Friday, Oct. 6, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.
UNLV is developing a curriculum in the management of timeshare properties as part of its hotel management school.
Robert Woods, who has written more than 75 articles and three textbooks on management and the hospitality industry, has joined the faculty of UNLV's William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration.
Woods is writing a textbook with another timeshare expert and plans four or five courses in varying aspects of the fast-growing industry. Woods is planning classes in law, marketing, sales and finance as they relate to vacation homes, said Tom Jones, chairman of UNLV's Department of Hotel Management.
Jones explained that the timeshare curriculum would be a discipline within hotel administration, which includes special courses in culinary arts management, gaming, recreation and leisure studies and meeting management.
"It's a $6 billion-a-year industry, it's growing and one of the major markets is right here in our own back yard," Jones said of the timeshares.
Woods said most of the major resort companies have timeshare or vacation ownership home divisions and desperately need management trained in that specialty.
Among the major national players that have a Las Vegas presence in timeshare are Marriott and Hilton. Marriott is considered the largest timeshare developer in the world with 27 properties built in 15 years.
Several other companies have built or are building timeshare resorts in Las Vegas. Timeshares enable buyers to acquire increments of time at a property, either in the same week every year or through "points" that give buyers more flexibility in the time they spend at the property.
Jones said the plan to develop a timeshare curriculum began after a single course was offered at UNLV in fall 1998 by John Sweeney and Richard Ragatz of RCI Consulting Inc. The course was a success, but Sweeney and Ragatz weren't able to keep up with the demands of teaching it every semester.
Meanwhile, other timeshare companies were asking the school for interns and graduates to fill positions.
Enter Woods, who was a professor and the director for the study of lodging operations at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. Jones approached Woods about developing a curriculum for UNLV. Realizing that Las Vegas was one of the nation's leading timeshare markets and that he could break new ground in educating people about the industry at a school recognized for resort management studies, he accepted.
The curriculum is being developed gradually, but there's already a growing demand for graduates who have timeshare expertise.
"It's (the industry) growing at a rate of 15 percent a year and it can't find enough qualified people," said Carl Berry, managing director of Resort Development Advisors LLC, San Francisco, a developer and consultant to the timeshare industry.
"Right now, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is reaching out to various hotel schools around the country to collaborate on courses and develop minors and majors in timeshare management," he said.
Berry said UNLV and the University of Central Florida in Orlando -- the largest timeshare market in the country -- already have the best start on educating for the industry. He said courses that have been taught at those schools already surpass those offered at Purdue, Cornell and Florida International universities.
Washington D.C.-based ARDA has been working to stimulate interest in the specialization of education in timeshare by encouraging members to invite professors for summer internships.
"They'll ask a professor to come for two or three weeks and observe behind the scenes," Berry said. "This helps them see the differences between timeshare and traditional hotels and resorts."
Berry explained that the biggest difference between timeshare properties and conventional resorts is that the staff works directly for an owner and not just an occasional guest.
"Providing service for a membership kind of base requires a different mindset," Berry said. "If a graduate has the psychological makeup to enjoy working for owners, he may have greater success than someone who functions well at the Mirage."
Berry said universities that have taken on a timeshare emphasis are finding that research opportunities are wide open. The relatively young industry has little beyond statistical data published about it.
Woods said graduates with a timeshare background are finding that their skills are in demand -- and they usually end up working in a pretty nice area if they go to work at a timeshare resort.
"If you're looking at living and working in Pittsburgh or Hawaii, where are you going to choose?" Woods asked. "Students who have a background in timeshare are in such demand that they're making $50,000 a year their first year out of school and $75,000 a year their second. A student can do very, very well in this industry."
Alvi Gonzalez-Romero is among the students who have taken timeshare classes and is on track to take a job in the industry when she graduates in December.
Gonzalez-Romero, a nontraditional student at 54, said she completed an internship at the Carriage House timeshare property in Las Vegas and has an offer to return when she graduates.
"I was never treated like an intern," Gonzalez-Romero said of her experience. "For me, it was informal but informative. I learned what goes into managing a timeshare property."
Gonzalez-Romero said there's little difference in day-to-day operations of timeshares and hotel properties, but it was important for her to learn about real estate terms, the financing of mortgages and property sales.
"Carriage House is a small property and I was willing to give up a large salary to be in such a comfortable environment," Gonzalez-Romero said. "But students looking for big money should look at the timeshare courses because there's lots of opportunity."
UNLV also has an 18-member student chapter of ARDA which invites timeshare executives to campus for informal presentations on various aspects of the industry.
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