STA Travel’s UCLA office was closed this summer after spending several years in Ackerman Union, and will be replaced by the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center in March.
STA Travel leased a space owned by Associated Students UCLA for several years.
The agency, which assists students in booking low-priced travel arrangements, closed its UCLA location in June, said Rich Delia, the chief financial officer for ASUCLA.
Despite initial reports that STA Travel would return to the Ackerman space, construction has been undergoing there for a second branch of the Blood and Platelet Center. The main branch is located on Gayley Avenue in Westwood Village.
Delia added that he expects the Blood and Platelet Center to open some time in March.
Despite the closure of STA’s UCLA location, the agency operates at a close-by location on Westwood Boulevard at Le Conte Avenue.
Ashley Gillig, the manager of STA Travel’s Westwood Village location, said the company had suffered from the “Starbucks effect,” in which too many locations were within a short radius.
Though the Westwood location does not cater as exclusively to UCLA students and staff as the Ackerman Union spot did, Gillig said many students continue to utilize STA’s services.
“There are six travel advisors who work here, and each of us help students receive discounts, whether they are studying abroad or going on a spring break trip,” Gillig said.
The most popular spots continue to be European cities such as London and Paris, she added.
Gillig said she hopes to continue to encourage students to visit STA Travel, and added that the agency is offering a three-month all-expenses-paid internship this summer.
Though the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center already has a thriving location in Westwood Village, the expansion of an additional branch in Ackerman Union creates enormous potential for new donors, said Linda Goss, the center’s supervisor for donor recruitment.
“The Ackerman Union location will be extra convenient for the thousands of UCLA students, faculty and staff who walk through campus each day,” Goss said.
The center will have eight beds for blood donations and two beds for platelet donations and will rely on funding from the UCLA Medical Center, she added.
A number of incentives exist for UCLA students, faculty and staff to donate blood.
Students receive coupons to popular eateries such as Chipotle and In-N-Out, as well as movie tickets. UCLA employees receive paid time off if they donate blood, Goss said.
Additionally, Goss said the new branch’s proximity to campus also allows greater outreach to student groups.
“We’ll ask student groups to sponsor blood drives in the donor center, and we’ll raffle off big prizes to organizations with considerable participation,” she said.
Goss also said the new center should open in mid-March, but it could be pushed back to spring quarter depending on the construction time line.