum went from one end. To the kind of the extreme other end where everything is a chain, everything is a franchise, everything looks the same and the brands will agree because now what they’ve started to do is create soft brand. Yes. Right. So it’s kind of a fake independent hotel, right? It looks exactly what they’re doing. It looks a hundred percent independent, but under the skin under the covers, it’s just a Marriott. Everything behind it, the loyalty program, the commissions, the everything. The corporation structure, it’s, it’s a Marriott. So the, the franchises have understood this, that, hey, the pendulum is swinging back towards, okay, well, we would kind of, we’ve rolled out all these cookie cutter hotels across the U. S. Now people are kind of getting tired of that. I think it’s starting to swing back in, in the direction of independent hotels. * Now, I’m not going to say, Independent hotels and chain hotels have the same profitability because obviously carrying a chain gives you all the might of a corporation behind you. Um, but as an independent, you know, my, my customers, my team, my parents, me, we’re the boss. Like we, we control our own destiny. Well, and to

Justin Brady: that point, like a bigger city with a bunch of tourism traffic, there’s not really a central location to hook all those travelers, right? You don’t know where they’re coming from. It’s random. They’re, they’re just independently booking this stuff. They’re not coming into a business or an association for you. It’s different though. For you in Indianola, everyone’s coming to town to connect with someone local, whether that be a business organization to buy a cement truck. And so all you need to do from a local standpoint, Is embed yourself deeper and deeper into the community and get to know the locals because they’re going to drive traffic to your hotel. Is that about right?

Pritesh Patel: A hundred percent. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Right. There is no secret sauce, really. It’s just have a great product, which people want to stay at and then be a part of the community. Right. So, you know, uh, I got a, I went to high school and 500 dollars for scholar scholarship. And at the time it was amazing. I was like, I can’t believe someone. That I’ve never met is giving me 500 to just go buy textbooks. And it was a local accounting firm in town. And I remember. Going into their office, writing them a thank you letter, getting the check from them. And it was kind of this weird experience that I still remember to this day, you know, fast forward, whatever, 15, whatever years now our hotel is sponsoring one of those scholarships. Right? So the fact that we’re sponsoring that scholarship and, you know, the other hotels aren’t, and it’s not because they don’t care. That’s a, that’s cool. I love that. And it’s not, I’m not, I’m not knocking them cause they might be doing other things, but the fact is we are, and the people that are supporting that program, they’re all volunteers. They know that we’re supporting that program. And that’s just a tiny sliver of like what we can do in the community to get it, get our name out there that somebody in. New York corporate office of a massive chain hotel. They don’t care about the Indianola high school, 500 for scholar. They’re looking at national and again, to each their own, they’re looking at national causes. Let’s support, you know, the American heart association at the national level with a, a cabillion dollar donation. Um, we don’t have those resources, but we can be a lot more intentional with, with our support. And

Justin Brady: we talk about this all the time on the show, which is that Iowans don’t fully understand the advantage they have being local in their own community. I would say just brick and mortar in general, do not understand that that’s a huge advantage now. And so even on my totally unrelated, I have a different show called the Justin Brady show. It’s more business related. But. Uh, even on that show, I just had an expert on there that was saying, like, local businesses really have the tools to disrupt the big, giant, multi billion dollar brands, but they just see the money, they see the size, they get intimidated, and they think they can’t do it. But the brand can’t out compete you in your own community. They’re too thin. They cannot do it. And so, he said that he has all these boutique, all these smaller brands, They can just crush national brands and essentially run them out of town just in a good capitalistic economic sense. Right? Like you even see like, you know, people like, Oh, no one can do like local anymore. Everyone wants to buy it on Amazon. I’m like, and yet Ray gun love him or hate him. Right there. They definitely have messages that are on one political side of the spectrum, which is fine. Mike Draper, their owner has been in this show. We love him. Ray gun. I will beg to differ with anybody who thinks Amazon has the complete control of the market because Raygun found an amazing niche, an amazing revenue stream. Making freaking t shirts. Yeah, you know, so when you that that should be the kind of the the resounding gong in everybody’s head that local is a huge advantage Um, are there any other before I let you go? Are there any other kind of heroes in iowa that like local experiences? A boutique experiences that that are kind of like a honorable mention or should be noted.

Pritesh Patel: Yeah. I mean, I’m, I’m one of those, like making the NOLA great again, absolutist. So everything I’m talking about is like, and soon Sheraton going to open a hotel there. But you’re going to open a hotel and share. So yeah, we’re going to de flag a super eight and convert it to an independent hotel. Yeah. So that’s, that’s the next project. So, um, I mentioned the national balloon classic. I have to mention disc golf, right? There’s a disc golf pro tour. It’s, it’s like the NFL or the NHL or the PGA of disc golf. Comes to Iowa every year now. We’re a fixture on their tour. So you have the top disc golf players around the country flying from all over. One of them, I think she’s from Estonia, she’s like the number one. Like they all come to Indianola in Des Moines to play disc golf at Picker Park in Indianola. Mm hmm. Um, and that’s just, that’s just in its infancy. I could see that becoming a huge event. There’s

Justin Brady: nothing more hipster than like disc golf, right? And you know, they drink craft

Pritesh Patel: brews on the fields too. You know, I think, I think Hy Vee’s a, Hy Vee’s a big sponsor. So they do bring out some craft beers. Yeah. Um, obviously the Des Moines Metro Opera, again, one of those things that I’m ashamed that I haven’t, I haven’t been to a performance because when, when the opera is going on. Performing, you know, we’re super busy, right? But just one of those things that, wow, I can’t believe we have this in our backyard. And I doubt many people around the Metro or anywhere in Iowa know that there’s a world class opera in Iowa, right? Like literally they’ve won awards. It’s been in the New York times. Um, And, and, yeah, and the National Balloon Classic, obviously over a hundred pilots come. The pilot, the, there’s a waiting list of hot air balloon pilots. To join. Yeah. So they have to, they have to cap it every year. And after the deadline passes, pilots are like banging on the door like, Hey, can we get in? Can we get in? What do we have to do? Who do we have to bribe to get in, to fly the National Balloon Classic? Like, it gives me shivers thinking about it because it’s like, we have these amazing tourism assets in Indianola. And now we’re finally starting to get the word out. But I guess across Iowa, I mean, if you’ve been to Iowa city, the Highlander hotel, I just stayed there a few months ago. Super cool. I mean, great story. Just taking this old hotel with a lot of history, putting a bunch of money to renovate it, but doing it really well. Right. I think it’s the same guy that owns the hotel Grinnell. Like she just has, yeah, she just has a knack for design and delivering a great experience. It’s super hip, great for kids. There’s a pool, there’s a cool area with arcade games and a bar. Yeah. Um, so I highly recommend that. Cool. Very good. That’s one other, uh, one other, uh, independent hotel experience. Yeah, absolutely.

Justin Brady: Pritesh Patel, owner of the Hotel Pommier, what’s the website if people want to book a room?

Pritesh Patel: Uh, it’s just hotelpommier. com. And that is

Justin Brady: P O M M I E R, correct? Yes. Excellent. Thank you so much for coming on the Iowa Podcast. I really appreciate it. Yeah,

Pritesh Patel: it was awesome. Thanks so much for having me.

Justin Brady: And to my fellow Iowans, Iowa, expats and Iowans at heart. Thanks for listening and subscribing to the Iowa Podcast.