The Best Western International family swept the midprice tiers of BTN's Hotel Chain
Survey, with Best Western Plus scoring the top rating in the upper midprice
tier and Best Western topping the midprice tier.
In achieving the top overall score in the upper midscale
tier, Best Western Plus earned top marks for arranging corporate travel,
corporate rate programs and quality of data. It tied with Hampton Inn for top
marks in physical appearance. The win for Best Western Plus marked a strong
comeback from last year, when it placed fifth.
[Please click here to
view the digital edition of the 2014 Hotel Chain Survey, featuring all rankings
and downloadable as a pdf.]
While Best Western International was founded as a membership
association in 1946, it wasn't until early 2011 that the brand created three
descriptors in North America—Best Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western
Premier—to help consumers differentiate among its 2,100 hotels in the region.
The strong showing in this year's survey by both Best Western Plus and Best
Western suggests travel managers approve the move.
"Adopting the descriptors approach three years ago has
been transformative for the brand," said Best Western senior vice
president of marketing and sales Dorothy Dowling. "Travel buyers are
sophisticated in their product knowledge. They understand what we were trying
to do and, as a result, we've been able to shift market share.
"We've made a concerted effort, not only to work with
large corporate accounts, but to reach out and build relationships with
medium-size accounts as well," she continued. "We view ourselves as
problem-solvers, working with accounts of every size to help come up with
solutions to meet their room-night requirements in various markets. We look
forward to gaining continued traction in the business travel space."
Hilton Worldwide's Hampton Inn earned the second-highest
score in the tier, up one notch from the 2013 survey and finishing within a
hair's breadth of first place.
In addition to tying for physical appearance, Hampton
received top marks for consistency, price/value, quality of sales staff,
courteous service, public business amenities and in-room business amenities.
Phil Cordell, Hilton's global head of focused service and
Hampton brand management, noted how critical consistency is at this price
point. This is especially the case when a brand is approaching the 2,000-unit
mark around the world, as is Hampton. "At the core of our brand promise is
that we'll provide friendly service, clean rooms and comfortable surroundings
every time," Cordell said.
Hampton during the past few years has expanded at a fast
pace, including in Europe, where it's known as Hampton by Hilton. Most
recently, the brand in September opened a 300-room property in downtown Warsaw,
Poland, the largest Hampton outside the United States. Development has also
been on the fast track in the United Kingdom and Turkey.
Travel managers need to feel a degree of confidence that the
brands they work with will deliver, Cordell said, "that the guarantee is
always there, anywhere in the world."
Marriott International's Fairfield Inn & Suites, which
was number two in last year's upper midprice listing, fell a notch this year.
"We're in the process of strengthening our overall
product offering," said Marriott International vice president of global
brand management Shruti Buckley. "Our primary appeal has always been to
business travelers, and it's heartening to see travel managers continuing to
respond positively to what we're doing."
A new room design developed with input from business
travelers gradually is being rolled out across the brand. With a distribution
of roughly 720 hotels, many in secondary locations, Fairfield now is beginning to
target downtown locations in primary markets for future growth. Fairfield is
also a popular choice for inclusion in dual-brand projects, typically paired
with Marriott's TownePlace Suites extended-stay offering. Both are at
comparable price points.
Other brands that stood out in this year's upper midprice
category include Carlson Rezidor's Country Inns & Suites, which placed
fourth. Wyndham Hotel Group's Wyndham Garden Inn, in the fifth position, earned
top marks for in-room personal amenities.
In the midprice tier, Best Western captured the highest
overall score in the category and earned the top score for quality of sales
staff, arranging group travel, meeting facilities, corporate rate programs,
quality of data, courteous service and in-room business amenities. It tied with
Wingate by Wyndham for consistency. As with Best Western Plus in the upper
midprice tier, Best Western climbed from almost the bottom of the pack (fourth
position out of five) in 2013 to take the gold ring this year.
Wingate, which held the number-one slot in this category in
2013, had to settle for second place this year. In addition to tying with Best
Western for consistency, Wingate garnered top scores for physical appearance,
public business amenities and in-room personal amenities.
Wingate brand senior vice president Bill Hall stressed the
continuing importance of evolution—as opposed to radical change—to explain the
brand's high standing in the survey again this year. "We've continued to
adapt as the needs of our guests have evolved," he said. "Take the
business center, for example. Rather than a separate room, we've opened it up.
It's now part of the lobby, which has become a more social space, where guests
can meet, work or simply relax." Other examples of Wingate's latest evolution
are evident in the new prototype that the brand introduced in March.
Rounding out the top three in the midprice category was La
Quinta Inns & Suites, which moved up from fifth place in 2013. "Unlike
many of our competitors, which strictly franchise, we are an owner as well as a
franchisor, so we have a vested interest in the success of our hotels,"
said Wayne Goldberg, president & CEO of La Quinta Holdings, the brand's
parent company. "We continue to invest in our hotels and in technology,
including booking technology, to make it as convenient as possible for travel
managers—and their travelers—to stay at La Quinta."
One other brand that deserves mention in this year's
midprice listing is Quality Inn, which finished fourth. Part of Choice Hotels
International, Quality Inn earned top marks in the important price/value
ranking.
This report
originally appeared in the Oct. 13, 2014, edition of Business Travel News.