“Today, many universities and colleges are faced with fierce competition for prospective students and tuition dollars,” said Chase Burritt. “Also, these same universities and colleges are pressured to maximize revenues and income while providing their students with a memorable and effective educational experience.”

Ernst & Young’s Hotel Development Service provides a wide variety of services to assist in evaluating potential hotel developments. These services include feasibility and conversion studies, transaction services, project management oversight, tax advisory services, and asset management services.

“In addition, this competition is also matched with the high demands and expectations of a sophisticated student body in conjunction with a college education expense.”

The development of an on-campus hotel can impact potential academic, economic and social benefits,” added Mr. Burritt. “Ernst & Young’s Hospitality Services Group created the new dedicated service to bring a new level of sophistication and specialization to help clients execute an appropriate development strategy.”

“It is especially important for these universities and colleges to select an advisory service that can assess the viability of an on-campus hotel and meet their expectations,” he said. “This is extremely challenging in today’s competitive market.”

For example, the University of Pennsylvania wanted to explore the possibility of a development plan to offer more amenities to raise the quality of the physical environment and the range of housing and commercial options available to the University’s campus community.

The goals of the development were to create and foster a safe, secure and lively campus environment, making the campus a more competitive and attractive institution for the top-quality students, faculty and staff that the University of Pennsylvania must attract and retain in order to prosper.
Ernst & Young’s Hospitality Services Group was retained by the University of Pennsylvania to help address the potential and the planning of such a development, help to select a construction team, and implement the marketing strategy for the development.
 

The development, Sansom Common, is a $72 million, 300,000 sq-ft mixed-use, hotel and retail conference center complex, including a 260-room first class hotel complete with conference amenities, a 50,000 sq-ft campus bookstore operated by Barnes & Noble (the largest in the country), public atriums, and a diverse range of retail/entertainment shops and restaurants. Mr. Burritt listed a number of benefits to university leaders when selecting the “right” advisors, including: access to top level management and staff; significant experience working with on-campus hotels; offering the right scope to

INN AT PENN 3600 SANSOM STREET Philadelphia, PA

The Ernst & Young Hospitality Services Group is the nation’s largest fully integrated hospitality practice with over 50 dedicated advisory services professionals. The practice offers a full scope of multi-disciplinary services for every major segment from lodging to travel, tourism to attractions. These services include assistance with acquisition, development, operations and disposition.

Ernst & Young’s Hospitality Services Group maintains a dominant market position in such major markets as California, Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, New York, and Miami.