US hotel group Best Western has bought the Worldhotels brand, adding 300 upscale and luxury properties to its portfolio.
Worldhotels acts as a “soft brand solution” for independent hotels and resorts, across three tiers: Worldhotels Luxury, Worldhotels Elite and Worldhotels Distinctive.
Best Western said that the Worldhotels brand “will maintain its distinctive personality and individuality while benefiting from Best Western’s robust and scalable E-Commerce platform, strong partnerships, award-winning loyalty program, effective sales and marketing support, global distribution network, and powerful revenue engines”.
This suggest that The List Rewards – the recently relaunched Worldhotels loyalty programme – may well disappear in favour of Best Western Rewards.
Commenting on the news David Kong, President and CEO of Best Western Hotels and Resorts, said:
“There is tremendous synergy between Best Western and Worldhotels. By joining forces in this new partnership, we will create competitive advantages for both companies. I have the utmost respect for Worldhotels and believe in its vast potential.”
“In the coming months, our focus will be to unlock Worldhotels’ potential by improving revenue delivery to its hotels while protecting its independent identity. We truly believe our platform and revenue engines will benefit Worldhotels and attract many more independence–minded, quality hotels to join the brand. We are very pleased that Geoff Andrew will continue as CEO of Worldhotels for the foreseeable future.”
Last year Best Western launched two new boutique conversion brands under the names Sadie and Aiden.
