How To:

Catch a Unicorn

Rita Patel grew up in rural Orangeburg, South Carolina, where her parents owned and operated branded hotels. Despite growing up in the hotel industry, Rita initially wanted to steer away from it and pursued a major in interior design during college.

After college, Rita attended grad school for architecture and met her husband, Marcus. However, after graduation, they faced challenges finding work as architects during the recession. As a result, they moved back to Rita's hometown and began working in her family's hotel business.

Those early years were tough. Rita worked as a hotel front desk person, making very little money and both she and Marcus worked seven different jobs over a two-and-a-half-year period just to make ends meet.

Eventually, the market started to improve, and Rita was able to find a position with an architectural firm. It was during this time at the firm that she realized that architecture was not what she thought it would be. However, her expertise in architecture and design could be applied to the hotel industry. So, she left the architectural firm and joined her family's hotel business, working in the corporate office. There she learned about property improvements, hotel development, and administrative work. As the market shifted and millennials started seeking experiential travel, Rita and Marcus saw an opportunity to open a boutique hotel in Columbia, South Carolina.

While doing a ride-around with her parents to explore potential locations for a new hotel, they came across the buildings that would become Hotel Trundle. Although Rita’s parents weren’t interested in buying the property, they encouraged Rita and Marcus to take the leap and pursue the development of the hotel on their own.

The journey of Hotel Trundle is a testament to the resilience and adaptability required in entrepreneurship. Rita's willingness to pivot from her original career path and embrace her family's industry showcases her openness to new opportunities. The challenges they faced, such as the recession, the original state of the building, and the pandemic, highlight their problem-solving skills and perseverance.

What has been the most surprising thing about starting your own company, owning it, and growing it?

Honestly, what surprises me the most is that I even thought I could do it. Because I was so ignorant of the whole process. But Marcus and I went into it with blinders on determined that this was what we were going to do. We thought this was a fabulous idea in a great location. How could people not like this?

We talked for a long time about our why and came up with our three pillars. We wanted to have the resources to travel and show our boys the world. We wanted our space to become a foundation piece of our community's landscape for charity work, goodwill, and lifting up our community. And the third one was to follow our dream, jump off the cliff of faith, and make our dream come true.

If you could hit rewind. What would you do differently?

I probably would have hired a full-time sales and marketing person right away. My best friend of over 35 years, Raven, has just joined our team to fill that role. But I wish I had someone like Raven from the very beginning. Someone I trust, someone who knows me, someone that I could bounce ideas off of and be open and honest. Because it really does help to have a sounding board when you don't know what you're doing. I honestly had no idea how to market a hotel. I'm a designer. I'm not a marketer. So, it was a lot of trial by error.

Hotel Trundle entered the market at a really unique time when Columbia was on the brink of explosion. We capitalized on that and became the first boutique hotel in Columbia, and I think that’s part of what makes us special. Columbia was hungry and so were we.

Rita Patel Orange WIP COLA Hi Res 6 Will Crooks

Rita Patel Orange WIP COLA Hi Res 1 Will Crooks

What resources did you tap into from the community to help you move along your journey?

We worked with a local organization, Experience Columbia. They helped bring in travel writers and influencers who could come and try out the hotel and write about it. Because once the articles are on the internet, they're there forever. And that really helped our SEO.

We also worked with our Chamber of Commerce, and I joined a lot of networking events and a couple of boards. That's how we got out there and told the story of Hotel Trundle.

One big break we got that helped us on our PR journey was when Beyoncé came to Columbia to perform. She didn’t stay with us, but her opener, DJ Khaled, did stay at the hotel. So, for five days, there was a big tour bus parked in front of the hotel and everyone thought it was Beyoncé. When asked, we wouldn’t confirm or deny, but it was really cool to have DJ Khaled there. After that, we had a bunch of celebrities come and stay with us. So that definitely helped boost our visibility.

What resources do you wish you had that Columbia didn't have to offer, and you had to tap into outside the community?

At that time, Instagram and Facebook (TikTok wasn't even a thing then) were so foreign to me as a business owner. But it was such a key piece of the marketing strategy, and I knew I had to be present on Instagram. So, I wish there were seminars on how to use Instagram and Facebook and how the social media platforms influence day-to-day business and branding.

I watched a lot of YouTube and followed a lot of people and asked for advice on Instagram. I asked a ton of questions of local marketing people just to get my feet on the ground. Because you don't know what you don't know, right?

I met with anybody that would meet with me. Like the head marketing person at the library. Columbia is so wonderful. Everyone is willing to share information and knowledge. And I'm so grateful for those people who took the time out of their schedule to teach a newbie how to do something.

