Brandon Ho recounts the wondrous tastes experienced at Statler Hall on Saturday.

Michael Johnson will serve another 5 year term as dean of the Hotel School. 

Hotel occupancy in Tompkins County is down 8.4 percent from this time last year, according to Smith Travel Research, leaving local hotels, including the Statler, looking for ways to boost revenue.

Leading the way in this search is Dr. Sheryl Kimes, Singapore Tourism Board Distinguished Professor in Asian Hospitality Management in the School of Hotel Administration. In a recent report published by the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell, she urges hotels to resist cutting room rates and to instead focus on alternatives like marketing and loyalty programs.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas; however, that was not the case this weekend as various leaders of the hospitality industry parted from Sin City to impart their insights to students during the 84th annual Hotel Ezra Cornell. For two eventful days and three hedonic nights, students of the School of Hotel Administration hosted HEC, a yearly educational conference showcasing the skills and talents of the students as they temporarily assumed management of Statler Hotel.

The conference kicked off Thursday with “An Evening at Club HEC.” The Las Vegas-themed conference provided students opportunities to “demonstrate their knowledge by planning and executing a weekend full of culinary delights, innovative service and impressive speakers,” according to HEC’s website.

To the Editor:

Re: “Hotel and ILR: Two Diametrically Opposed Entities on the Hill,” Opinion, March 11