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| Vol. 18, No. 36 | July 8, 1999 |
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| Vol. 18, No. 36 | July 8, 1999 |
Students in the University's Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management Program have already been working with staff at Loews Philadelphia Hotel, even though the facility won't open until next April in the city's landmark Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS) building. They will get hands-on sales experience as the soon-to-be-built facility implements its comprehensive marketing and sales project.
According to Valerie Ferguson, Loews regional vice president and managing director, "The partnership tests an important hypothesis for the hotel industry that says: If we give college students a taste of hotel marketing in the real world, the students will offer us the benefit of their research and ideas in meeting our marketing challenges."
A start-up venture like Loews
Philadelphia provides fertile ground for students to transfer their knowledge from the realm of theory to the real business world, Ferguson added.
As interns, students tackled marketing challenges ranging from conducting pricing research to brainstorming ways for the hotel to promote its architectural history and market nitch. They generated useful statistics and thoughtful perspectives which Loews is now considering, she said.
"The experience was an eye-opener for the students," Jim Myers, HRIM, said.
"Because the hotel has no market history, we were sending out students on a data hunt from other cities. They found that some of the other markets weren't eager to share. The students, accustomed to dealing in the collaborative environment of the University were exposed to the competitive environment of business," Myers said.
Peter Green, the hotel's director of sales and marketing, spearheaded the program. "We wanted more from the students than their involvement in a sales blitz," he said. "We wanted them to understand that sound, strategic marketing is the backbone of a successful sales effort."
UD also has worked with Loews Annapolis Hotel and Loews L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C.
There also are plans for continued student involvement in the new Philadelphia facility when classes resume this fall.
