Schools

No Brand Name for Kent State Hotel

Kent State Foundation board opts not to link the new hotel with a national chain

No brand name will be attached to the planned for downtown Kent.

The Kent State Foundation Board of Directors recently chose to build the hotel as an independent operation rather than partner with a national hotel chain.

Whether the hotel would be connected to a large brand — and to which one — has been the subject of debate and negotiations for the past several months between the Kent State Foundation and its partner in the project, Columbus developer The Pizzuti Companies.

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Gene Finn, executive director of the Kent State Foundation and vice president for institutional advancement, said the foundation board decided to go independent for a number of reasons.

"One, having a flag would not permit us to name the hotel as we wanted – The Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center," Finn said in an email.

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The partners had most recently been in talks with two different potential brands for the four-story, 95-room hotel, which is expected to carry a price tag of between $15 million and $16 million.

Finn said a franchise agreement with a hotel chain would have locked the foundation into a 10-year contract that could have cost as much as $250,000 a year.

"Both of which were problematic as far as the board was concerned," he said. "It is important to understand that the hotel will be managed by a professional hotel management company and will have a national reservation system. By going this route, we will be able to have a hotel that is more boutique in style and Kent State branded, all of which is important to the foundation, the city and the university."

A groundbreaking ceremony for the hotel and 300-seat conference center is scheduled for Sept. 19 at the construction site near the intersection of Erie and South DePeyster streets in downtown Kent.


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