Best Western on the move in Asia

THE Best Western group in Asia will see significant changes in the next 12 months as it refreshes its brand, enhances products and embarks on a vigorous expansion programme.

Glenn de Souza, vice president international operations, Asia, said the philosophy of the 62-year old Phoenix, Arizona-based company was changing, and nowhere more emphatically than in Asia.

The aim is to make Best Western one of the most admired hotel brands in Asia by focusing on service standards and expanding its managed hotels in all major destinations, including Thailand, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam. The most recent opening on June 15 saw the launch of the four-star Best Western Pearl River Hotel Haiphong.

“I think we have been successful because, apart from the lowest management fees in the industry, we don’t over-promise and we deliver what we do promise,” said de Souza.

Since 2002, Best Western has expanded in Asia from six hotels to 120 hotels and 20,000 rooms in 16 countries. By 2010 those numbers will increase to 200 hotels and 50,000 rooms.

Both the Best Western core brand and the more upmarket Best Western Premier brand will see significant improvements in their service standards and hardware.

Best Western has kept its position as the world’s strongest hotel brand in 2008, offering the most hotels and hotel rooms under one umbrella brand name.

The company is actively looking for suitable hotels to manage. “In the United States Best Western has always been a good mid-scale brand, with 85 percent average occupancy and a room rate of about US$100. When we brought the brand to Asia it was sometimes difficult to convince owners what Best Western stood for. Now we are re-visiting our core brand, uplifting standards, and at the same time we will be pushing Best Western Premier to compete with brands such as Sofitel, Hyatt and Marriott,” he said.

The new Premier product will be launched early next year with new hardware, paying particular attention to the bathrooms, and introducing a Best Western exclusive spa, Bhubana.

“We are concentrating on Best Western Premier standards exclusively for Asian hotels and resorts to be launched officially in January 2009. Bhubana Spa by Best Western is to be launched tentatively in September this year in one of our four new properties in Indonesia,” said de Souza.

Best Western is currently developing 25 hotels in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. De Souza said Best Western’s primary focus would initially fall on the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.

The first Best Western hotel in Dubai, Best Western Residences, is currently under construction.

“We are also closing in on two Best Western Premier hotels in Muscat, capital of Oman,” he said. “We will continue with this strategy of marking out hotels in prime locations as we pursue our goal of having the highest profile and the most hotels in the Middle East even within the short, three-year time-frame we have set ourselves.”

In Asia, the company is increasing its hotels under management to about 50 per cent of the total.