UCLA Advertises Its Conference Facilities and Notes that the Events It Hosts Don’t Have to be Education-Based

UCLA Hospitality and Catering has a Facebook page with videos advertising its facilities for conferences.  http://www.facebook.com/uclameetings There is no mention of such conferences being required to have a UCLA connection.  For example, one video touts the attraction by UCLA Hospitality and Catering of a meeting of the Southern California Chapter of Meeting Planners International (MPI), a trade group of event planners.  The group’s website describes its mission:

MPISCC is a member centric organization focusing on professional development for the meetings and events industries. Established in 1979, MPISCC is recognized as an award-winning chapter with approximately 700 members serving the Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, and greater Los Angeles areas. As a volunteer organization, MPISCC relies on its members to craft, guide, and direct the local meetings industry in support of MPI’s overall vision and mission.

Source: http://mpiscc.org/about/mission/

 

We note for the umpteenth time that the planned UCLA Hotel-Conference Center cannot take commercial business.  And we continue to note the various tax problems that arise if UCLA competes for commercial events with hotels and other private enterprises.  Of course, the Regents were advised not to worry about such matters when they approved the hotel project.  We advise the opposite.

Below is the video in which the MPI rep says they are trying to show their members different conference facilities in the LA area and that UCLA does not confine its conferences to those that are “education based”: