Best Western unveils its 2014 results and presents its outlook for 2015.
Best Western Monde, the world's leading brand of independent hotels, is enjoying strong growth, driven by the North American recovery.
The brand now has 3,931 hotels worldwide, including 190 new hotels with 303,522 rooms. With a tighter portfolio of hotels aiming for excellence, Best Western is deliberately moving upmarket in its products.
While centralized sales growth stood at 3.5% in 2013, it posted a handsome 6.73% increase over 2014, or $1.523 billion generated in Best Western hotels.
The result was more than convincing, with 13.8 million overnight stays, an increase of 3.52%. The average price continued to grow in 2014, reaching $110.31 (+3.03%).
The Best Western Rewards® loyalty program posted a 5.56% increase in sales to $1.9 billion. The number of overnight stays was also up, with a total of 18 million, an increase of 5.32%.
Best Western France: the performance of the brand's strategy in the French market begins to improve at the end of the year
Best Western France reported centralized sales of 45.18 million euros, down 3.36% on 2013, despite the more positive results recorded towards the end of the year, heralding a recovery in 2015.
The brand's strategy for the French market performed well in 2014:
Best Western's business offer posted strong growth in its Business (corporate contracts) and Groups & FIT (tour operators, travel agencies, professional sports clubs) divisions, with sales up +25% for each.
Best Western Rewards® sales in France reached 44.6 million euros, +1.47% vs. 2013, with 211,488 stays (+5% vs. 2013), 393,726 overnight stays (+5% vs. 2013); a particularly strong performance with French program members, who generated sales up 10%.
In 2014, reservations made using Best Western France's mobile booking tools generated 2.48 million euros, representing 5.5% of centralized sales. The bestwestern.fr website, for its part, generated 16 million euros in sales, with an almost 10% increase in the number of orders.
Best Western France's web and mobile tools continue to grow in strength, accounting for 54.12% of identified web sales, an increase of 4.62 points on the previous year.
In a few figures, sales growth:
+ 28% via the mobile site
+ 21% via all mobile applications (iPhone, iPad, Android)
+ 7.5% on the bestwestern.fr website
In France, the brand currently has 298 hotels, ranging from three to five stars, with a total of 15,829 rooms. In 2014, 8 new establishments, representing 385 rooms, were added to the network. This reflects Best Western's determination to concentrate the network around the brand's highest-quality hotels, in order to continue moving upmarket.
To date, the brand's hotels break down as follows:
- Best Western: 256 hotels
- Best Western Plus: 23 hotels (+ 4.55% vs. 2013)
- Best Western Premier: 19 hotels
Furthermore, in 2014, more than 2/3 of the network's hotels underwent a major decoration audit. The final third of audits are scheduled for 2015. It's worth noting that 90% of the hotels audited have undergone renovations of varying scope, reinforcing the brand's strategy of having a network of hotels that are consistent from a qualitative point of view, with an authentic and singular character for each of them.
Challenges and developments in 2015 for Best Western France
A new three-year vision, "En Avant Marque", based on three strategic goals:
- Assert ourselves as a strong Brand
- Become the Leader in Customer Relations and Satisfaction
- Build a global, high-performance Distribution network
The customer at the heart of brand strategy
This new vision is intended to be "customer-centric", and requires a better understanding of customers, their expectations and their needs, thanks to smart data. The aim is to offer ever more personalized services and communications, based on useful data.
Innovation at the service of customer satisfaction
Best Western I e-Concierge is a "service" mobile application that enables French and international guests to access the hotel's various services (book a table at the restaurant, a treatment at the SPA, consult digital press titles...), discover nearby points of interest, evaluate their stay...
A veritable digital travel guide, this application not only enhances the customer experience and customer satisfaction, but also enriches customer knowledge via the data generated by this service, for a more personalized relationship.
Building on its success, Best Western France will roll out the application across its entire network in 2015.
Technology, partnership, digital strategy: the keys to global, high-performance distribution
Best Western France is implementing a number of strategic levers to strengthen its distribution strategy and the performance of its head office with hotels.
- Technological developments in Property Management Systems (PMS)
By the end of 2015, all hotels in the network will have a PMS equipped with a 2WAY interface, i.e. connected to the Best Western central reservation system, to enable them to optimize their distribution strategies. 39% of hotels have already embarked on this major project.
- Strategic partnership agreements
The signing of a worldwide partnership with Expedia last December will enable Best Western to consolidate its position, drawing on the strength of one of the leaders in online travel distribution and its subsidiaries.
- Comprehensive, scalable digital strategy
In conclusion, Best Western France's digital strategy aims to cover the entire customer journey on all the brand's digital platforms. Perfecting the booking process, accompanying customers throughout their visit to bestwestern.fr with a click-to-chat function that will enable them to be assisted directly via instant messaging, improving the browsing experience for Best Western Rewards® members... Best Western France is doing everything possible to accompany customers from their hotel search to their post-stay experience.
Find out more:
