Don't be surprised if the next time you check into a Super 8 or Motel 6, you detect the faint scent of curry cooking down the hall.  

According to India's Economic Times newspaper, the Indian invasion of the U.S. hotel industry has accelerated dramatically with the economic downturn in the States.

But don't go all "brown peril" on me.  I've stayed in more than a few so-called "Patel Motels" — so named because many Indians in the hotel business are Gujaratis, often with the surname Patel — and I can tell you that they're managed just as well as the others in the same price range.  And if you have a good India story, you might be able to talk somebody into a decent home-cooked meal (very desirable in comparison to the boarding school quality food that's generally on offer).

Here's the Economic Times on the subject:

Indians who have made their money in other businesses back home – in Kolkata to Coimbatore and New Delhi to Hyderabad – are increasingly taking over the keys from distressed owners in the US who are selling at rock-bottom prices to repay their growing debt.

This is especially the case in the warmer states, such as Florida and Nevada, where vacation homes are the first to be put up for sale in the market which remains stubbornly depressed three years after the economic crisis hit home.

Prices have dropped to as low as Rs 10 lakh per room ($20000) in some locations close to the mega tourist attraction Disneyland in Florida's Orlando, for example, says V Santhana Raman, chief executive of Ace Hotel Brokers India. In contrast, he says, properties in tourist destinations such as Kumarakom in Kerala back home command up to Rs 1 crore ($200,000) per room.