A Brand New Vibe

Talk about good vibrations, at its 2014 North American Convention in Toronto this week, Best Western International launched two major new hotel development offerings that included a “stylish,” new hotel concept and a soft brand – both of which are designed to meet growing demand for new hotel offerings in urban and primary markets.

The announcement certainly created quite a stir, making it clear to the companies hoteliers that Best Western continues to see “historic growth” in the brand’s North American and global development pipeline.

The newest hotel offering is Vib — pronounced Vibe – and it is a stylish and technology-centric hotel concept created to meet the needs of today’s connected traveller. Vib, which is short for “Vibrant,” is a hotel prototype designed for urban markets. Vib’s high-density concept will be cost-effective to build and operate, making it an attractive option for owners and developers.

Best Western also unveiled details of its first soft brand offering — the BW Premier Collection. The BW Premier Collection will consist of carefully selected high-quality hotels in primary markets. All of the soft brand properties will be required to maintain a TripAdvisor rating of four or above and AAA/CAA rating of three Diamond or above.

Hotels within the BW Premier Collection will not be part of the official Best Western membership but they will be listed, and can be booked, on the Best Western web site. Guests will be able to earn and redeem Best Western Rewards® (BWR) points at all BW Premier Collection hotels. BW Premier Collection hotels will also have the option of purchasing additional Best Western brand services such as design and sales support.

Best Western president and CEO, David Kong said: “We recognize that travellers’ preferences are evolving and it’s our job to keep up. The launch of Vib and the BW Premier Collection represents a major move by our brand to meet the growing and shifting needs of our customers and travelers in general.”

Kong continued: “These two initiatives will allow us to reach a new customer base and developer audiences, while still maintaining the unmatched value and customer care that everyone has come to expect from Best Western.”

Both Vib and the BW Premier Collection will be global offerings, targeted at urban and destination markets around the world. Best Western already has nearly 400 properties in the brand’s global development pipeline, with areas of focus being Central and South America, Asia, and the Middle East, and the new offerings are expected to increase penetration in high-demand markets.

For more on the new offerings, go to http://www.bestwesterndevelopers.com .