SAN DIEGO—Best Western International’s long-rumored adoption of a descriptor system for its 2,200 hotels in North America will be up for a vote by its members.
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David Kong
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The exact timing of the vote hasn’t been determined, but President and CEO David Kong said during a wide-ranging interview held during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit late last month he expects it to happen during the first half of 2010. If the measure passes, the descriptor program could be in place in 2011.
“The descriptor strategy is not a development strategy,” he said while sitting in a meeting room at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. “We didn’t do this to grow our hotels; we did it for our hotels to grow revenue. It will instill confidence and grow share of wallet from customers.”
However, Mark Williams, VP of North American development for the Phoenix-based brand, said a descriptor system will allow potential members to be more aware of the variety of properties that comprise Best Western. The brand includes a number of more sophisticated properties that are well above the typical AAA three-diamond properties that dominate the system.
“It will help the developer understand there are a few different levels that they can play with Best Western,” Williams said. “It’s going to help us in the larger primary markets.”
Kong said giving consumers and developers choices is a natural progression for a company that uses the “World’s Largest Hotel Chain” slogan.
“It’s gone through some pretty thorough customer testing,” Kong said. “Customers understand descriptors. They definitely know descriptors charge higher prices.
“Hoteliers and travelers understand there are different types of rooms in hotels … We give them labels,” he added. “These are descriptors. This is to help the customer make better-informed decisions on what they buy.”
Previous experience
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| The Best Western Premier Hotel Corsica in France could have company in North America if members vote to implement the brand’s descriptor plan. |
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Best Western has some experience in the descriptor area. About 100 of its properties in Europe and Asia are referred to as “Best Western Premier” hotels. They tend to have AAA four-diamond quality—in other words, they offer a higher level of amenities, services and unique features than the standard Best Western property, Kong said.
“It’s worked real well at Premier,” Kong said. “Guest satisfaction for those hotels is always at the top. Satisfaction scores for the owners are always at the top. They rarely leave (the system).”
Kong said a descriptor program is more of a marketing tactic than anything because it allows the brand to reach out to more affluent travelers that are looking for more than just the standard amenities that a typical Best Western property offers.
Other topics
Kong and Williams addressed several other key topics including:
- Reservations: Kong said the company’s reservation production is faring better than the overall industry’s performance. It hasn’t been growing, but it didn’t reach the 8-percent drop that Smith Travel Research said the industry suffered during 2009. One thing is certain, according to Kong: The booking window is getting shorter, even as the number of unique visitors to its Web site grew almost 30 percent. “We see a lot of leisure (business) ... It still dominates,” Kong said. “Corporate business hasn’t come back in a meaningful way yet.”
- Marketing: Best Western during 2009 spent an unprecedented amount of money in marketing and promotions. The US$70-million program was 40 percent more than the previous high.
- Training: The brand will continue its regional training program that focuses on “basic blocking and tackling stuff,” Kong said. Included in the program are sessions on prospecting, competing more effectively in the marketplace and revenue-manager techniques.
- Outlook: “The emphasis this year is to gear ourselves up for the rebound,” Kong said. “We know it’s coming. We want to gain market share and put a fence around the customers we acquire.”
- Loyalty program: The brand is introducing an incentive for members to sign up more guests to its Rewards guest-loyalty program. As hotels sign up new loyalty programs, the hotels will be charged nothing for the guest’s first stay. With about 11 million members—including about 3.5 million of which are considered active, there is still room to grow, according to Kong. Best Western also is offering a status match, no catch promotion in which users of other brand’s loyalty programs can switch to the same level at Best Western without jumping through any hoops, he said. “A loyalty program is not only an effective promotional platform, it is also something valued by guest,” Kong said. “People change their behavior based on that. The loyalty program is the most important marketing initiative we’ve embarked on.”
- Development: Williams said the brand will focus more on conversions in 2010 than new-build development. Seventy percent of its new properties were new construction in 2008, and that fell to about 50 percent in 2009. “This year will be a little bit less than that,” he said. “In this environment, there’s not a lot of money flowing for new construction.” He said a property-improvement plan for a conversion property will include the same elements as a new-build plan. The cost of the PIP depends on market, quality of the hotel and the size of hotel, among other things. “We’ll allow properties to keep a secondary name. That’s one of the reasons they come to us,” Williams said. “Those have always been a strong point for us just because of the nature of the company.”
