PHOENIX—Best Western International set a brand record achieving a North American revenue per available room (RevPAR) index of 111.2 in 2014. This follows the company’s previous two year record of a RevPAR index of 110 or above and represents a 26.8 percent growth rate in RevPAR since 2011, outpacing the competition by six points.
2014 also saw the brand reach two other milestones; generating total revenue of $3.9 billion in North America and exceeding the $1 billion mark through its central reservations system.
“I am pleased with the success we have achieved over the past three years. Several factors have contributed to this success, including the introduction of our descriptor program, improving the quality of Best Western hotels in North America and our continued investment in our marketing and sales programs and our technology infrastructure,” said David Kong, Best Western president and CEO.
“In 2015 we are focused on continuing our unprecedented success in RevPAR performance, enhancing our current industry-leading technologies by implementing a new digital platform to power our internet and mobile strategies and developing our two new global hotel products Vīb and BW Premier Collection,” added Kong.
With the addition of Mike Muir, vice president of North American development in 2014, the company also added a new construction focus to its development strategy. The 2015 North American pipeline is now at 160 projects, of which almost 60 percent are new construction, and of the Best Western Plus branded projects in the pipeline, 65 percent are new construction.
“We have set aggressive goals for developing new construction Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier hotels, and with the introduction of our new refreshed, contemporary prototypes, we are seeing increased interest from developers,” said Muir. “Add to that our new boutique concept Vīb and our soft brand BW Premier Collection, and we now offer hotel developers six types of products that cover the hottest segments in the industry.”
