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In Partnership with Academia, Shaner Hotel Group 
Will Build a 120 room Hotel on the Campus of the 
University of Delaware

 
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (May 23, 2001) - In a unique partnership between business and academia, Shaner Hotel Group has announced plans to build a 120 room hotel on the campus ot the University of Delaware, Newark, Del. The hotel will be adjacent to the Clayton Hall Conference Center and will be a learning facility for students and faculty of the university's hotel, restaurant and institutional management department.

"This is a natural extension of our business expertise," according to Plato Ghinos, vice president of development. Shaner Hotel Group, founded by Lance and Fred Shaner in 1983, owns and or operates hotels in 24 states, and specializes in buying, developing, re-positioning and re-branding hotel properties.

"This offers an exciting opportunity for us to broaden our goal of developing new and innovative business partnerships, and at the same time, share our business expertise with the next generation of hoteliers," Ghinos said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Shaner will develop and manage the hotel in partnership with the university. "The hotel's general manager will be a member of the university faculty," he added, "and University of Delaware students will be able to utilize the facility as an active learning environment."
 

Fred DeMicco, Ph.D, chair of the university's hotel, restaurant and institutional management program, stated that the hotel will provide the campus' first active hands-on job training program for students interested in hotel and restaurant management.

According to DeMicco, the property will be an upscale "branded" facility that caters to group, business and leisure travelers, and will complement existing campus conference facilities, which include 22 meeting rooms, 7,700 square feet of exhibit space and a 500 seat auditorium within the Clayton Hall Conference Center. Other event facilities on the Newark campus include the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, and are 


Dr. Fred DeMicco 
Chair for the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Instititutional Management at the University of Delaware
designed for sports events, concerts, large ceremonies, trade shows and conventions.

Ghinos said that potential guests will include corporate and academic conference attendees as well as parents, alumni and friends of the university. Ghinos noted that the university conference facilities serve many corporate clients within the Newark and Wilmington areas.

According to Ghinos, Shaner is a company that actively seeks new and innovative development projects. It has other hotel development projects underway, including a 15 acre hotel, restaurant and corporate office complex near the Pennsylvania State University campus in State College. He noted that Shaner executives are frequent lecturers in the hotel and restaurant management programs at Penn State.

"We feel that this is a natural business relationship for our company," he said.

"We have always been leaders in training our own associates," he said, "and now we can showcase our leadership style in an academic environment."

Shaner is the 21st largest owner/operator of hotels in the U.S., with 54 hotels and nearly 8,000 rooms in 23 states. Eleven different hotel brands are represented in the Shaner portfolio, which has an asset value in excess of $500 million.

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Contact:
Shaner Hotel Group
http://www.shanerhotels.com

Also See In Academic Association with École Hôteliére de Lausanne, The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai Offers Bachelor of Science (BSc) Degree in International Hospitality Management / April 2001 
Ernst & Young Creates University Hotel Development Service / Feb 2001 
Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management Offers Hospitality Finance and Hospitality Research in the Master of Hospitality Management MHMOnLine Program this Trimester / April 2001 


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