Campus-Based Hospitality (think exec ed, conferences) Centers

Another excellent, insightful article by Alana Klein, from University Business. She provides a variety of examples of centers that are residential, or not, and that are executive or student-based:

There are a few key points to consider when planning conference center facilities. Before breaking ground, campus leaders must ask themselves two critical questions about the facilities, says Debra Lein, a vice president at Sodexho Conferencing, the management company that runs the inn and conference center at DePauw University (Ind.). "Do they need to make a profit? Or can they be a subsidized operation that will bring other benefits to the school?" In other words, "What do they want to be when they grow up?" If a conference center does want to make a profit or break even, the way it's designed and marketed matters. "If you market it externally, you then have to compete with other centers in the marketplace and price your services competitively," Lein says.