Best Western Offers Buyers Availability, Biz Rooms

<B>Best Western Offers Buyers Availability, Biz Rooms</B>

By Bruce Serlen

Facing increased competition for the business travel dollar in the limited service sector, Best Western International is moving to strengthen its last room availability capability at the same time it continues to expand its appeal to the travel buyer through two ongoing marketing programs: the Business Best rates promotion and its Business Plus rooms.

The volume of corporate travel business held steady last year, accounting for 51 percent of Best Western's bookings. Last room availability, however, remains a high priority. "We completed the installation of the Vsat system during 1999 to ensure we had this capability," said Wayne W. Wielgus, vice president for worldwide marketing and sales. Likewise, the Hughes Network satellite communications system has been installed at every property in North America; other systems are being used outside North America.

These technologies are being used as a platform for the chain's Lynx res system and for credit card processing. They support two-way e-mail interface and deliver the data needed to provide corporate customers with last room availability.

Best Western also is placing renewed emphasis on its Best Business program this year. Companies qualify by booking more than 1,000 room nights a year domestically, whatever the country, or 2,000 room nights a year in more than one country. Negotiations focus on a corporate rate globally, with RFPs for specific rates in place for individual hotels.

<B>Boosting In-Room Biz</B>

Best Western also is promoting its Business Plus rooms program. Business Plus rooms are in more than 600 properties and represent at least 10 percent of those hotels' total room inventory. In addition to standard free local calls and long distance access, Business Plus rooms include two-line phones, dataports, desks that are at least 24 x 48 inches and ergonomic chairs. "One thousand hotels should be on line with the program by year-end," said Wielgus.

In terms of growth, Best Western's membership passed the 4,000 mark, reinforcing its claim to be the world's largest single hotel brand. As of year-end 1999, there were 4,037 properties in the system--233 more than in 1998.

"If there's confusion in the travel buyer's mind as to the price/value relation at Best Western, we're going to clarify it by talking more to our customers and upgrading our corporate advertising," said James P. Evans, president and CEO.

Best Western continues to debate the value of adding descriptors, tag lines that would detail the characteristics of its different properties. "This would still fall short of actually segmenting the brand, which is what many hotel chains are doing," said Evans.

Best Western is concentrating on quality to ensure all hotel members conform to certain minimum standards worldwide. Best Western's board of governors is signing off on 14 quality standards intended to bring consistency to what is admittedly a diverse group of hotels.

Compounding the situation, retention rates are more than 99 percent, so very few properties are opting to leave the system in any given year.

"This diversity is actually a strength for us as opposed to all properties being cookie cutter," said Evans, "though it's still crucial that business travelers be able to trust that certain levels of service are in place systemwide."

Best Western, meanwhile, has seen a marked increase in business travelers booking via the Internet. However, these sales continue to be a relatively small piece of overall bookings. In a survey this month of hotel chain Web sites, WebCriteria, a Portland, Ore., firm that measures Web site usability, named Best Western number one in accessibility, defined as the average time and effort required to navigate every page of its site. "At 1.8 minutes," said Kelly Rupp, WebCriteria vice president of marketing and sales, "Best Western was more than a minute ahead of its closest rival.