Hillsdale College is in talks with four hotel management companies regarding improvements to the Dow Leadership Center Hotel and Rockwell Lake Lodge.
“Our goal is to increase occupancy by a significant amount,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said.
Talks with all four are ongoing, but the college is particularly close to an agreement with one of the companies, according to Mike Harner, chief staff officer for the college.
No agreement has yet been made, though.
“We would hope to have something in place by the end of the year. It’s possible we might have something in place by the end of the month,” Harner said.
He also said it was possible there would be no agreement.
If an agreement should be made, the management company would use their professional expertise to improve the management of both hotels currently run by the college, Harner said.
While the Dow Center reaches full occupancy during special events, it sometimes sits nearly empty.
This is not the fault of the staff and no layoffs are planned, according to Péwé. Harner stressed that the current Dow Center staff are very capable. He explained that there is more to managing a hotel than hiring good employees, which is why the college wants to hire professional management.
“They try to fill your rooms,” Harner said.
A management company would increase occupancy through advertising and connections with internet hotel-finding services, connections the college does not currently have.
The college does not advertise the Dow Center and Rockwell Lake Lodge to anyone unassociated with the college.
A management company would attempt to attract customers otherwise unconnected with the college, Harner said, thus filling rooms between special events. He said that friends of the college will have an opportunity to book rooms before they are filled by outside guests.
In addition to wider advertising, renovations are planned under a new management company. Péwé said that rooms might be added to the Dow Center if a company thought they would be filled. Harner said the existing rooms will be updated either way.
“We will renovate the Dow Center, that’s a statement of fact,” Harner said. “But it’s hard to say when that will happen.”
While both hotels operate in the black, proceeds from the Rockwell Lake Lodge subsidize the G.H. Gordon Biological Station. This sometimes results in a deficit, Péwé said. Greater profits would better subsidize the station.
