Best Western International is going to rejuvenate and re-brand itself with a new name and logo. The 69-year-old hotel chain is very familiar, especially to Americans, and grew with the increases in automobile travel and road-trips we saw in the latter half of the 20th century. It has 4100 properties in 180 countries, many of which are privately owned, many well-removed from “new”. In my experience, Best Western hotel rooms vary from “great” to “below average”; I’ve found Best Western to be the least consistent hotel product I’ve stayed at and, as a rule, avoid staying there for this reason. To its credit, the company has tried to debrand hotels that are below its standards.
The company will be known as Best Western Hotels and Resorts (a soft change admittedly). It will spend $2 billion on renovations and improvements by the end of 2016.
Additionally, it will introduce GLō, a new boutique brand with affordable prices.
Best Western wishes to appeal to younger travelers, especially Millennials, rather than their parents. GLō hotels will all be newly constructed and most to be situated in secondary cities. Each hotel will have 70 guestrooms over four stories, the rooms having multi-functional furniture. Rates are expected to be as low as $90, depending on the market. Each hotel room will cost around $65,000 to build.
This is the second brand Best Western has introduced in two years. Last year, it launched Vib, a more upscale boutique hotel brand with the first to open in Chicago in late summer 2016, with more 12 hotels in the works.
The company is also re-doing its website and has a new mobile app. Next year it will offer a money-back satisfaction guarantee to corporations who book hotel stays for employees at Best Western.
More on this story at USA Today at this link.
