The New Gladesmen

Aashish Patel had an uneasy feeling driving down the lonely stretch of road that leads to Everglades City in 2007 with his father, George Patel.

They had just purchased a run-down motel and struggling airboat business in this swampy outpost located in Big Cypress National Preserve. It's a forgotten stop at the terminus of State Road 29 off U.S. 41, a community of 400 residents bypassed by Interstate 75 Alligator Alley to the north.

Like many Florida fishing communities, Everglades City was devastated by the bans on commercial fishing. It still bears the reputation of the smuggling haven it earned more than 30 years ago after a spectacular federal drug bust ensnared many residents who were forced out of the fisheries business by government restrictions.

“I don't see other races and cultures,” Aashish remembers anxiously telling his India-born father as they drove down to meet with employees of the 20-room Everglades City Motel. Indeed, all the residents of this insular community are white except for three black people and nine Native Americans, according to the U.S. Census.

“My dad said 'nonsense',” Aashish recalls. George Patel believed that if you treated people well, they would repay you in kind. He had this advice for his son for those who might have unwelcome words: “Just keep your mouth shut.”

Today, with about 70 employees, the Patels are the biggest private employer in Everglades City. Aashish says his fears were largely unfounded and the family has been welcomed by 99% of people there. On a recent visit, employees greeted the Patels with handshakes and pats on the back, almost like they had been born there.

Fact is, the Patels might be considered saviors for rescuing the area's faltering economy. Besides the Everglades City Motel and the adjacent Capt. Jack's Airboat Tours, the Patels also acquired the 253-acre Wooten's Everglades Airboat and Swamp Buggy Tours and the smallest post office in the nation in nearby Ochopee in 2013.

The Patels won't disclose annual revenues for these operations, but they've invested close to $7 million in property and in improvements, including a new fleet of airboats that now carry a combined 160,000 people annually.

The Patel's investment is a boost for this community, which has been largely forgotten in the shadows of hugely prosperous Naples and Marco Island. Everglades City could feature more prominently on the ecotourism map of Southwest Florida as a result of their efforts.

Just like home in Gujarat
George Patel, 63, was born and raised in the rural area of Gujarat, India, about 200 miles north of Mumbai. His parents were farmers in this tropical forested area populated by tigers and cobras. Patel is a skilled horseman and laughs that he could milk cows again if his hotel business faltered. “We used to have that life,” he says.

The elder Patel spent his teens in boarding school before moving to the U.S. in 1969 to study mechanical engineering in San Francisco. In 1975, he joined relatives in the hotel business in California, eventually moving to Orlando in 1975 and then Fort Myers in 1982. He currently owns the Hampton Inn off Daniels Parkway near I-75 in Fort Myers.

A Fort Myers neighbor in the commercial real estate business, Mike Strayhorn, alerted Patel in 2006 that the Everglades City Motel was for sale.

The elder Patel says Everglades City reminded him of his home in Gujarat. It has the same tropical climate and rural lifestyle. So he bought the hotel in 2007 for $3.8 million and the former owner held the note until Patel refinanced it with SunTrust Bank more recently.

When the Patels took over the airboat business in 2007, employees used buckets indoors to catch rainwater because the roof leaked. So the father-and-son team spent $600,000 to renovate the 20-room property and tripled the number of airboats at Capt. Jack's from six to 18 boats. Each airboat at Capt. Jack's can seat seven people plus the captain and cost $35,000 each.

“The business was not running at full capacity,” says George Patel, who says the key is finding and retaining good mechanics to keep the boats running in the corrosive environment. When they acquired the business, the boats carried 30,000 passengers annually. Today, that number has grown to 60,000 who pay $38.75 for an hour-long tour through the mangroves.

The Patels' success didn't go unnoticed in the small town. Gene Wooten, the owner of Wooten's Everglades Airboat and Swamp Buggy Tours nearby, hoped to retire and he offered to sell the business to the Patels in 2008.

At the time, the economy was heading into the worst recession in decades and the Patels declined. But as the recovery took hold, they agreed to buy it last year.

Because the Big Cypress National Preserve is off limits to airboats, it made Wooten's 253 acres of swamp land especially valuable to anyone who wants to operate airboats in this corner of the Everglades. George Patel says he paid nearly $2 million for Wooten's using bank financing. (Gene Wooten recently died and the two-hour funeral in his hometown of LaBelle was packed to standing room.)
George Patel says he signed a personal guarantee for the Wooten's loan. Plus, he says, “We have a very strong financial statement with the Hampton Inn.”

Since they acquired Wooten's one year ago, the Patels estimate 100,000 visitors have come through the gates of the property that hugs U.S. 41. So far, they've spent $600,000 fixing up the place, including animal enclosures that house 60 alligators, two panthers, two Siberian tigers, one lion and a bobcat. When they're done, the Patels estimate they will have spent $1 million.

That includes buying bigger airboats that cost $65,000 each and can seat 25 people. Wooten's had two airboats when the Patels bought it and now there are 10.

The Patels also acquired the post office in nearby Ochopee for $30,000 from Gene Wooten. The U.S. Postal Service rents the tiny building for $25 a month, but it's famous for being the country's smallest post office. At one time, locals say five busloads of tourists a day came to visit the post office to buy and mail postcards.

Gators drive the tourists
Despite its proximity to the Everglades, ecotourism is still a niche business in the region. In a survey of tourists in January, for example, the visitors' bureau in Naples found only 27% of visitors to Collier County came for outdoor recreation and nature. The majority of tourists come for the beaches, resorts and conferences in Naples and Marco Island.

It takes about 45 minutes to travel the 36 miles from Naples to Everglades City and one hour and 20 minutes from Fort Myers. The scenic route takes tourists down U.S. 41, also known as Tamiami Trail, the first road built from Naples to Miami that cuts through the Everglades.

Raymond Wooten, Gene's father, used to rent billboards on Interstate 95 on the east coast starting in South Carolina and longtime employees say by the time they hit the Florida line they knew the Wooten name. The elder Wooten started the airboat business in 1953 and he drew most customers from the east coast of the state.

With airboat companies now all over the east coast of the state, tourists to Wooten's and Everglades City mainly come from the west coast today. Theme parks, beaches and resorts now compete for the tourist dollar. “What drives the people into this area isn't the five-star hotels,” Aashish Patel acknowledges.

The Patels say they've boosted marketing and advertising, which slowed dramatically in recent years. Rack cards in hotels remain popular, they say, as does Internet and magazine marketing.

There are cross-marketing opportunities as people who book an airboat trip on Capt. Jack's get free admission to the animal exhibit at Wooten's a 10-minute drive away. There's also a link to the motel on Capt. Jack's website.

Although visitors enjoy the airboats, Aashish Patel says the one major draw is seeing alligators. “Alligators are the No. 1 hit,” he says. “A lot of people want that close encounter.”

That's something you won't find at Disney.

Executive Summary
Entrepreneurs. George and Aashish Patel Business. Airboat tours Key. A family-run business invests to revitalize a rural tourist destination.