SPECIAL REPORT
taught him how to throw a curveball , but he gave him an incredible lesson in entrepreneurship and leadership , while his mother grounded him in the art of service . “ We do love hospitality in our family . It ’ s a big deal ,” he says .
All of this and more helped lead the readers of HOTELS select Shah as 2018 Corporate Hotelier of the World , and proudly becoming the first Asian American to win the award .
NO SHORTCUTS The family and business flourished because of classic values and simple hard work . In fact , at Shah ’ s alma mater , Cornell University , a central classroom dubbed the Hersha Center honors Hasu and Hersha Shah with a plaque that reads , “ There ’ s no greater dignity than that found in service .” As Shah puts it , “ the dignified serving the dignified .”
To serve with dignity is a great thing , he adds . “ That sense of hospitality is essential in this business . You can ’ t just be a financial momentum player . You can ’ t build a sustainable business that way . That ’ s great for a quick five-year hit if you ’ re a private equity guy . But it ’ s hard to build a company on that .”
Shah also prefers to lead with values because a company grounded in values works better . “ I feel like there ’ s a collapse of time , and if you don ’ t have a strong set of values people are going to be more apt to lose their way , just because the pace of change is fast ,” he says . “ Sometimes the speed at which things change may inadvertently cause too many people to place their ethics on the side .”
Friend and contemporary Homi Vazifdar , CEO of Canyon Equity in Larkspur , California , adds , “ There are a lot of very successful people at the helms of large organizations in our industry , but what distinguishes Jay Shah from the
The hotel industry has been good to the Shah family ( from left , Neil , Hersha , Hasu and Jay ). “ Hersha and I came to America to create a better life for ourselves and our family ,” Hasu says . “ The lodging industry helped my wife and I to have a much bigger impact on our adopted communities than we ever thought possible … Jay has been able to take our values , energy and care to the next level of impact . And it ’ s testament to the American dream being alive and well . Entrepreneurial energy , deep values and hard work lead to big impact in lodging and in America .”
pack is just not his vigor and work ethic as a leader , which is unquestioned , but it is his sense of decency , his humility , his integrity and his ability to actually run Hersha Hospitality as a close-knit family , which is an extremely rare trait in a public company .”
Another competitive advantage central to Hersha ’ s success , according to Shah , is its rigor . That was instilled by Hasu and helped Jay and Neil guide the group through the financial downturn of 2008 and 2009 . “ I ’ m very curious and intellectually rigorous ,” Shah says . “ I ’ m curious about everything . I ’ ll go down a five-mile rat hole to understand the early medieval sewer system of Berlin . I ’ m a little nerdy like that .”
That rigor has also led Hersha to be very thoughtful and deliberate not only in developing its strategy but in how it executes and shows up every day . “ I don ’ t know if it comes from our heritage , but it was always about being a gentleman and getting to a win-win , with rigor … Everyone needs to be rigorous , but it is about getting to a win-win , and that ’ s a great way to stay even-keeled ,” Shah says .
Neil Shah credits his brother with leading Hersha through the financial crisis with his workmanlike approach . “ It was something to plow through and make hard decisions ,” Neil Shah says . “ It was financially painful and personally impactful . Jay ’ s a world-class communicator and in those gritty meetings with the contractors , operator , lender , auditor or shareholders , Jay helped us all articulate and execute at our most challenging time . Jay personally demonstrated that you show up , roll up your sleeves and own it .”
Jay Shah ’ s ongoing conversations with his brother address important decisions where they will actually end up flipping their positions , calling it healthy and part of the discourse that regularly happens among the Hersha leadership team . “ Good things don ’ t happen without rigor . It ’ s just not sustainable ,” Shah says . “ We ’ re tough on ourselves and our actions . We ’ re not tough on people , but we ’ re tough on thinking .”
What makes rigor even more important to Hersha : It also has a separate management company , HHM , on top of the publically traded real estate business . In total , Shah estimates the enterprises have close to 8,000 employees . “ So you have ( these )
34 hotelsmag . com November 2018