Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.
One of the largest timeshare corporations in the world is partnering with UNLV's Harrah College of Hotel Administration to develop a fullscale timeshare program.
Cendant Timeshare Resort Group, owners of Fairfield Resorts and Trendwest Resorts, has offered use of its professionals as instructors and advisers for the program. The company is helping to market the program and the job possibilities in timeshare to students and has started and funded a student organization called F.I.T. -- The Future's in Timeshare.
"It's (timeshare) another career option for our students, one that pays well and where the working conditions are good and the future is bright," said hotel college professor Bob Woods, who began the timeshare program when he came to UNLV in 2000.
Franz S. Hanning, Cendant president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the partnership would help students pursue a career in the industry and provide the industry with future managers.
The timeshare industry has been growing by about 15 percent every year, Woods said.
More than 3.5 million Americans now own the vacation homes as the industry continues to shed the "negative" perception it earned in the 1960s, Woods said. Whereas the industry was started in the 1960s by real estate speculators trying to fill open condominiums and apartments, it is now primarily driven by major hospitality companies and hotels, Woods said.
Marriott, for instance, did about $1 billion in timeshare sales last year.
"It's an industry that has kind of been picked on in the past, with good reason," Woods said. "It's a different industry now."
UNLV currently offers an introduction class to the timeshare industry, a class in marketing taught by an adjunct timeshare professional, and a capstone course looking at strategic managements issues, Woods said.
With Cendant's help, the university will begin offering a class in timeshare sales in the spring, and hopes to expand the program into a major within the next few years.
The hotel college similarly offers elective courses in other industries within the hospitality umbrella, Woods said, such as in restaurant, gaming, or private club management.
"What we are doing is preparing people to succeed in that industry the same way you would get a journalism degree to be a journalist," Woods said.
The primarily in-kind donations from Cendant easily amount to more than $100,000, Woods estimated. UNLV officials were not able to give a more specific amount and Cendant officials could not be reached.
About 125 students are currently enrolled in timeshare courses, Woods said.
archive
