The goal for the cost per night is around $150 per person.
The hotel will be open by graduation in May and the JUCO World Series.
There will be approximately 20-25 employment opportunities, excluding the restaurant & bar
Hotel Maverick, Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) on-campus hotel, is getting ready to be open for business.
The 45,000-square-foot hotel is set to have a soft opening in April. By May, the plan is to have the hotel be in full operation. The soft opening will serve as a period to work out any problems.
There will also be various opportunities for students to work in the hotel.
“You’ve got the curricular pieces, which will be some series of internships and practicums, and then you also just have straight employment, and both of those I expect to be utilized by students,” Vice President for Student Services John Marshall said.
Straight employment includes various front-of-house work, such as bellhops and housekeeping. Internships and practicum work will center around professional opportunities for hospitality and culinary students, such as working with a chef in the hotel restaurant.
“The whole notion here is that students are getting experience working in a higher end hotel that they wouldn’t get [elsewhere],” Marshall said.
The graphic design work, which includes items like the restaurant logos, signage and other materials was largely designed in-house, some by a few select CMU students. The Marketing Department is currently refining the graphics package, and there’s been talks of hiring a private sector company as well.
“It’s an ongoing process that’s going to be leading right up to the opening,” CMU Public Relations Director David Ludlam said about the graphic design.
A CMU alumnus, Project Engineer Logan Cole, has also helped oversee the project. Cole graduated from CMU four years ago with a Bachelor’s in Construction Management. He previously helped build the Health Sciences building and Confluence Hall.
The on-schedule hotel will be open for graduation and the Junior College Baseball World Series.
