Best Western’s Surestay Hotel Group Surpasses 100 Hotels in North America

Phoenix, Arizona (USA) – July 24, 2018 (travelindex) – Best Western Hotels and Resorts announced today that its SureStay Hotel Group franchise has reached yet another milestone – revealing the brand has over 100 hotels in its North American portfolio. This announcement underscores the brand’s overarching success, as it now has a total of 189* properties worldwide in less than two years since its launch, making it one of the fastest growing brands in the hotel industry today.

SureStay Hotel Group’s accelerated growth can be attributed to a number of factors. The brand has become known as a trusted and respected lodging option among travelers – offering travelers consistent and quality levels of comfort, cleanliness, and a service guarantee, all at an affordable price. The brand has also garnered significant interest among developers in the upper-economy/lower-midscale market because of its competitive fee structure and access to Best Western’s powerhouse brand.

While the brand has certainly captured the attention of today’s travelers and developers, it’s also proved its ability to deliver impressive results in a short period of time. In fact, Best Western Rewards® revenue contribution for North American SureStay® Hotel by Best Western and SureStay Plus® Hotel by Best Western-branded properties is at 36.1 percent currently; Best Western’s reservations system, LYNX, has delivered 40.2 percent of bookings; and total brand contribution is 62.3 percent YTD (through February 2018).

“SureStay Hotel Group is one of fastest growing brands in the industry, and it has been remarkable to see the scale we’ve achieved in less than two years since launching,” said David Kong, President and CEO for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “Surpassing 100 hotels in North America is an impressive milestone for the brand, and we look forward to continuing this fast-paced momentum well into the future.”

The majority of SureStay Hotel Group applicants are seeking to reposition and strengthen their existing hotel assets. Best Western conversions also comprise a large portion of SureStay Hotel Group properties. Comprised of three distinctive brands – SureStay Hotel by Best Western (classic economy), SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western (premium economy) and SureStay Collection® by Best Western (lower-midscale soft brand) – SureStay Hotel Group’s rapid success can be credited to its unique, competitive fee structure and Best Western’s staunch reputation for enhancing the guest travel experience by providing real, consistent value and an industry-leading, return-guest loyalty program. The brand provides an easy path to hoteliers who are committed to providing a superior guest experience but wish to avoid the high investment costs mandated by most brand standards.

“Today’s Best Western is committed to creating innovative, market-leading brands for the hospitality industry, and it’s clear that we’ve done exactly that with the SureStay Hotel Group,” said Ron Pohl, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “We carefully designed SureStay brands to offer flexibility to developers, drive business to hotels, and provide superior value and comfort to customers. We’re proud to see these results come to fruition at over 100 hotels in North America and nearly 200 hotels worldwide.”

Properties must maintain a minimum 3.5 TripAdvisor® rating, agree to a satisfaction guarantee and unannounced inspections. The brand’s focus is to: create consumer relevance and confidence through unprecedented quality and care; and produce developer value by offering fair franchise terms, a competitive fee model, best-in-class support and a connection to Best Western’s expansive scale – which is critically important in advancing hotels’ negotiating power and creating advantageous OTA terms.

For more information on Best Western Hotels & Resorts, please visit BestWestern.com

*Includes hotels currently in the development pipeline

About Best Western Hotels and Resorts:
Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,200* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers 11 hotel brands to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market: Best Western®, Best Western Plus®, Best Western Premier®, Vīb®, GLō®, Executive Residency by Best Western®, BW Premier Collection® by Best Western, and BW Signature Collection® by Best Western; as well as its recently launched franchise offerings: SureStay® Hotel by Best Western, SureStay Plus® Hotel by Best Western and SureStay Collection® by Best Western. Now celebrating more than 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and award-winning online and mobile booking capabilities. Best Western continues to set industry records regarding awards and accolades, including 66 percent of the brand’s North American hotels earning a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award in 2018, Business Travel News® ranking Best Western Plus and Best Western number one in upper-mid-price and mid-price hotel brands, and Fast Company honoring Best Western Hotels & Resorts with a spot in the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in the Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality category. Best Western has also won nine consecutive AAA®/CAA® Lodging Partner of the Year awards, recognizing the brand’s commitment to providing exceptional service and great value to AAA/CAA’s nearly 58 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Best Western-branded hotels were top ranked in J.D. Power’s 2017 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study – ranking first in breakfast (food and beverage category) for midscale; and second in overall guest satisfaction. Over 35 million travelers are members of the brand’s award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards®, one of the few programs in which members earn points that never expire and can be redeemed at any Best Western-branded hotel worldwide. Best Western’s partnerships with AAA/CAA and Google® Street View provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Through its partnership with Google Street View, Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch a virtual reality experience for customers, setting a new industry standard and reinventing how guests view hotels.

* All Best Western and SureStay-branded hotels are independently owned and operated.
* Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.

Contact information:
Kelly Dalton
Senior Director, Communications
602.957.5752