Visitors to Denver may one day stay at a hotel on campus run primarily by Metro State students.

Discussed at the December 2006 Board of Trustees meeting as part of a larger dialogue on the overall campus master plan, the prospective hotel would be a public/private partnership, housing Metro State’s growing hospitality program and managed by an outside party.

President Stephen Jordan told the trustees in December: “We have a wonderful program which doesn’t really have a place as a laboratory for students. So there are discussions of a for-profit hotel in which 80 percent of the labor would be provided by our students,” while hotel senior management would operate it.

The idea of a hotel learning center for Metro State has been bandied about for years, according to Hotel Administration Professor Chad Gruhl, who specializes in hotels and lodging.

According to Sandra Haynes, dean of the School of Professional Studies, the hotel complex would house classrooms and faculty office space for the Hospitality, Meeting and and Travel Administration department, as well as a demonstration classroom for the culinary arts.

In addition, the hotel itself would contain meeting space, a restaurant and up to 20 rooms for housing HMTA students, Gruhl said.

HMTA Chair John Dienhart said, “The HMTA Industry Advisory Council, together with the Metro State Foundation, has been actively pursuing the financial aspects of the idea.”

Investment bank Piper Jaffray recently conducted an operating pro forma study for the foundation pro bono. The study looked at various operating considerations of a potential Metro State hotel including average daily rates and occupancy rates for hotels in Denver to calculate how many rooms and at what rate they would need to be occupied for a Metro State hotel to be successful.

"At this point, the operating pro forma and further analysis will help us determine what makes the most economic sense and refine the plan," said Gruhl.

Gruhl is the team leader of the HMTA faculty team that is working on plans for the hotel learning center. Other members include Dienhart and HMTA faculty members Helle Sorensen, Cynthia Vannucci and Michael Wray.

Gruhl said that the hotel would likely “fly the flag of a major hotel brand,” though the ultimate management structure is not yet known.

A Metro State Hotel “would help with space problems on campus and would provide Metro State more visibility,” Haynes said. “We already have quality education programs at a much more affordable price than other programs, and the presence of this type of facility on campus would highlight that.”

Haynes said that as Denver becomes more of a destination city, there is increased need for hotel options. Dienhart echoed Haynes’ thoughts on the need for more hotel space, and spoke of the need to grow Metro State’s hospitality program. “Our program grew from 134 students in 1998 to 340 this past fall. We started offering courses at the South Campus because we’re running out of room here.”

“The construction of this hotel would vault us closer to our goal of preeminence,” said Haynes.