To the casual observer, the chandelier hangings decorating Statler Hall's Park Atrium looked like shining glass -- decorations that would have been at home in the glitz and glam of Las Vegas. It would have taken a keen eye to notice that they were made from the bottoms of plastic water bottles.

This year's Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC), the annual weekend-long, student-run event at the Statler Hotel, focused on America's gambling epicenter. Speakers from the hotel industry addressed the ways in which Las Vegas is responding to the current economic crisis.

"Las Vegas epitomizes the best of what the hospitality industry has to offer -- casinos, hotels, restaurants," said HEC director of public relations Peter Bowen '09. "Given the economy, we knew it would be difficult. We had to be more creative than usual."

Creative touches included recycled flowers and increased face-to-face marketing.

HEC, held April 2-5, is an 84-year-old Hotel School tradition. Hotel School students take over the Statler Hotel and run it from the "back of the house" to front -- hotel jargon for everything from check in to cooking to room service.

"The reason we do this is to show industry leaders that we are the best; we are willing to go the extra step," said Bowen.

Guests were impressed. Art Buser '89, who returned to the HEC for the first time since working "back of house" as a Hotel School student, said the weekend was "Oscar-worthy" and "really brilliant."

The weekend was exhausting but rewarding, said Janine Beydoun '12, a sous-chef and photographer for the event. "Part of the experience of making people happy is what makes me so proud of HEC," Beydoun said.

To see the crowds milling about at Saturday evening's "Midnight Breakfast" cocktail event, happiness seemed a shared sentiment. Sipping wine and nibbling on passion-fruit truffles under white swaths of fabric draped from the atrium ceiling, guests chatted about that day's events and meals.

Christine Natsios '85, director of alumni affairs at the Hotel School, praised that afternoon's "spa" luncheon, describing a "delicious, flavorful" meal of monkfish with vegetables and quinoa salad. Shannon von Burns, another guest, thought that that evening's gala dinner had "nailed it!"

Jill McCoy '09 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.