PHOENIX — Best Western Hotels & Resorts has announced its eleventh brand — and newest soft brand — BW Signature Collection by Best Western. With this new product, Best Western now offers soft-brand options to hotel owners in most chain scale segments, including upper-economy and mid-scale (SureStay Collection by Best Western), upper-mid-scale (BW Signature Collection by Best Western) and up-scale and upper-up-scale (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,” says David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “No one is offering a soft brand in the upper-mid-scale 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.”
The first two hotels to join BW Signature Collection by Best Western are Killington Mountain Lodge in Vermont and Brooklyn Way Hotel in Brooklyn, N.Y. Hotels joining this new brand will be on-boarded in a rapid ramp-up, with near-immediate access to Best Western’s revenue-management systems, tradeshow and sales support, marketing programs, BWR loyalty program, global reservation system and more.
While targeting rapid growth for its most recent soft brand, Best Western will be selective and focus on quality over quantity. To qualify, properties must maintain a TripAdvisor score of at least 4.0, in addition to meeting other standards. Best Western anticipates 100 hotels to be part of the BW Signature Collection by Best Western pipeline by 2020.
