Hotel Ezra Cornell

Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC) is an annual weekend-long educational conference put on by the students of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration for leaders of the hospitality industry. Composed of educational seminars, leisure activities, and food and beverage events, the program is currently in its 92nd year, predating the School of Hotel Administration and making HEC one of the oldest organizations at Cornell University. The purpose of the weekend is for students to practice the skills they have learned in the classroom and to showcase their talents to industry professionals, many of whom are Cornell alumni.

HEC is planned, managed, and staffed entirely by students. Over the course of one academic year, the student Board of Directors, assistant directors, and managers plan all of the details of HEC, and during the weekend, over 300 students are involved with executing program events. All aspects of the program, including food preparation and service, program marketing, event design, and the turndown service at night, are handled by students, with faculty members acting only as advisers.

HEC has its origins in 1925, when Professor Howard Meek, who would later serve as the first Dean of the School of Hotel Administration, took a group of students to New York City to manage the Hotel Astor for a day. Upon returning to Ithaca, the students decided to hold the grand opening of "The Only Hotel for a Day" to demonstrate that hospitality management could be taught in an academic setting, and organized an extravagant formal dinner party for hospitality industry leaders. Lacking an event space of its own, the inaugural Hotel Ezra Cornell was held on May 7, 1926 in Risley Hall on Cornell's campus. The second year of HEC was a turning point in the history of Cornell's hospitality program, and featured one of the world's leading hoteliers, Ellsworth Milton Statler, as a guest of honor to assess the quality of Cornell's nascent hospitality program. At the main banquet, Statler commented, "I'm converted. Meek can have any damn thing he wants," an moment traditionally held to mark the founding of the School of Hotel Administration.

As the School of Hotel Administration gained prominence, future HECs became more elaborate, with each year adopting a unique theme that informed program events. An example of this practice was HEC 60, which was themed "Diamond Robbery" and styled as a mystery theater. The whole weekend was centered on solving a fictitious diamond robbery, with each social event providing clues. Such themed events were gradually phased out with HEC 77, when the focus of the weekend shifted from socializing to learning and was modeled after existing hospitality industry conferences, with a greater emphasis on guest speakers and panelists.