TIMESHARE GAINING RESPECTABILITY AS A COLLEGE COURSE

Staff Writer

July 29, 1999
With timesharing progressively making strides toward global acceptance as a legitimate industry, the need for serious training for industry professionals is gaining the attention of colleges and universities around the U.S.A. Usually offered as a course in Hotel Administration schools, students are learning that while timesharing is a different business than hotel management, it is a compatible business.

Last fall the University of Las Vegas offered a course on timeshare management that was very successful. According to Jim Beckham, a vice president at RCI Consulting who was one of the class instructors, timesharing is really more of a sales and marketing business than the hotel industry.

Beckham explained that "It takes a lot more to sell a $15,000 timeshare week than it does to market a $150 room" .

In the class, students learned everything from how to decide where to build a timeshare project to understanding how the expectations of timeshare owners differ from those of hotel guests.

Beckham said, "It's important that students understand that timeshare owners expect more from their visits than hotel visitors. While hotel visitors are likely to let little things go, timeshare owners view their units as personal property."

With the current explosion of timeshare projects in Las Vegas, courses such as this become even more important, as there is a lack of qualified personnel in the field available for hire.

In addition, next month, the University of Central Florida will begin teaching the first of three classes aimed at students interested in the growing field of lodging. Orlando's position as the leader in timesharing made it an easy decision when industry leaders wanted to work with a university to develop a series of courses and a textbook on the time-share profession.

There are other universities teaching timeshare courses, but UCF has a chance to be a leader -- some industry types would eventually like to see the university offer a major in the field.

"We are the fair-haired -- if you want to call it that -- chosen one," said Randall Upchurch, the UCF professor who will develop the course.

UNLV might argue with that.