Scaling Family Business into Data-Driven Hospitality
Sagar Patel’s introduction to hospitality began at birth: his parents were hotel operators. Raised in an entrepreneurial household, Sagar’s parents measured success by daily grit, operating every role from the front desk to maintenance and cleaning rooms.
Interestingly, Sagar didn’t initially plan to join the family business. In fact, his father pushed him toward the stability of a medical career. But he decided to carve out his own path in hospitality – first in revenue management at Hilton and later in management consulting – and bring that expertise back to the family business.
Today, as the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Witness Investment, Sagar parlayed work ethic into a sophisticated investment strategy, shifting from the scope of daily operations to focusing on vision long-term growth and asset optimization.
[Watch Sagar’s full interview series on YouTube]
The Future of Hospitality, BI, & AI
Sagar believes the core of hospitality remains unchanged – fundamentally it’s about the human experience of feeling welcomed. He sees digital tools as a way so that leadership can focus on high-level strategy and the hotel team can focus on the guest.
“We think the tool should be able to [synthesize data] for us… so then we can start to focus on the areas that we need to focus on as opposed to going through the whole rigmarole.” – Sagar Patel
This forward-thinking approach extends to a custom business intelligence (BI) platform built from an owner’s perspective. Unlike standard operational tools built for on-the-ground managers, this platform is designed from the owner’s perspective — combining operational intelligence with predictive modeling, portfolio-wide analytics, and trend forecasting to deliver a holistic view of performance.
By tracking early indicators like new construction approvals and local economic shifts, Sagar can identify when supply is likely to outpace demand, enabling more intelligent pricing, stronger space utilization, and better revenue optimization across the portfolio.
Evolution of the Investment Model
While currently in a “net buying” mode, Sagar has evolved his investment strategy from a family-funded model towards one involving strategic partners who share his long-term mindset. This expansion is driven by a pragmatic view of the hotel lifecycle.
While the current focus is on building a foundation for this new investment vehicle, he expects the business to eventually reach a steady state of trading out by systematically selling older assets to acquire newer ones with higher growth potential.
He also avoids stable or perfect assets that offer little room for growth. Instead, he looks for underperforming properties where his team can drive value by analyzing historical revenue and identifying operational improvements to bring the hotel up to brand standards and maximize profitability.
“We’re not in the business of buying stable assets as is, we want to be able to perform on them and and improve on them unless the base is just really strong.” – Sagar Patel
Maximizing Revenue Growth
Since hotel brands often operate under strict rules, Sagar looks for high-yield opportunities that do not require massive overhead. While the dollar amounts are smaller than room rates, the profit margins are significantly higher. For example, he targets ancillary revenue streams like micro-fees and mobile food vendors to provide guest amenities without the overhead.
“As much as you can cost-control, it’s all about revenue depth. You can be efficient, but if the revenue’s not there, it’s not going to work.” – Sagar Patel
Sagar’s strategy focuses on balancing channel management with market reality. He uses data to navigate the competition with online travel agencies (OTAs), ensuring the business doesn’t overpay for customers by strategically holding inventory for higher-profit direct guests.
Navigating the 2026 Landscape
Looking ahead, Sagar admits that underwriting is more challenging than ever.
He points out that 2024 was defined by unicorn events that created unprecedented peaks in demand – like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, the NBA All-Star Game, and the Total Solar Eclipse.
Without these massive drivers, the industry is returning to a baseline where what looks like a slowdown is actually a normalization.
Calculating risk and return has become complex because global spectacles like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics primarily benefit major metropolitans like Los Angeles and New York.
For his core markets, Sagar cannot rely on the windfall of international sporting events. Instead, he stays nimble by capturing local demand pockets that institutional owners overlook. By focusing on these specific regional drivers, he ensures his portfolio remains resilient and profitable regardless of the global spotlight.
Join The Conversation
If you would like to share your perspective or be a guest on an upcoming episode of SpotOn, please reach out to Tiffany Gabriel at tiffany@getocra.com.
About Ocra
Ocra is an AI-powered Revenue Management System (RMS) and Global Distribution System (GDS) purpose-built for hotel parking assets. Hotels use Ocra to sell underutilized parking inventory to non-guest customers using online marketplaces (“parking OTAs”) to find parking near airports, venues, and other hotspots. Ocra’s team of parking revenue management experts drives growth without adding labor or disrupting operations, helping hotels increase net operating income (NOI) while never compromising guest parking.
20+ hotel groups partner with Ocra to achieve optimum yield of their parking assets – including MCR, Starwood Capital Group, Aimbridge, Stonebridge, Highwood Properties, Concord Hospitality, and OTH Hotels & Resorts.
Ocra has raised $10M in strategic funding to date – $3.5M in an oversubscribed round in April 2024 led by MCR and Parker Technology, and $5M led by Trestle Partners with significant follow-on from MCR in August 2025. For more information, visit getocra.com or email info@getocra.com.
