By Tim Barker
of the Sentinel Staff
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on July 03, 2000
It was 1981 when Fran Falatek decided enough was enough.
Seeking more than what the typical hotel room offered in the way of space and amenities, the frequent Orlando vacationer
found himself buying four weeks at Vistana, one of the area`s oldest time-share resorts.
Nearly two decades later, Falatek, 52, remains convinced it was the right thing to do.
"I`ve got a son who is 16. The last thing I need is for him to be in the same room with us, especially for
sleeping purposes," said Falatek, the business manager for a school district in Delaware.
He`s not alone. His four weeks are just a drop in a pool of about 600,000 that have been sold throughout the yearsby
Central Florida`s prolific time-share industry.
For those keeping score -- and most hoteliers are -- that`s like adding another 13,000 hotel rooms to the Orlando
area.
Except that they aren`t hotel rooms. And in fact, they offer tourists a way to visit Orlando without setting foot
in any of the area`s 100,000 hotel rooms.
Making matters worse is the fact that Central Florida time-shares are generally built at a faster rate than hotels
-- an estimated 9 percent growth vs. 6.3 percent in 1999, which was a strong year for Orlando hotel construction.
With that in mind, it would seem that hoteliers would look upon time-shares as dangerous competitors with the ability
to steal customers not only for the night, but forever.
But what exists is a rather unusual relationship -- some say symbiotic, others say parasitic -- where time-shares
are allowed access, for a steep price, to the fertile hunting grounds found in hotel lobbies.
For hoteliers, this provides a guaranteed revenue source. A midsized hotel can bring in $15,000 a month in exchange
for a time-share setting up a desk and a couple of chairs in the lobby. Hotels also get free shuttle service to
local theme parks, courtesy of the time-shares.
"I do nothing but pick up a check every month," said Jim Berkley, general manager of the Residence Inn
by Marriott near International Drive.
Still, there are others who prefer to keep time-shares at a distance.
"They are basically feeding off our customer base," said Mel Bettcher, general manager of the Hyatt Orlando
in Kissimmee. "I would rather our customers not have to deal with that when they are here."
But many hoteliers do not view time-shares as a serious threat. They are a distant second to the danger represented
by new hotels.
There is a general belief that people who buy time-shares are looking for something different from what hotels
offer. Even if time-shares didn`t exist, hoteliers say those customers likely would find some other way to avoid
hotels, such as condos, vacation housing rentals or motor homes.
And as long as hotel occupancies remain strong -- 76.3 percent through the first four months of this year -- few
hoteliers are going to complain about much of anything.
"I`ve been concerned about it. I`ve been concerned about Disney building 7,000 more hotel rooms. There`s a
lot to be concerned about," said Randy Larson of Larson Inn Family Suites in Kissimmee. "But so far,
if you look at history, we keep right on going."
Besides, the benefit to hoteliers goes far beyond monthly rent and free shuttle service.
Time-shares may also promise to purchase a chunk of rooms every year from the hotel. Those rooms are used to house
customers brought to Orlando for promotional vacations.
And those so-called OPC booths -- that`s time-share speak for off-property contact -- also serve as a second information
desk for hotel guests.
"Their goal is to sell their time-shares. But when they aren`t doing that, they`re also giving directions
and helping make dinner reservations," said Jeffrey Brinda, general manager of the Sheraton Safari Resort
in Lake Buena Vista.
With so many benefits, it`s easy to see why hoteliers -- even those who don`t like the practice -- find it difficult
to say no.
Like most tourist-corridor hotels, the new Holiday Inn Family Suites in south Orlando has a time-share booth in
its lobby. But that doesn`t mean the hotel is all that happy about it.
"We`re just giving our customers to that market," said Terry Whaples, one of the hotel`s owners. "But
it`s very hard to turn your back on it."
The long-time hotelier sees enough of a threat from that sector that her all-suites hotel was designed with time-shares
in mind.
The suites have separate rooms, allowing parents and children a measure of privacy; shutters on the windows; rocking
chairs; large headboards on the beds; and 3 television sets per suite.
"We`re still building hotel rooms that have two beds side by side," Whaples said. "That`s completely
unnatural. No one sleeps that way at home."
So while there is an apparent acceptance of time-shares by many hoteliers, that doesn`t mean they aren`t watching
closely and doing everything they can to minimize the potential damage. Refrigerators, microwaves, coffee makers
and bigger televisions are just some of the features increasingly making appearances in hotel rooms.
"They can`t ignore them, so they are putting in some of the features the traveler is darn near expecting,
if not demanding," said Edward Xanders, a hospitality consultant based in Tallahassee.
But some hoteliers say time-shares aren`t the only thing pushing hotels in that direction. Other hotels -- particularly
the suite and extended-stay brands -- have forced hoteliers to expand their offerings.
"It`s just normal one-upsmanship in the business," said Louis Robbins, general manager of the DoubleTree
Guest Suites in the Walt Disney World Resort. "One hotel offers coffee, then the next hotel is going to offer
Starbucks."
Regardless of where things stand now, many hotel and time-share observers say the relationship between the two
lodging sectors will only get closer in the coming years.
Already most major hotel companies include time-shares in their list of offerings. That makes it a little easier
for some hoteliers to open their lobbies to their time-share brethren.
"We want to keep people within the family," said Robbins, whose hotel carries a Hilton family flag and
has a Hilton Grand Vacations time-share booth in its lobby.
He likened the relationship to that of an automaker who wants to keep up with a customer`s changing needs and pocketbook:
"They start you off with a Chevy and hopefully one day you will end up with a Cadillac or Corvette."
And it may just be a matter of time before more new hotel projects routinely carry a time-share component, said
Rob Webb, president of Island One Resorts.
The Orlando-based time-share firm recently formed a partnership with Carlson Hospitality Worldwide -- owner of
several restaurant chains and the Radisson hotel brand.
Out of the partnership, Webb expects the company to begin work soon on a time-share/hotel/restaurant complex in
Orlando that pulls together different elements from both companies. Among the services that could be shared by
the hotel and time-share components: the front desk, housekeeping, food services and engineering.
"It will have more in common than just a shared pool," Webb said.
Still, for many hoteliers it comes down to one simple fact -- time-shares are just one more thing competing for
tourists and their dollars.
"I don`t know how many hoteliers would jump up and down and say they are the greatest thing since sliced bread,"
said Bettcher, of the Hyatt Orlando. "Nor would they say that about another new hotel down the road."
####
(c) Copyright The Orlando Sentinel. All rights reserved. To see more of The Orlando Sentinel, or to subscribe to
the newspaper, go to http://orlandosentinel.com/