When the University Guest House & Conference Center (UGH) first opened in October 1999, it was meant to serve the campus and hospital communities as meeting space and accommodations for visitors. However, the growing demand for student housing prompted a prolonged, albeit temporary, repurposing that changed its use for quite a while.

Beginning in the academic year 2021-22, 50 rooms were used to house students due to an inadequate supply of existing living quarters. Over the next two academic years, the main facility with 176 rooms was also converted to student housing. The suite building and the conference level of the main building remained open to accommodate hospital and campus guests. The front desk, convenience store and breakfast areas were all relocated to the lower level.

“We took all our furniture out and replaced it with dorm furniture for students,” said Perry Hacker, executive director of the University Guest House. “Hotels aren’t meant to be lived in, so they’re not really designed for dormitories. All our rooms were wallpapered and since students hang things on the walls, we had to do a lot of rehab.”

Students officially moved out in May 2024 and renovations commenced over the summer. September saw the grand reopening of the Guest House to the public, and the facility is once again available to book meetings and conferences.

“We’re all moved back in. We did a remodel, repainted the lobby and did some updates. Now we’re fully open and back to our regular function,” Hacker said. “We’re at a point, especially with the holidays coming up, that our goal is to have all 200 rooms open by the end of January. Right now we’re probably at like 140, but we’re not at capacity.”

UGH was originally envisioned as part of the 2002 Winter Olympic Athlete Village. Located in Fort Douglas at the intersection of sports, education and health facilities, UGH was created to accommodate campus and hospital visitors. At the time of its opening, there were 135 guest rooms and four meeting rooms.

Three years later during the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the three guest room floors were home to smaller athlete delegations from countries such as India, Iran, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago as well as housing for Olympic officials.

Then, the lower-level meeting space was converted to a clinic where athletes came for drug testing and medical procedures. The clinic was equipped with treatment rooms, and dental offices, along with optometry, pharmacy, X-ray and reception intake areas.

Following the Olympic Winter Games, the facility was converted back to its original intended use as visitor lodging and meeting space.

For the next 13 years, the guest house served the campus and hospital communities. With increasing occupancy, 50 new guest rooms, a ballroom and an expanded lobby were added in 2012 to accommodate demand. In 2019, an additional 30 suite-style rooms and a ballroom in a separate building were added and the main building front entrance was moved to make room for a new breakfast area.

Today, Hacker concluded, “We’ve been turning meetings and conferences away for two years, so now we want to let the campus know we’re open and serving them again.”