Inn-keeping is probably the most ancient form of the lodging industry, and it retains a very distinctive character. An innkeeper has to be considerably more than a general manager. "There are days I have to make the beds, cook, and do the accounting," Ransom related. 'There are a lot of hours."
Working in a small organization rather than a large one has advantages. "As an innkeeper of a smaller property," said Ransom, "you are involved in all aspects of the operation in a larger organization, you are more concentrated.
"You do get to meet a lot of interesting people, and it is very satisfying when you put on an interesting dinner. There is a lot of ego involved, but it is fairly internalized you know when you have done a good job.
"Inn-keeping is creative. It is very much a reflection of your personality. But there are a lot of hours, it is very demanding, and you probably don't make as much as in another profession. You learn to bite your tongue a lot and not to take everything personally. You have to love the work."
Ransom, who had had some thoughts about eventually owning her own inn, later left Lake Placid Manor to go back to Westin.
Operating a Bed and Breakfast
Barbara Notarius opened her six bedroom Victorian mansion as a bed and breakfast place after she had a baby because she wanted to work from home. She left her job as a psychologist, opened her B&B and also launched a bed and breakfast reservations service.
Common in Europe, this concept of private individuals opening their homes to guests and providing them with lodging and a morning meal is relatively new in the United States. A variation of inn keeping offers bed and breakfasts cozy, comfortable accommodations in a homey environment.
Sometimes, bed and breakfast rates are lower than motel rates sometimes, they are higher, depending on the particular bed-and-breakfast. Often, the homes are the main attraction of-ten, the hosts are.
Many people operate bed and breakfasts to supplement their income and cover the costs of a large house. Others operate their bed and breakfasts like small inns to provide the sole income for a family.
Time-Sharing and Other Innovations
Time-sharing is one of the many innovations going on in the lodging industry. Like so many other innovations, it has had its share of controversy.
Rising out of the ashes of the 1974-1975 real estate recession, time-sharing has grown from less than $10 million in sales in 1972 to about $2.0 billion in 1989. Some two million owners have a share in more than 2,000 time-share resorts worldwide. Nonetheless, time-sharing has always had a somewhat tarnished reputation.
In 1981, when time-sharing expanded into a $ 1.5-billion business and was forecast to reach $2.5 billion in sales by 1982, about 350 companies were involved in time-sharing. But, after the first flush, time-sharing languished; many of the leading companies failed. The weak economy was partly the problem; but such extraordinary growth levels were also hard to maintain, and many who thought time-sharing would be a way to make a quick fortune found it the road to financial ruin. In some areas, questionable business practices tainted the industry.
The concept, now championed by star-studded companies like Disney, Marriott, Hilton, and Sheraton, is being reborn. A zesty combination of real estate, travel, and resort operations, time-sharing (also known as interval ownership) allows consumers to purchase the use of a vacation place for a specified period, for example, one week in December for 25 years.
There are two basic styles. In the first, the individual actually purchases the property for either a designated period of time or in perpetuity, owns the deed, and may resell it or will it. In the second, the individual purchases only the right to use the apartment or condominium for a period of years (typically 20 or more) but does not have ownership interest in the real estate. Current costs range from $1,500 to $25,000 per unit plus annual maintenance fees.
At first glance, you might wonder why anyone would want to commit to spending the same week or two of every year in the exact same spot. Time-sharing has proved appealing for a number of reasons, and there is more flexibility than you might think.
First, vacationers are seeking protection from inflation that may put the cost of owning a vacation home or even taking a traditional resort vacation out of the family budget time-sharing is viewed as a way to control the escalating cost. Second, time-sharing suits people who are concerned about the shortage of desirable accommodations in the most popular resort areas, like the ski resorts of Colorado and sun resorts of Florida and Hawaii. Third, interval owners are not confined to using their own time- share property year after year; trading clubs such as Interval International, South Miami, FL, and Resort Condominium International (RCI), Indianapolis, which have burgeoned into massive travel companies, enable owners to trade their right to use their property with another member, and there are members all over the world.
Partly because of its newness and partly because of its innovative structure, time-sharing has drawn people from virtually every professional background. 'They come from all over," noted a spokeswoman for the American Resort & Residential Development Association, a trade association representing time-share developers. "It is a multifaceted career, needing broad experience from different fields. Almost everything you learned or know would not be wasted."
Specific skills in finance, resort management, public relations, advertising, and marketing are needed due to the broad range of activities associated with time-sharing. There are companies that specialize in planning (accounting, architecture, economic research and feasibility, engineering, environmental and financial analysis, land planning, landscape architecture, law, marina planning, design and layout, market research and feasibility, site selection) development and construction, marketing and sales, financial services, publishing; and tours and travel services.
Moreover, time-sharing is not confined to resort properties. It is being used by city-center commercial hotels as well. Yachts and campsites are also being offered for interval ownership.
Exchange companies like Interval International and RCI are essentially computerized inventory and reservations systems that enable member time-share owners to trade their rights to use their properties with other members. These two companies are also emerging into massive retail and wholesale travel companies in their own right; both companies have introduced in-house tour packaging divisions. Interval International, for example, has Worldex, a travel company generating more than $200 million in sales; RCI operates Endless Vacations Travel.
Condominium Networks
Similar to the concept of time-sharing is the concept whereby owners in condominium communities use the properties for only two weeks of the year (in order to qualify for hefty tax benefits) and give them up for rental by resort management for the other 50 weeks. Companies such as Condo Network, Mission, KS, and Creative Leisure/Condominium Vacations, Petaluma, CA, package programs and provide reservations service. Condominium Travel Associates, Stamford, CT, an entrepreneurial endeavor, provides a national network for member travel agents to book condominiums.
Senior Resort Living Communities
Looking ahead to the "Graying of America," Marriott Hotels and Hyatt International are taking the condo concept a step further by developing quasi-resort/living communities for seniors. Marriott has formed a Senior Living Services division as a new side of hospitality management to build life-care communities, which essentially are full-service resorts designed with health care facilities.
There are two basic product lines. Independent full-service communities will offer residents (who pay an entrance fee plus monthly rental) a full spectrum of care ranging from independent living to assisted living to skilled and intermediate nursing care. Prototype communities, developed nationally under the name of Stratford Court, typically accommodate 300 to 350 people and employ 120 full- and part-time employees. Custom-designed communities are also being built in conjunction with affinity groups such as military organizations and universities.
The second type are catered living communities, developed for seniors who already need some type of assistance with daily lifestyle activities. These communities are being developed nationally under the name of Brighton Gardens. In all Marriott plans to build 150 of both types of communities during the decade and will employ hotel and restaurant, as well as health care, professionals.
Summing Up
The hospitality industry offers perhaps the best opportunity for jobs of any single segment of the travel/transportation/tourism industry. It not only offers sheer numbers of jobs, 1.2 million with
2500 more expected by the end of the decade, but also is a growth industry offering extraordinary opportunity to rise rapidly through the ranks, often starting out with little or no education or experience.
Hotels and chains both can afford vast opportunity for a full spectrum of professionals, ranging from those who are unique to the lodging industry, like front-desk clerks, to those who are more specialized, like architects, interior designers, and energy managers, to those who are common to most businesses, like public relations experts, sales and marketing managers, and administrators.
The hospitality field provides a chance to perform a variety of different jobs during the course of a career yet not be locked into any one area or specialization. It also provides an opportunity to take on enormous amounts of responsibility and to attain a position of power and status (with fairly good compensation in management positions). Working in the hospitality industry offers diversity, challenge, and a good deal of glamour and excitement, but it also requires an enormous amount of hard work, commitment, and personal sacrifice.
