With campus residents lacking, dorms converted for outside guests

UNLV’s residence halls are currently at about 50 percent occupancy, but a new effort is aimed at bolstering traffic in — and revenue from — campus housing facilities.

Student Union and Event Services (SUEC) now manages much of the dorm housing as public hotel space. And students (most from the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration) run the operation.

“We saw a need for UNLV to offer the services of a hotel,” said Jennifer Oshiro, sales and marketing coordinator for SUEC.

Anyone can stay at the single-room Guest Suites at the Tonopah North Complex, but they were created for people attending conferences and events at UNLV and to house parents visiting students from outside the Las Vegas area, Oshiro said.

The facilities also accommodate guest lecturers and individuals that UNLV brings to campus to interview for faculty and administrative positions. New faculty may be put up in the suites temporarily.

Oshiro said that staying at UNLV is a safe and affordable option for travelers.

The campus is 2.1 miles from McCarran International Airport and has its own force of about 50 police officers.

The rooms are all non-smoking and, unlike most Las Vegas hotels, there is no gaming in the UNLV Guest Suites.

“They offer a place for people who are here for business to focus on their business and not get sucked into any adult entertainment,” Oshiro said.

That may be a novel model for this city, but Oshiro explained that the idea is not unique to UNLV: UCLA and the University of Utah offer similar accommodations on their campuses.

Jennifer Gray, UNLV’s assistant director of Housing Administration said that the former dorm rooms were redesigned to accommodate guests from the business and academic sectors.

The suites have only been functional for a few years, but Gray said her department hopes the change will “make a splash and turn a new corner.”

A room in the UNLV Guest Suites costs $46 a night for the general public and $36 a night for guests associated with UNLV.

Each of the 40 suites includes a queen size bed, a sitting area, a microwave, a TV and Wi-Fi.

SUEC can also accommodate groups of up to 200 in group housing, housed in single and double rooms in all four of UNLV’s residence halls.

Group housing costs $25 – $48 per person.

The department also advertises hosting for interns at Las Vegas businesses and organizations at a rate of $16 to $26 per night, billed monthly.

SUEC runs specials for Commencement and Homecoming, when anyone can rent a suite for $36 a night.