For two days beginning Friday, Cornell's Statler Hotel will be operated by students from the School of Hotel Administration and renamed Hotel Ezra Cornell.
This 72-year Cornell tradition enables students to direct and carry out all aspects of running a hotel. It also provides students with a chance to interact with hospitality industry executives who are the hotel's guests for the weekend. More than 250 executives are expected to visit.
Hotel Ezra Cornell officially opens Friday, April 4, at 5 p.m., when the hotel's keys are presented to Hotel School senior Tracy Cooper, who will serve as managing director, overseeing more than 500 students.
The weekend of social events and educational programs features dinner and after-hours parties, entertainment and presentations on tourism, marketing and cyberspace.
William Fisher, president of the American Hotel and Motel Association, will moderate a panel discussion on the future of national tourism on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. in Statler Auditorium. Panelists include Leslie Doggett of the U.S. Department of Commerce; Jonathan Tisch, president and CEO of Loews Hotels; Thomas Kershaw, president of the Hampshire House Corp. and Udo Luerssen, president for Eastern Europe Aramark Corp.
A discussion on hospitality advertising campaigns will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. in Statler Auditorium, featuring Robert Gilbert, executive vice president and CEO of Hospitality, Sales and Marketing Association International; Gary Leopold, president and COO of Irma S. Mann Strategic Marketing Inc.; Peter Warren, president and CEO of Warren/Kremer/CMP/Advertising Inc.; and Peter Yesawich, president and CEO of Yesawich, Pepperdine and Brown.
The theme of this year's Hotel Ezra Cornell, "Vintage to Vogue," will be reflected in a variety of events such as: "Classical Contempo," a party featuring old-world music and modern ethnic cuisine; "All You Gotta Do Is Swing," a dinner accompanied by music from the 1940s; and "At the Duke's Request," a social hour reminiscent of the an old English-style pub.