Ithaca Hospitality Industry Prepares for College Commencement Season

Commencement Ceremonies are Back as Covid Cases Dwindle

The Lobby at Hotel Ithaca, a downtown local hotel in Ithaca, NY

For Ithaca, NY, a vibrant town in Central New York with two prominent colleges/universities, commencement season brings in people from all around the United States.

For the past two years, the frenzy that typically overwhelms the Ithaca community was not exactly the same, given the widespread Covid-19 pandemic. Now, as the world and Ithaca, NY begins to move toward a sense of normalcy, the hospitality industry in this small college town is ready to welcome families back for the May commencement celebrations.

Stephenie Monroe is the Director of Sales and Events at The Inn at Taughannock Falls. The estate at the Inn at Taughannock Falls is 150 years old and started as a summer house for wallpaper manufacturers from Philadelphia. The property they owned was 600 acres, including the Taughannock waterfall which was located in their backyard. It was eventually sold to New York State, becoming Taughannock Falls State Park. The house remained private, until it was eventually sold in 1925 and became a country inn and restaurant. Seventy years later, the inn also now serves as an event center. Two new owners who are Ithaca College class of '81 alumni took over the inn about seven years ago.

The Inn at Taughannock Falls

For the Inn, commencement weekends in Ithaca are just two weekends out of many filled with visitors and events.

"Commencement season is the first shot of energy into the hospitality bloodstream around here," Monroe said. "So that's really our point of revitalization after the winter, the whole town comes alive, it's our first really big private events, large scale restaurant operations, the first time the hotel is really bleeding over with people, it's so occupied...so that really kicks off the season for us."

These weekends at the Inn are typically at max capacity. With Covid last year, and guests not allowed to attend commencement ceremonies, the inn still remained at max capacity, with families ready to celebrate the graduation milestone in other ways aside from attending the ceremonies.

"With Covid, I think you saw a lot of people interested in being out of town a little bit, being next to the state park and sort of having that ecotourism vibe, as they thought it would help protect them a bit against Covid or just help reduce their exposure to some congestion that may be downtown," Monroe said.

The entrance of the Inn at Taughannock on Gorge Road across from Cayuga Lake and next to Taughannock State Park

Despite people still making their way to Ithaca last May, the Inn at Taughannock, like many other hotels, did struggle in other ways, given the national labor shortage in the hospitality industry.

"There's a lot of people that I think when Covid hit, you know their whole willingness to be in this trade changed," Monroe said. "You saw Covid wipe out an entire sector of employment simply because there was no activity in it and I think that was scary to a lot of people."

Now, with a renewed sense of stability, Monroe said people are beginning to re-enter the hospitality industry, just in time to be fully staffed for commencement 2022.

Hotel Ithaca is just one other prominent hotel in the Downtown area diligently preparing for both Ithaca College's and Cornell University's commencement weekends.

The Hotel Ithaca, downtown across from Coltivare

Greg Conard is the General Manager at Hotel Ithaca. He explained the booking process for families looking to stay in Ithaca during commencement weekends pre-Covid-19.

"Pre the last two years, pre-Covid, they would book up to four years out," Conard said. "So if a parent came in with a student freshman year and heard about our facilities, stayed with us, liked us, wanted to book in the future, we would book all their parents weekends, all of their graduations."

Even today, with Covid still lingering, Conard said, "you really can't find a hotel in the 30-mile radius come these weekends."

When it comes to ways in which Hotel Ithaca is ensuring exemplary hospitality amid Covid-19 and during busy weekends like graduation season, Conard added that the hotel has made several critical adjustments.

"One of the first things we did is revamp our pay wage scale," Conard said. "This was one of the first things we cared about, making sure we were paying a wage that people would want to come back for and work for and we could sustain."

At the Hotel Ithaca, a welcome reception, champagne toast, gala and free breakfast is offered for graduation weekends year after year. Last year, since Ithaca College did not allow guests at the commencement ceremonies, the hotel pivoted to being able to hosting the live Zoom of the graduation. This year despite six guests being allowed per student, they plan on doing the same for those guests who day-of may not be able to attend the ceremonies.

"We really like to celebrate the fact that these people have been here and they're graduating, it's a big deal," Conard said.

The Statler Hotel is one other local hotel at Cornell University. It is a student supported hotel and the "premier hotel that teaches," especially for those students at Cornell studying hospitality. The hotel has 153 rooms, three restaurants, an event space and a lounge.

The Statler Hotel on Cornell University's campus

In terms of The Statler getting back to where it was pre-Covid, Marian Wilson, the Director of Sales and Marketing, explains that the workforce is still not where it used to be and that they are still actively hiring for graduation weekend.

"The workforce is not there, they took so much time off, people decided to change careers," Wilson said. "For us what especially happened is our students that we count on so desperately...we were without students for two years and so all of a sudden we were completely depleted."

Since classes have been back in person the hotel is constantly working to recruit new students or get students who worked in the past back.

Despite these setbacks, for The Statler, commencement weekend this year is something Wilson says they've been looking forward to and preparing for.

"Commencement was obviously put to a halt for a couple of years, last winter we were supposed to have the winter commencement, so it's very exciting to finally have everybody coming to campus," Wilson said. "We are the heart of campus and we will be in the buzz of Cornell graduates and Ithaca College graduates."