How Western Colorado University Built a Better Reservation Experience in 90 Days

Founded in 1901 as the first college on Colorado’s Western Slope, Western Colorado University is a public university located in Gunnison, Colorado, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Western combines the personalized experience of a smaller university with more than 100 areas of study, giving students opportunities to build close relationships with faculty while pursuing hands-on learning across a wide range of academic and professional programs.

Western’s location is an important part of the university experience. Surrounded by the mountains and public lands of the Gunnison Valley, the university offers students opportunities to extend learning beyond the classroom while becoming part of a close-knit campus community. That combination of academics, experiential learning, and an adventurous setting has helped shape Western’s identity for more than a century.

A Concept3D client since 2018, Western Colorado University (WCU) has used Concept3D’s Interactive Maps, 360° Tours, and Events Calendar for years. So when the university began looking for a better way to manage room reservations, turning to a familiar partner made sense, especially as its existing system struggled to meet the university’s needs.

With their previous system, campus spaces were difficult to find, reserve, and manage. WCU’s large University Center alone hosts hundreds of events each year, and that volume grows significantly when factoring in spaces managed by other departments, including athletics. The existing reservation system was clunky, difficult to use, and challenging to scale. Limited customer support only added to the frustration – a constant hiccup that inspired the change to something new. 

WCU needed a solution that was more intuitive, easier to customize, and capable of growing beyond the University Center to support additional departments, buildings, and spaces across campus.

With Concept3D Room Reservations, WCU made the switch in just 90 days.

When it came to switching platforms, ease of use for users was crucial to Western Colorado University’s decision. Staff needed to add rooms easily, customize request forms, coordinate service providers, and manage approvals. At the same time, faculty, staff, students, and external visitors needed a straightforward way to find and request the right space.

The previous platform made even specific requests such as reserving an individual room or court more complicated – its form-first approach is beneficial for users familiar with the campus, but frustrating for those who would like to reserve a space but are unable to do so because they do not know the layout of the campus. 

Concept3D Rooms offered Western Colorado University a more intuitive reservation process, with the flexibility to support more spaces and departments over time. This is backed by Concept3D’s discovery-first approach, where the question and workflow to solve are: What do you need? → Which spaces meet those needs? → Is this space available? → Request it.

“I’ve heard from multiple faculty and staff members about how much easier this is to use than our previous system.”

Tyler Jacobs, University Center Coordinator

WCU’s second concern when pivoting was ensuring that all their data from the previous platform stayed intact. Moving room reservation platforms meant transferring active bookings, configuring spaces, training users, and preparing the university for launch, all without disrupting upcoming events.

Some of WCU’s reservations were booked as far out as next fall – hundreds of events that would need to be accurately shifted.

Working closely with the Concept3D team, WCU imported its room and user data in bulk, established a strong foundation for its core administrators, and then expanded access to additional users. Instead of manually rebuilding every space, the team could focus on reviewing details and polishing the experience.

Because Interactive Maps were already part of the university’s digital infrastructure, adding Concept3D’s Room Reservations software felt like a natural extension.

“Having another Concept3D product already in place definitely helped make the choice a little bit easier, knowing that those two were going to be able to work together,” Allen said.

Instead of introducing another disconnected platform, the university saw an opportunity to create one connected digital ecosystem where events, maps, and tours complemented one another, allowing students, prospects, visitors, and other users to move effortlessly from discovering an event to finding its location to discovering other parts of the campus without major overhaul. 

Hands-on training also helped the team move quickly. Administrators could create test rooms, events, and questions inside the platform without mixing them into active reservations. That gave staff the freedom to explore the system, build confidence, and prepare other users for launch.

The result was a complete transition in only 90 days.

“The Concept3D team was very responsive and attentive, which made the transition incredibly smooth. Having the tools available to import our data—instead of manually creating every room—made the process much easier.”

Michael Henry, Application Administrator for Student Services

“It’s been night and day from our previous platform. Before, I felt like we didn’t have support. Now, I can email the Concept3D team and get a response almost right away.”

Tyler Jacobs, University Center Coordinator