Best Western Hotels & Resorts has introduced two
boutique brands to its portfolio: Sadie Hotel for the upscale segment and Aiden
Hotel for the upper-midscale segment. The brands are aimed at conversion
properties as opposed to new construction.
Best Western has already been playing in the boutique space
with its Vib
and Glo boutique brands, as well as independent hotel collection brands BW
Premier Collection and BW Signature Collection. One difference Sadie and Aiden have
from their Vib and Glo antecedents, however, appears to be the speed at which
BW will be able to grow the brands. "Both Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel
present the opportunity for independent hoteliers or developers with branded
hotels to reposition their property in a unique way, taking advantage of our
cost-effective, turnkey and customized design and renovation program,"
Best Western president and CEO David Kong stated in the company's media
announcement. "A dedicated onboarding team will ensure these repositioned
hotels are quickly integrated with Best Western's powerful revenue engines
intended to drive a fast ramp up in business."
The move to quickly scale builds on an existing growth
trend at Best Western, which less than a decade ago housed its
entire company portfolio under
a single Best Western brand. Now, with the addition of Sadie and
Aiden, it has 13 separate brands.
The news also comes as BW wraps the voting on a special
ballot initiative to switch the company over from a nonprofit
to a for-profit business model. Best Western's board of directors
said in a letter to members back in August that the shift "will help us to
grow our scale and funding primarily by adding and retaining more hotels,
having greater flexibility in raising capital, more closely aligning brand and
hotel owner interests, more effectively competing with other lodging companies
and creating value in the ownership interests of our members." The voting
closed at 2 p.m. Wednesday and the verdict was not public at press time. Kong has
been vocal in recent years about the need for hotel companies to
grow their scale as a way to retain power against online travel agencies and to
keep up with players that can grow scale quickly like Airbnb.
In terms of what Aiden and Sadie will offer to consumers, BW
promises unique design styles with local flair, as well as multifunctional
public areas with a cafe or bar, modern signature seating and mobile check-in.
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