Faculty members Nicole Buse and Stephen Shiring watch as, from left, Tezmionah Jordan, Ousmane Diallo, and Kayla Cardwell use the simulated hotel front desk.
For years, Stephen Shiring ’81, M’85, a professor in the Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism, and Event Management program, has watched students return from internships transformed—confident in their abilities, engaged in the classroom, comfortable with communicating. Now he believes students can develop valuable skills that normally come with real-world experience through a simulated hotel front desk in the Eberly College of Business.
Made possible through a $125,000 grant from the Statler Foundation, the desk was ready for the start of the fall semester.
Nicole Buse ’12, M’13, D’20, who joined Shiring on the faculty 10 years ago, said students in her Hotel Operations class next spring will use the desk to role-play real-life scenarios provided by the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Examples include customers charged an amount at odds with their online booking price or guests trying to check in without ID or with a different credit card from the one they used to book the room.
Last spring, Buse’s students conducted this role-play from behind a podium at the front of the classroom. She thinks the new, realistic desk will help “put them in the mindset that they’re really at the front desk of a hotel.” She’ll also require them to dress the part. “You take it more seriously and feel as though you’re actually in that role,” she said.
In addition to building their skills, the real-life desk shows students that IUP is invested in their education, Buse said. Next spring, she plans to implement online case simulations, which will further immerse students in the practice of hotel management. They’ll carry out operations such as checking which rooms are available and establishing room pricing based on what’s happening around them, like a convention in town or an inclement weather event.
Shiring said his inspiration for the hotel desk was the Allenwood, the campus restaurant that for decades has given students in his program hands-on experience in the food and beverage industry. “I’ve always been trying to build that hotel side and find what could set us apart,” he said.
Before pursuing the project, Shiring asked IUP alumni who work in the lodging industry whether a hotel front desk is still relevant today, given keyless entry and other new technology. “They said yes, it’s still the focal point of the hotel.”
He credits Chris Koren, IUP’s director of Strategic Partnerships, for building the relationship with the Statler Foundation, which has awarded two scholarships to IUP students in addition to funding the hotel desk. The foundation was established through hotelier Ellsworth Statler’s will, which designated funds for improving the industry.
IUP program faculty members believe hands-on learning opportunities—like the two internships required of each student and the new hotel desk—are key to that improvement.
“We want students to have real-world experience,” Buse said. “We also want to offer as much real-world experience as we can in the classroom.”