Wivenhoe House Hotel

It’s all about the experience at Essex and real hands-on practical knowledge is important to succeed in your hospitality or events career. Wivenhoe House is the 4* hotel where our students gain those all-important skills.

Wivenhoe House is situated on Essex’s Colchester campus. A five minute walk from the centre of campus and accommodation, the hotel is next-door to the Edge Hotel School departmental offices.

Wivenhoe House is a 40-bedroom country house hotel with a brasserie restaurant and a busy conference and events function that hosts over 300 events and 50 weddings annually. Here you will spend some weeks throughout your course working real shift patterns alongside a team of staff. You would typically complete four or five shifts per week when you have a hotel week, which may involve early or late shifts.

You will be dealing with real customers, events and working demands to give you the type of experience that employers are impressed by and that will help you in your future career.

Inside the hotel

All of our courses involve time working in the hotel. Each course will have time spent working in different departments within the hotel: Conference and Events, Kitchen and Restaurant and Front of house. On our Hospitality Management and Hotel Management degrees you will also spend time working in housekeeping of bedrooms. Whichever course you choose, your experience at Wivenhoe House will provide an insight into three key areas of hospitality – bedrooms, conference and events, and dining.

Bedrooms

As a student at the Edge Hotel School you will gain experience in reception, which includes reservations and room bookings. Students on our two-year Hotel Management and three-year Hospitality Management courses will also gain experience within housekeeping of bedrooms.

The original Wivenhoe House building is an 18th century Grade II listed house with 16 individual suites and bedrooms. The traditional main house is complemented by the modern garden wing which is home to 24 contemporary bedrooms. Among the bedrooms are rooms sponsored by some of our industry supporters – BaxterStoreyExclusive CollectionHiltonMilsomsMarriott and Portico.

This means that during your rotations in the 4* hotel you will not only gain experience of different room types – from the grand individual suites, to the more uniform rooms in the garden wing – you will also gain experience in rooms that are decorated and hosted by other organisations and hotels, giving you a unique insight and a link with that particular brand.

Conference and Events

All Edge Hotel School courses include rotations within the conference and events department. If you are studying for one of our events management degrees you will also gain experience of organising your own event in the final level of your course, with the expert assistant of the Wivenhoe House conference and events team.

Wivenhoe House typically hosts events within the lounges in the main house, in the 3 conference suites in the garden wing and in the brasserie restaurant. As a student at the Edge Hotel School you will work on real-life weddings, corporate functions and meetings and private parties and events in the 4* setting of Wivenhoe House.

Dining

As a student at the Edge Hotel School you will gain experience in both the restaurant and kitchen departments at Wivenhoe House. You will gain experience in the brasserie restaurant, work on afternoon teas and be involved with private dining functions. 

The brasserie was refurbished in 2017 and Edge Hotel School students worked alongside an Edge Hotel School alumni, who is now working in interior design, to create the new design.

Hotel tour

“The facilities at the University of Essex are amazing – I immersed myself as much as I could. You just have to throw yourself at it.”
George Hiley-Jones Front OFFICE MANAGER, THE LANESBOROUGH LONDON 2017 graduate