Texas Tech Students Now Utilizing Overton Hotel and Conference Center

Students enrolled in restaurant, hotel and institutional management classes gain real-life experience at the Overton Hotel and Conference Center. Written by Cory Chandler

The Overton Hotel and Conference Center consists of more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space and is located adjacent to the Texas Tech campus and Jones AT&T football stadium.

Visitors to the Hub City aren’t alone in enjoying amenities at the new 303-room, $66 million Overton Hotel and Conference Center in Lubbock.

Forty Texas Tech University restaurant, hotel and institutional management students are now taking advantage of state-of-the-art facilities through a hotel operations course taught by Department of Nutrition, Hospitality and Retailing chairman Shane Blum.

A ribbon-cutting for the hotel took place Sept. 10.

With a grand total of more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space, the hotel is expected to attract state and regional conferences to Lubbock. It has a business center, fitness center, full-service restaurant, bar and outdoor pool.

Students not only get to experience hotel management in a brand-new facility, but also are utilizing software provided by the Overton Hotel’s owner and operator, 1859 Historic Hotels Ltd.

“Our students now have an advantage over students from other universities,” Blum said. “Very few hospitality programs have hotels associated with them, and none have one as new as the Overton Hotel.”

Part of the largest single private redevelopment project in the nation, the Overton Hotel and Conference Center is a public/private partnership with the City of Lubbock, 1859 Historic Hotels, and developer Garfield Traub Development, LLC.

Other project team members include DLR Group as design architect and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer; general contractors Turner Construction and Lee Lewis Contractors; interior designers Loewen Design Group; and civil engineers AMD Engineering.

The hotel overlooks the adjacent Texas Tech campus and Jones AT&T football stadium.

Click here to view pictures of the classroom