Guidelines for the Centralized Reservation of University Facilities (Memo U2526-035)

Backgrounder

In the post-pandemic era, we are grateful to witness a return to normalcy in our university operations. We are also pleased to observe a significant increase in the number and diversity of activities—academic, co-curricular, cultural, and sports—that are now being held on-site across our campuses. However, this resurgence has also highlighted the need for a more efficient and coordinated approach to facility reservations.

Currently, event organizers must contact multiple offices to inquire about booking specific venues throughout the university. This fragmented process complicates planning, increases the risk of scheduling conflicts, and can contribute to traffic, security, and safety issues due to overlapping events. For example:

• If an organizer wishes to hold a Mass, they need to call different offices to inquire about venues such as the College Chapel, Church of the Gesú, Senior High School Chapel, Junior High School Chapel, or Grade School Chapel.
• For large lectures or symposiums, they may need to contact several venues like Irwin Theater, Singson Hall, Hyundai Hall, Leong Hall, APS Auditorium, AGSB Amphitheater, or Chung Te Auditorium, calling multiple offices to gather information on availability and booking procedures.
• An incident in SY 2024-2025 illustrated the risks of this fragmentation: the Jesuit Province reserved the Church of the Gesú for a memorial mass for Pope Francis on April 25, 2025, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Unbeknownst to the organizers and the University Chaplain’s Office—who handled Gesú reservations—the Gabay reserved Bellarmine Field for a fundraising concert from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on the same day. The close proximity of these events created a scheduling conflict that could have been avoided through a centralized reservation system.

Objective

To address these issues and streamline the current booking process, we are establishing a centralized reservation system—a "one-stop shop"—that will:

• Simplify the venue booking process for all campus activities
• Enable event organizers to access information on available facilities through a single point of contact
• Improve coordination among offices, minimizing scheduling conflicts and overlaps
• Enhance campus safety and security by proactively managing venue use

This initiative aims to make our facilities more accessible and to ensure that campus events are well-coordinated, safe, and successful.

Our New Reservation Process (effective January 1, 2026)

1. For Official Activities of University Units, Schools, Departments, Student Groups, and Offices:
   
   1. All units/offices wishing to reserve university facilities for use in official activities (regardless of which unit owns the facility) are asked to get in touch with the Reservations, Events, Logistics and Job Request Section (RELJRS) of the Central Facilities Management Office, and provide the necessary details regarding their event and their desired venue(s). RELJRS may be reached at local 4263, or via email at reservations.cfmo@ateneo.edu.
   2. RELJRS will do an initial screening of your requirements, including the availability of your desired venue, and the appropriateness of the venue for your desired activity (e.g., limitations as to capacity, possible restrictions on the serving of food, the availability of audiovisual equipment, etc.). This screening will be based on the requirements of the “owners” of the facility (e.g., the University Athletics Office “owns” Blue Eagle Gym, and sets the parameters for its use).
   3. If the activity passes the initial screening, RELJRS will contact the facility owner to get their final approval of the booking.
   4. Once approved, RELJRS will compute the estimated costs that will be charged to the organizers for their confirmation and approval. As is current practice, no fees for the use of facilities will be charged for internal users, but out of pocket costs for utilities, the overtime of custodians and utilities staff, the deployment of additional security personnel, and all other incidental expenses will be charged to the organizing unit.
   5. Once the reservation of the facility has been confirmed, RELJRS will coordinate all logistical and operational requirements of the event organizers as required, following current practice.
   6. NOTE: Any event that involves selling or any form of commercial activity will be covered by the guidelines under “B” below, regardless of the nature of the organizing group.
2. For Activities Organized by External Groups, Affiliates, and Alumni, as well as all selling and commercial activities by any group:
   
   1. Send an email to the University Business Affairs Office (UBAO) via ubao@ateneo.edu and provide the following initial information:
      
      1. Company/Organization and Contact Person (name, email & mobile number):
      2. Purpose of the Event:
      3. Requested Venue(s):
      4. Date(s), Day(s) and Duration (include times of ingress, event proper and egress):
      5. Estimated number of attendees:
   2. UBAO will do an initial screening of the event, in coordination with RELJRS, based on the information provided.
   3. UBAO will compute the costs, which will include fees for the use of the facility, utility charges, manpower charges, and other incidental costs. These will be forwarded as a quotation to the organizers for their perusal and acceptance.
   4. Once the quotation has been accepted, UBAO will proceed with the finalization of the reservation details, in coordination with RELJRS and other concerned offices.
   5. All necessary payments should be settled before the event through UBAO.
3. Facilities Covered by This Policy
   
   1. All University facilities are covered by this policy, including lecture halls, auditoriums, fields and open areas, sports and athletics facilities, chapels, multi-purpose rooms, and classrooms.
   2. The only exceptions to this policy are:
      
      1. Boardrooms, conference rooms, meeting rooms that are located inside offices and are managed by the offices themselves
      2. Areté facilities managed by the Areté Executive Director’s Office 

Inquiries/Clarifications

Questions/clarifications regarding the above policy may be directed to either RELJRS or UBAO at the numbers and/or email addresses listed above. You may also get in touch directly with the Office of the Vice President for Administration at vp-admin@ateneo.edu.

We hope that the above changes in our policies and practices will make our facilities reservation process more user-friendly and efficient for all the members of our university community.