Auburn University is opening a concierge-level teaching hotel with the support of Ithaka Hospitality Partners, the property’s operating manager, and Oracle Hospitality Opera Cloud Service. The Laurel Hotel & Spa is part of Auburn’s Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center.
The destination will support the university’s hospitality management program. Students will first learn Opera Cloud in their coursework and apply this knowledge with hands-on training in the hotel when it opens later this year.
“The Laurel Hotel & Spa will offer groundbreaking technical advantages for students, staff, and visitors alike,” said Hans van der Reijden, founder and CEO, Ithaka Hospitality Partners, in a statement. “Opera Cloud will provide the property with industry-leading technology to run efficiently, but even more importantly, will deliver an immersive educational experience that blends hands-on learning with cross-functional coursework to prepare students to be leaders in the hospitality industry.”
The entire Laurel environment will be specially designed and built for student learning. The Laurel Hotel & Spa will have 16 rooms, 10 suites, six residences, a spa, a fitness studio, a rooftop pool and a yoga pavilion. Guests also will have access to 1856, a culinary residence; a microbrewery; a rooftop terrace and garden; culinary laboratories; coffee bar and roaster; and Hey Day Market Food Hall.
“With Opera Cloud integrated throughout lodging and IT related courses in the curriculum, hospitality management students not only gain a competitive learning advantage over their peers at other institutions, but also have the distinction of studying the platform across functional, operational and strategic goals of The Laurel Hotel & Spa,” said Alecia Douglas, associate professor of hospitality management, Auburn University College of Human Sciences. “Such an experience is above and beyond the passive learning from the current mode of instruction and gives students first-hand knowledge of the technology thereby making abstract concepts much more relatable.”