That's a really good lesson for other founders because I don't know if a lot of startups and entrepreneurs realize they can reach out and ask for help. They shouldn’t be intimidated because there's always somebody willing to help

That’s right, they will. And it's nice to be able to share your story because personal moments like this, conversations like this, really pump me up because it’s a good reminder of why I’m doing what I'm doing.

It's only been six years since we started this, and Marcus and I have been able to completely flip our lives. Just taking a step back and looking at all the things that we've been able to accomplish with the village behind us has been pretty remarkable.

What's been the most rewarding part?

The most rewarding thing, personally, is being able to travel. We have been able to do some amazing things with our kids, and I'm so grateful for that time and those opportunities because, to me, travel is its own field of education. Culture, understanding what you have, understanding what you don't have, knowing that the bubble that you live in and spend most of your time in is not the same as the whole world. So personally, that has been my most rewarding thing.

And then, at work, it would be having a team and knowing that I'm making a difference in their lives, and they're making a difference in my life, and how the energy of all of that is constant. You can build something great, but if you don't have the team behind it, then it’s not going to work.

When COVID happened, the phone would not stop ringing—cancel, cancel, cancel. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in room revenue for the entire year of 2020 was gone in just three days. We ended up closing for five weeks, from the end of March through April. And before we closed our doors, we had a team meeting and I just remember looking at everyone, and they were looking at me and Marcus for the answers and the solution. That's a core memory for me because these wonderful, fabulous people depend on me and Marcus and there's just no way we can let them down. And by some miracle, we were able to move through COVID and keep 90% of our team. One person had to leave for personal reasons, but we managed to pay all of our team from our own savings so that they were taken care of. We also bought them laptops because the schools were virtual. It was just chaos. But I'm just so grateful that we could be there for our team and hopefully open up opportunities for them and their kids. That's very rewarding.

What was the best advice you've ever received that you really took to heart— the best piece of advice you would give over and over again?

My mom and my dad have always inspired me ever since I was little. But there are two things.

My dad told me to never be afraid to ask. He is an immigrant from India, with the classic immigrant story ― no education, worked his way here, and built something from nothing. Through those many years and my mom partnering with him, they have created something really special. When we were negotiating the deal on the building for Trundle, he was proposing these ridiculous super low numbers. Marcus and I thought that it would be insulting, and we didn't want to present those numbers and make it look like we didn't know what we were doing. He said never be afraid to ask because what's the worst they can do? They can say no. So, we ended up offering one of the three numbers my dad proposed, and they agreed to it. So. That was a huge piece of advice that I've taken to heart many times since.

The second is from my mom. She told me that she has never stopped looking for a good opportunity. And it makes so much sense because now that Hotel Trundle is up and running, people will approach you with something that could be the next opportunity. So, always say yes, get more information, and see what happens. Always keep your ear to the ground and look for the next thing, because it’s all about timing.

The unicorn is our logo because this was our unicorn opportunity. It was perfect in every way. Timing, finances, the stage of our life, Columbia in a growing period, parking right across the street. It was just too good to be true. And so, I fully believe that those opportunities are always around us. We just need to take the leap of faith and snatch it.

Beyond Covid, what’s the biggest challenge that you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it? Or maybe you're still working towards overcoming it.

We've recently opened a five-room expansion. We started those discussions in 2020 and since then, prices for construction have skyrocketed. Interest rates are crazy. So that has been a huge challenge because we can't just stop. It was a great opportunity to purchase two duplexes in a really good area of Columbia. It’s been hard because it took a lot of our cash flow, but it was an opportunity for us to grow in a way that wasn't as huge a commitment as another property.

Secondly, since COVID, we've been constantly rotating one or two people, just trying to find that person that gets us as a team. One of our mottos is bringing kindness to hospitality. You can't teach kindness – it’s part of your DNA. I can teach somebody how to use our front desk systems, but I can't teach somebody to be somebody different. Not everyone is like that and that's okay, but we're looking for the people that are like that. So, staffing has been a challenge. But right now, we have a really good, solid team.

Opportunities are always around us. We just need to take the leap of faith and snatch it.

If you had to sum up your entrepreneurial founder journey in one or two words, what words would you use?

Dream big. I know that's cheesy but dream big. Live joyfully. Those are our statements.

You just have to get to the starting grain of why you're doing something, and it came to me like an epiphany at my kitchen table. One day, I asked Marcus to take our boys out so that I could just have five hours to figure out our why. And that was it. So, we can live our life and enjoy the moments that make it special.