Fairfield Resorts Inc., a Florida time-share company that recently targeted Hawaii for expansion, said today it plans to hire as many as 80 people in the islands for commission-based sales and marketing positions. Sales people wanted
Time-share marketer Fairfield
Resorts is set to hire as many as
80 sales agents in Hawaii
By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comThe move is part of a larger strategy Fairfield has forged with locally based Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, in which Fairfield will bring guests to stay in Hawaii at Outrigger properties, then use the opportunity to sell isle time-share units.
Fairfield said it will hold a recruiting event in Waikiki on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach hotel. The time-share firm normally does its recruiting on a nationwide level, but wants to try to tap a local workforce in Hawaii, said Joe Aylward, senior regional vice president of Fairfield Resorts.
Sales personnel will be based in an oceanfront sales office being built on the second floor of the Outrigger Reef on the Beach, Fairfield said.
Fairfield is a relatively new name to the isles. The firm in July announced its joint venture with Outrigger, which provides Fairfield with its first base in the isles for time-share sales and marketing, Fairfield said. The business is called the Outrigger Resort Club by Fairfield, and is scheduled to start bringing visitors to Hawaii in early December.
Once the Fairfield guests arrive here, the second part of Fairfield's job is to sell time-shares. Marketing agents, tasked with getting customers to attend 90-minute time-share sales presentations, will be stationed at kiosks in the Ohana Reef Towers, Ohana Waikiki Village, Ohana Waikiki Tower, Outrigger Reef and Outrigger Waikiki.
Marketing employees will receive an average of $65 for each booked presentation, though the amount can rise as more presentations are booked, Fairfield said. Potential annual compensation for the job can range from $30,000 to more than $100,000, though it is based on straight commission.
Similarly, sales agents are paid a 10 percent straight commission on time-share sales, though the amount can vary by season. Fairfield said its sales agents can earn from $50,000 to more than $200,000 a year.
The firm's benefits include education tuition assistance, floating holidays, paid maternity leave and home mortgage discounts.
Fairfield has larger designs on Hawaii, and has bought its own time-share properties, including the Kona Hawaiian Village, a developing 33-acre time-share property on the Big Island. More recently, Fairfield bought 76 units at the 154-unit Royal Sea Cliffs Resort in Kona.
Fairfield, which has more than 450,000 time-share owners, was bought by Cendant Corp., owner of Cheap Tickets Inc., in April 2001. Cendant's hospitality revenues, which include Fairfield, rose 44 percent to $671 million in the third quarter from $465 million last year, the company said.