Competition from the Grand Hotel

Those who are members of the UCLA Faculty Center will know that there was a membership meeting to review the current business plan of the Center and negotiations with the folks in Murphy Hall about a formal, contractual relationship.

One thing that came out - in response to an audience question - is that the Faculty Center is estimated to have lost 25% of its revenue to the UCLA Grand Hotel, according to the Center's new general manager.

The Grand Hotel - as can be seen on the left - is aggressively trying to solicit business, as can be seen from the emailed ad reproduced below. It's not clear, however, given the claimed tax-exempt status of the hotel, that someone attending a performance at UCLA meets the standard of "university business" to which the hotel is supposed to be confined. That issue may yet be tested.

In any case, the Faculty Center's manager expressed the hope that there might be some kind of modus vivendi accord eventually negotiated between the Grand Hotel and the Faculty Center. The Faculty Center, because of its size limitation, cannot handle very large conventions and could refer inquiries about them to the Grand Hotel. In exchange, small event inquiries received by the Grand Hotel might be referred to the Faculty Center.

Seems like an idea worth pursuing.