Inside the Crisis Crushing America’s Hotel Owners

Nayana Patel had been working the overnight shift for five straight nights when she sat down to talk about the hotel business. It was morning, technically, but not really for her.

Her Red Roof Inn sits off Interstate 37 in Corpus Christi, Texas, a short drive from the refineries that used to send maintenance crews to her door three times a year. Now it’s maybe once. Leisure travelers still come — San Antonio, Houston, Dallas families who’d rather drive to the beach than pay for a flight. They used to book weeks out. Now, it’s typically within 48 hours, if they book at all.

In the lobby there is a plaque on the wall. It marks the spot where famed singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was shot in 1995, killed by the woman who ran her fan club. Her husband ordered the plaque from Amazon. Visitors still come to pay their respects.

Patel, who also goes by Nancy, grew up in the hotel business. Her father came over from England in the 1970s and opened his firs