Upgrading of ITE campuses: Hotel at ITE College West gets makeover to better train students

The Sky Lobby of Hotel West, a fully functional 14-room training hotel that has served as a training facility for 13 years at ITE College West. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Elisha Tushara

UPDATED Dec 30, 2024, 05:00 AM

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SINGAPORE - There is a little-known gem of a hotel in Choa Chu Kang.

It operates on a smaller scale but offers “a higher and satisfactory standard of sleeping comfort and room space, compared with typical hotels ”, according to a guest who stayed there recently.

The guest is Mr Fabrizio Tovaglieri, a senior consultant from a hospitality school in Switzerland who stayed four nights in Hotel West, a vocational training facility at ITE College West.

“As a training hotel, Hotel West provides a warm and humble environment, further enhanced by the hospitality and kindness of the students and staff working there,” he said .

In 2024, the 14-year-old Hotel West was revamped extensively to accommodate an increase in classes. T hree-year Higher Nitec courses in hospitality operations will begin in January 2025.

The enhancements will benefit 150 students pursuing the Higher Nitec course and technical diploma in hospitality and hotel management.

ITE College West also launched its Built Environment Hub in 2024 to better train students in facilities management and built environment courses.

In the first of a three-part series, The Straits Times takes a closer look at how each of the Institute of Technical Education’s three campuses has updated its facilities to keep up with evolving industry needs and deepen student learning.

Hotel West

ITE College West – the second campus to be built, in 2010 – is focused on service and innovation.

Located in Choa Chu Kang, the campus is now home to more than 8,000 full-time and 5,000 part-time students, and about 700 academic and administrative staff.

Hotel West is located on the sixth and seventh floors of Block 2 in ITE College West. Reservations are currently extended only to government agencies, institutional partners, members of the ITE Alumni Association and staff.

It offers one junior suite and 13 deluxe rooms. When it first started operations in 2010, there were 22 rooms.

For its redesign, eight rooms on the lower floor were torn down to make way for a lounge, as well as training and seminar rooms for hospitality students.

A bedroom in Vista Suite of Hotel West at ITE College West on Nov 19. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

All rooms are now fully equipped with amenities such as an LCD TV, in-room safe, coffee-making amenities, and smart technology to control and customise lighting via a tablet.

An ITE spokeswoman told ST that the enhancements were made over almost a year for the training hotel to meet current industry standards, while providing an optimal learning environment for students.

Students are trained to handle daily operations in the front office, executive lounge and housekeeping departments.

Ms Nickole Yap, a lecturer in hotel and food services at ITE College West, said Hotel West provides students with authentic learning experiences.

“Instead of just learning in classrooms, they are able to experience and understand more about how hotel operations look and feel, so it does not come as a shock when they join the industry,” she said.

Students carrying out duties in the executive lounge, which allows multi-functional use and utilises natural sunlight. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Taking up a space previously occupied by five guest rooms, the expanded lounge can now accommodate more guests during breakfast service.

Here, students learn to provide breakfast service like in a regular hotel, as well as in-room dining service. If necessary, the lounge can be partitioned to allow lessons and breakfast service to run concurrently.

Previously located just outside the main hotel area, the reception area has been moved inside for a more conducive training environment.

Ms Xiong Zi Xin, 20, a first-year technical diploma student, told ST that before this improvement was made, it was difficult for her to focus when she was a Higher Nitec student checking in guests in 2023 .

“Previously, when I was doing my front-office module in the reception area, it was easy to get distracted, especially when people walked past or there were noises all around,” she said.

The reception area, enhanced with TV screens behind the counters to facilitate training. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Apart from updating the reception counters to allow lecturers and students to observe lessons better, TV monitors have been installed behind each counter to aid in teaching. This enhancement is aligned with training standards of the WorldSkills Competition, a global vocational skills competition for youth.

The lower floor has five seminar rooms with flexible layouts and interactive panels for lecturers to use, instead of projectors and white boards.

Hotel West’s seminar room, which uses cameras to track attendance. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Two of these rooms are designed for in-person and remote learning, and can function separately as smaller classrooms or be combined to accommodate more students.

