Monday, February 27th, 2012

Mason Inn Changes Management

The Mason Inn is changing management, effective April 1. Crestline Hotel & Resorts will take over for Aramark, which has been in charge of operations since the hotel opened in 2010. The move is due in part to the recent volatility of the economy.

The business plan for the Inn was created in the pre-recessionary economic climate, according to George Mason University Senior- Vice President Maurice Scherrens. When the real estate market changed fundamentally, so too did the hotel industry.

“All of our original assumptions were no longer the proper foundation for the business partnership,” said Scherrens in an email. The Inn did not meet the occupancy rates that had been projected, and the turnover for managerial positions was high. The Conference Center was off-target from the amount of business that was expected from the local community.

However, unlike Aramark, Crestline is based locally in Fairfax.

“They understand the Fairfax market and how to serve the Fairfax community,” said Gregg Toney, assistant vice president of Auxiliary Enterprises, which oversees the Mason Inn. He believes that Crestline will bring in more local businesses to the Conference Center.

There are also economic advantages to selecting a locally based company. For one, transportation costs will be cut significantly.

Most of the changes to the Mason Inn will happen behind the scenes. Crestline has a “superior training program,” said Toney, which will help the Inn retain good employees. In addition, Crestline will have a different overall style in the way it manages the Inn.

“I suspect that you will experience a different ‘feel’ to the venue after April first,” Scherrens said. “We [also] expect the restaurant to have a different focus, which should help establish the venue as a destination restaurant for the community.”

When asked about the possibility of a rates increase, both Scherrens and Toney said that the issue has yet to be decided. The Mason Inn is expected to have a greater share of the local market, and the future rates will reflect market competitiveness.

As for possible lay-offs after the transition, some of the non-managerial staff have been offered jobs. The rest may be transferred to other hotels or conference centers managed by Aramark.

Crestline was chosen over 12 other hospitality companies, including Ararmark, that submitted proposals to manage the Mason Inn, Toney said.

The Mason Inn is funded by self-generated revenue. The profits from the Inn go directly back into the university to fund scholarships and to pay off debt, as stated in Auxiliary Enterprise’s annual budget report.

Therefore, the choice to have Crestline manage the Mason Inn came down to revenue. The economic viability of the Inn contributes to the overall economic viability of the university, as is the case with the University Bookstore and the Patriot Center, which are also under the umbrella of Auxiliary Enterprises.

“We’re not in the business of making money for the sake of making money,” Toney said. “We make money with the idea of trying to keep tuition and fees and student expenditures as low as possible.”

 

 

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Monday, February 6th, 2012

Patriot Green Fund Goes to Work

George Mason University alumna Danielle Wyman was walking through Whole Foods in Vienna when she spotted the recycling centers at the entrance. She thought, if a grocery store can have something like this, why can’t Mason?

So, after receiving permission from the store, she took pictures and did an in-depth examination of the bins. 

When that particular Whole Foods location underwent renovation, the management team remembered Wyman and how curious she had been about the recycling center. They offered to donate it to George Mason University.

Wyman partnered up with Intergrative Studies major Jen Beidel, an undergrad who was recently hired as an intern at the Office of Sustainability, to build more of the recycling centers.

To fund their project they applied for a grant from the Patriot Green Fund. They will use the grant to build 10 additional recycling centers in the Johnson Center and The Hub.

“It’s not only important that we increase recycling on campus, but also that students and staff can take what they learn here and be able to put it into action at home,” Beidel said.

“It’s about both environmental impact and teaching good habits.”

Of the 22 proposals that were submitted in October 2011, the Patriot Green Fund Committee approved seven projects for grants, according to the PGF website.

They share the $50,000 endowment for this semester between them. The goal is to make the campus more environmentally friendly and to educate students, faculty and staff on sustainability.

“A lot of these things are at the interface of operations and academics,” said Dann Sklarew, fellow of sustainability studies and member of the PGF Committee.

The PGF was approved last year by the school administration. It is the result of a joint effort between the Environmental Action Group and the Office of Sustainability at Mason.

It will give $100,000 each year to fund student and faculty projects that support sustainability research and projects.

“The Patriot Green Fund is contributing to the facilitation of my efforts to combine teaching with research,” said Changwoo Ahn, associate professor of environmental science and policy, who received a grant from the PGF to build a model wetland.

Ahn will use the funds to educate his students on the role wetlands have in reducing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

He will also be able to research how man-made wetlands can be constructed to make up for those that have been lost due to overdevelopment and pollution.

Another beneficiary, Kathleen Curtis, executive director of the Dean’s Office in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, is working with engineers from campus planning to construct beehives.

“The coursework is focused on the scientific and practical management of honey bee hives in an urban setting,” Curtis said. The beehives will be used for educational purposes and to improve the diversity of the local landscape.

The PGF is helping Mason get closer to the goals of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which President Alan Merten signed in 2007.

This was an agreement that Mason would be climate-neutral by 2050.

“We have a second round of proposals which will be submitted later in the semester,” Sklarew said. “It was actually kind of lucky … we thought we would fund all the proposals that seemed to meet our goals. And that worked out to be about half.”

The remaining $50,000 will be awarded to the winning proposals from the second phase of selection. They will be chosen in April

 

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Monday, January 23rd, 2012

New Housing Selection Rules at Mason

The Office of Housing and Residence Life has made changes to the housing selection process which includes the elimination of room retention, priority for groups and a new $300 security deposit. OHRL is doing these things to reduce uncertainty in the housing selection process.

This year, those with the least amount of credits will be given priority in housing selection. This is designed to give underclassmen a better chance at living on campus, said Jen Frank, assistant director of Housing Services. At an information session Thursday, some were concerned that this threatens senior privilege.

“We do acknowledge that some portion of seniors will be on the Guaranteed Waiting List from the start of the process,” Frank said. “We really think that the older students are more suited to deal with that ambiguity of being on the wait list.”

Those seniors will still be guaranteed housing on campus, just maybe not in the location of their choice. Students also will no longer be able to retain the same housing they have now, but instead will reenter the housing pool each year.

Another change is that group applicants will be given priority over individuals in the housing selection.  “[Students] spend all their time and energy on roommate and suitemate problems, and the community doesn’t get built because there’s all that negativity there,” said Frank.

The idea is that people who know their roommates ahead of time are more likely to have a positive roommate experience.

There will also be a new $300 deposit that students must pay after selecting their housing. OHRL instituted this to make students commit to living on- or off-campus.  They will credit the deposit back to students’ accounts in October, Frank said.

Last year, the OHRL website crashed during housing selection. In order to reduce traffic, selection this year will be staggered so that students will be given a widow of time to select their housing. Group applicants will choose a leader to login and choose their housing. The OHRL website will also feature a new tool called Room Locator, which will allow students to see which rooms they can select as they become available, said Myra Gibson, housing services coordinator at Eisenhower, at a Housing Selection Forum Thursday.

The additional 600 beds that will come from the opening of the Whitetop and Rogers dorms next could make up for the 500 or so people who apply but are not guaranteed housing. It will also mean more choices for upperclassmen that are the last to select housing.

“This is the year to do that change,” Frank said. “Because if we do it any other year more people will end up on the waiting list.”

 

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