Best Western Adds Upper Midscale Soft Brand
Best Western Hotels & Resorts has just launched a new soft brand for the upper midscale segment – BW Signature Collection by Best Western. The hotel chain now offers soft brand options to hotel owners in most chain scale segments - upper economy and midscale (SureStay Collection by Best Western), upper midscale (BW Signature Collection by Best Western) and upscale and upper upscale (BW Premier Collection).
“An increasing number of hotels in North America and overseas are going independent because they want flexibility and freedom from brand requirements, but they are also looking for an alternate source of business, a loyalty program and a robust reservation system,” said David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western Hotels & Resorts.
“No one is offering a soft brand in the upper midscale segment right now, so by diversifying our offerings in the space, it is clearly an opportunity for us to capture market share and achieve scale,” Kong said. “At the same time, we are happy to provide a home, and serve as a resource, to high quality independent hoteliers who have great potential to succeed. We believe this is a win-win.”
The first two hotels to join BW Signature Collection by Best Western are Killington Mountain Lodge in Killington, Vermont and Brooklyn Way Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. Hotels joining this new brand will have access to Best Western’s revenue management systems, tradeshow and sales support, marketing programs, loyalty program and global reservation system.
“Best Western is a trail-blazer in the soft brand space. Since launching our BW Premier Collection in 2015, and last year, SureStay Collection, we’ve seen incredible results, with continued opportunity to grow,” said Ron Pohl, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “We anticipate a successful launch of BW Signature Collection by Best Western and look forward to welcoming many more independent hoteliers to our family in the near future.”
While Best Western is looking forward to rapid growth for its newest soft brand, it says it is being selective, focusing on quality over quantity. It anticipates that 100 hotels will be in the BW Signature Collection or its pipeline by 2020.
