[StBernard] Check-out time Dillard students' stay at the Hilton comes to an end

[Westley Annis]

by April Capochino 
07/03/2006 	
 	
<http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=16011#> 
	
It’s not hard to tell the difference between Dillard University students and
guests at the Hilton Riverside Hotel on Canal Street. 
 
Students wander the hallways in twos and threes, dressed casually in
sweatpants and T-shirts, many with iPod buds planted in their ears. Their
IDs and room keys hang from a Dillard lanyard around their necks. 
 
Guests, however, move through the hotel dressed in business suits or khakis
and themed T-shirts, fanny pack secured to their waists, wheeling luggage
behind. 
  
Since January, Hilton guests have shared living space with displaced Dillard
students and faculty at the high-rise hotel in one of the city’s most
popular tourist areas. 
  
With tourism still lagging post-Katrina, hotel officials say students helped
keep the business afloat. 
  
“They occupy more than 500 rooms in the hotel,” said Hilton general manager
Fred Sawyers. “Needless to say it’s been huge for us. With the lack of
convention business up to this point, you just could not keep this hotel
busy and team members employed without Dillard.” 
  
Walter Strong, vice president for institutional advancement for Dillard,
estimates the partnership between the university and the Hilton has had an
economic impact of nearly $100 million after housing 800 students and 160
employees nearly seven months, holding events there, hiring employees to
work at the hotel and recruiting alumni to stay at the hotel for the events.

  
Sawyers declined to provide the cost of housing Dillard at the Hilton. 
“That’s between us and the university,” he said. 
  
According to Dillard University’s Web site, it costs $2,910 for a double
occupancy room and $5,880 for a single occupancy room per semester at the
Hilton. The university’s tuition was $11,760, and parking at the Hilton
garage cost about $180 per semester. 
  
Moving on 
  
This week, Dillard students will check out of the Hilton, and while many are
thankful for the place to stay at the hotel, they’re ready for a change. 
“It was fun at the beginning but it’s time to go back to campus,” said
Christopher Stewart, a 20-year-old junior from Dallas. 
Students say ordering room service, watching Mardi Gras parades from the
hotel and using bellhops to carry groceries has been fun but they’re ready
to trade in hotel life for the lush oak trees, Friday night mixers and
crawfish boils they used to have on campus. 
  
“This has been a unique experience,” said Christina Adams, 20, a sophomore
from Chicago. “You live, breathe and eat in the hotel.” 
  
“At first it was exciting to live here in a hotel,” said Christy Malbrew,
22, a Baton Rouge native and graduating senior. “You get to see a lot of the
tourism and culture but after a while you want to get back to campus.” 
  
Last Friday, 350 seniors — including Malbrew — graduated and walked down the
Avenue of the Oaks on Dillard’s campus. The ceremony was held at its
traditional spot despite levee breaches from Hurricane Katrina flooding the
55-acre campus and causing nearly $400 million in damages. Those damages
forced the university to find a new home for the spring semester. 
  
“The university presented the idea to the Hilton Hotel and the hotel was
very receptive to the idea of having students, faculty and classrooms
contained in one location,” said Nick Harris, assistant vice president of
community and economic development for Dillard. “Hilton was the hotel of
choice that we went to. They were able to accommodate our needs in terms of
classroom space, living arrangements and food services.” 
  
Hilton U. 
  
Students took classes in a converted ballroom with cubicles on the
second-floor and ate at the Blue Devil Café, the bottom-floor restaurant
that was renamed after Dillard’s mascot and reserved for students and
faculty. 
  
Students at the hotel also had access to a bookstore and post office, twice
weekly maid service, an outdoor pool and gymnasium, and bus service to
Xavier University’s science labs and Tulane’s library. The hotel also
converted an area into laundry facilities. 
  
Neighboring Riverwalk Marketplace, Harrah’s Casino and Gordon Biersch
Brewing Co. provide outside food and entertainment for students. 
  
“Even if you go out, you don’t have to go out,’” said Malbrew. “Harrah’s is
right across the street and you can get into Riverwalk through the hotel.” 
  
Dillard officials say they are happy to have made an economic impact after
living in the Central Business District for nearly seven months. Some
Dillard students work in the Hilton’s accounting office, food service and
security departments. 
  
“Dillard University had a presence in the CBD, which is important for
corporate companies to see we were there,” said Harris. “It’s been
beneficial for businesses in this area to have students working here. The
Hilton has been able to accommodate us for all of our needs. I can’t express
to you how good it has been.”•