Training hotel revamp a boost for lessons

ITE College West also launches Built Environment Hub to better train students

- Elisha Tushara

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, 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. Three-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.

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.