The new Sky Lobby outside the main hotel area is designed as a multi-functional space for guests and students. It also serves as an area for students to have project discussions.

Guests, staff and students will be able to enjoy takeaway refreshments from the bar in the centre of the space.

“When we do not want to stay in a classroom where different groups are having project discussions at the same time, we will step out to the reception or Sky Lobby area for a change of setting,” said Ms Xiong, adding that diploma students are assigned more project work compared with Nitec and Higher Nitec students.

Some of the bathrooms in the guest rooms are equipped with smart glass walls, which can switch from being completely transparent to semi-opaque.

When these bathrooms are unoccupied, the transparent setting makes it more conducive for students to observe and learn how bathrooms are cleaned.

The deluxe room (showing bathroom with privacy screen off) of Hotel West. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Without this feature, students would have to crowd around the bathroom entrance to learn.

Additional updates expected in the near future include a self-check-in kiosk to enhance operational efficiency.

Launch of the Built Environment Hub

Students in facilities management and built environment courses in ITE College West are trained in areas such as fire and piping systems, and energy and air-conditioner management.

Mr Ng Wee Loon, manager and lecturer at the campus’ department of facilities management and engineering, supervised the creation of the Built Environment Hub. He pictured it as a space where students could train in these different areas together. Previously, students had to report to separate rooms or labs. With separate training facilities, it was harder for students to see how all these different skillsets come together to successfully operate a building.

The Built Environment Hub at ITE College West, which is used to conduct practical lessons for students training in facilities management and built environment courses. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

Thus the Built Environment Hub came about in September 2024, a 1,520 sq m space located on the sixth floor of Block 6. It houses two incidental classrooms and nine training labs for different skill areas, all connected to each other. Automatic sliding doors partition off each space from the others.

An overview of the Built Environment Hub at ITE College West. PHOTO: INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

The nine labs host training for students learning about smart facilities, energy management, residential air-con, commercial air-con, fire systems mechanical systems, piping systems, electrical systems and electrical diagnostics.

The Built Environment Hub is a 1,520 sq m space located on the sixth floor of Block 6. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

“I call it a big playground, because this is where students can learn and make mistakes before they join the industry or go for internships,” said Mr Ng, adding that the hub took almost a year of construction to be completed, and was designed with input from trainers and lecturers. 

He said that they had done market research to check whether the equipment in place meets industrial needs and prepares students for future technologies.

“Our teaching staff spend most of the time in the facility with the students. So this is first-hand feedback that we can get from them... These labs are designed with their input, and fulfil their wish lists.”

The nine labs host training for students learning about smart facilities, energy management, residential air-con, commercial air-con, fire systems mechanical systems, piping systems, electrical systems and electrical diagnostics. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

Key training equipment includes a video wall that mimics an actual fire command centre in commercial buildings. It displays information about the building management system and various training equipment in the hub.

Functional features in the hub – such as the CCTV system, auto sliding doors and roller shutters – are also used as training equipment for students.

A mock-up bathroom facilitates training in piping and plumbing systems, and a range of fire protection systems, among other areas.

A mock-up bathroom facilitates training in piping and plumbing systems and a range of fire protection systems, among other areas. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

Mr Ng added that the department is in constant communication with industrial partners, especially internship companies, to ensure training keeps up with technological requirements and is ahead of the industry. For example, video analytics is being installed in the hub’s CCTV cameras in December 2024, and the curriculum will be updated for students to learn to use this new feature.

Ms Lim Xin Yi, 22, a final-year Higher Nitec in facilities management student at ITE College West, remembers what it was like when she was using the previous individual labs while she was pursuing the Nitec in built environment.

Ms Lim Xin Yi (middle), 22, in the Built Environment Hub at ITE College West. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

“When working in isolated rooms, you don’t get a sense of what is happening elsewhere. With this new space, you get an overview of how all the different systems work together, and how they are integrated,” she said.

Elisha Tushara is a correspondent at The Straits Times, specialising in Singapore’s education landscape.

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