Best Western International announced a revamp of its extended-stay prototype and a partnership with Google at its 2013 Best Western North American Convention, held this weekend in San Antonio.
Best Western International, Phoenix, is now offering the prototype for properties that would feature 100% extended stay guestrooms, unlike earlier plans for featuring as little as 20% extended-stay guestrooms for Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier-branded hotels. Best Western said that the mix would have caused market confusion. However, Best Western has not indicated that the extended stay product will be marketed with a new brand extension.
“We have not solidified a name for it,” said Ron Pohl, Best Western International’s senior vice president of brand management & member services.
At a special session at the conference for the extended-stay product, Best Western showcased the amended design that included changes to the lobby.
“We wanted to have a design with a timeless feel to it,” said Amy Hulbert Manketlow, Best Western’s managing director of design. “Key elements of the lobby design include check-in pods with adjacent sundries, a communal table with a light feature, lounge seating, a television area, a business center zone and exterior seating with an optional fireplace. For the lobby FF&E we included both warm and cool variants on a neutral palette with little pops of color.”
At the session Best Western also highlighted a lower annual fee for Best Western Plus compared to other hotel brands in the segment, according to the 2013 HVS Hotel Franchise Fee Guide, and noted that the cost per key would be US$88,000 in Texas, US$114,000 in Chicago and a higher amount in the U.S. East Coast and West Coast regions.
New view with Google
At the conference Best Western also announced a partnership proposal with Google to offer a 360-degree view of lobbies, breakfast rooms and guestrooms included within the Google Street View feature within the Google Maps application as well as integration into Google’s new carousel feature for hotel search results. Adding the feature will cost owners a one-time fee of US$900 per property and Best Western anticipates systemwide implementation will take about one year, given how seasonality affects the decision as to when to take the photos. Dorothy Dowling, Best Western’s senior vice president, marketing and sales, said Best Western is one of two hotel companies Google is partnering with for this feature, which is expected to improve hotels’ search engine optimization. Dowling anticipates other hotel companies will eventually be involved, though.
“After Google was in our office, we made a decision the next day. When we see an opportunity, we recognize the value proposition for owners … we have had hoteliers pay up to US$2,700 when approached by photographers, so they will get a big win,” Dowling said. “We know that it will help conversion.”
The partnership still needs to be formally approved via a Best Western International membership ballot, but initial polling at the convention shows that it is overwhelmingly likely to be approved.