The familiar logo for the Best Western brand has been a constant along its journey of global expansion as the company has grown to a diverse collection of more than 4,100 properties in over 100 countries. At its annual convention, the companys leadership team revealed plans of a new look and improvements to their brand. “We are embracing our future with a completely reimagined brand identity that clarifies our exceptional offerings and broadens our appeal with a contemporary, energetic and relevant look,” said David Kong, president and chief executive officer of Best Western Hotels & Resorts. ”We started over. These new logos are dramatically different and illustrate the amazing products and offerings of todays Best Western.” According to a press release sent to Hispanic PR Blog, the introduction of a new masterbrand name and unique logos for each hotel brand communicates to travelers and developers the changes that have taken place to contemporize Best Western, including:
- A stable and progressive executive team, led by David Kong, one of the most experienced chief executives in the travel industry.
- An investment of $2 billion (by the end of 2016) in property improvements and renovations by North American Best Western hotels.
- A focused and conscious effort to elevate the quality of its family of hotels through the separation of more than 1,200 properties in North America over the course of the last ten years.
- Splitting the portfolio into three brands (Best Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier) in 2011 to clarify and better set guest expectations.
- The emergence as an industry powerhouse by outpacing others in RevPAR (revenue per available room) and winning record levels of industry awards.
In another major move to better represent the quality and variety of its offerings, Best
Western International will also be renamed Best Western Hotels & Resorts and use a new logo to identify the master company for its seven distinct brands: Best Western, Best Western Plus®, Best Western Plus Executive Residency®, Best Western Premier®, Vîb®, BW Premier Collection® and GLô, the companys new broad midscale, new construction hotel brand. Best Western is also clarifying the differences between each hotel type by introducing new logos for Best
Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier. In addition, the rebranding emphasizes the brands initials BW in the new logo, which will be used across all communications channels, especially resonating in the digital space where space for a name is limited. The effort to create new logos has been two years in the making and has included input from travelers, travel buyers, partners and Best Westerns global hotel owners. As part of this rebranding, Best Western is focused on contemporizing the look of the company and placing more of an emphasis on all seven of the companys hotel brands. Best Western used todays graphic design and digital printing capabilities to create an array of logos that use special effects to be distinctive and striking to consumers, but are also functional in various settings. Highlights of the new logos include:
- Using a phased approach, Best Western is redesigning its digital platform, including bestwestern.com, the mobile website and mobile applications. In August 2015, new property websites were created for over 2,000 properties across North America. A week ago, Best Western launched its new mobile booking experience, including a mobile website and mobile apps for smart phones and tablets, to provide a cleaner, uncluttered interface that is easy to use. In early spring 2016, Best Western will unveil its entirely new bestwestern.com.
- Targeted for implementation in January 2016, Best Western will approach major corporations and offer a money back satisfaction guarantee for their travelers. If dissatisfied, Best Western will refund the stay and deposit Best Western Rewards points into the travelers account to apologize for the inconvenience.