The Holmes Student Center Hotel, established in 1967, is home to 80 guest rooms and suites.

“We have twin, queen and king bedrooms, two one-room suites and a two-room suite,” hotel manager Joyce Johnsonsaid, in a tone indicating she has said the line a thousand times but still likes telling someone new. “I’ve been here 18 years and have managed it for nine, so obviously, I enjoy the place.”

Johnson said the hotel gets most of its business during the summer.

“Summertime is when all the big conferences come through. It starts to get busy around April. The rooms all fill up for the conferences.”

The cost is comparable to other hotels, with rooms typically costing between $65 and $70 a night.

“The revenue from the hotel goes directly to the student center,” Johnson said.

Some of the money will be used to renovate the 12th floor of the building, which contains nine rooms. The hope is to transform these rooms into some of the best hotel rooms in DeKalb, Johnson said.

“We will be putting in new tile and sinks, and we are redoing the front of the elevators and the hallways,” she said. “They should really be some nice rooms when we’re done.”

In addition to serving the public, the hotel also has served as a home to many NIU students because of a shortage of residence hall rooms at the beginning of the fall semester.

“Most liked it better, especially the men. It seemed like some of the girls wanted to get settled in their dorm rooms, but the majority liked it better. A lot were upset to leave,” Johnson said.

Johnson said her employees also like to work at the hotel.

“They tend to stay a long time at this job. I’ve had some of my employees continue to work here after they’ve graduated. We hire high school students, NIU students and Kishwaukee students. We are one of the only places on campus that needs workers 24 hours a day,” she said.

One employee, Paula Bandy, a senior marketing major, said she has enjoyed working at the hotel since she was 15.