Best Western International is aiming to increase its number of properties in Asia and the Middle East to 300 in the next four years.
Speaking to Travel Daily at ITB Asia, Glenn de Souza, the company’s vice president of international operations for Asia & Middle East, said; “14 years ago, we had just six hotels and 1,000 rooms, and now we own 200 properties. We’re currently signing 30 hotels and opening 20 new properties every year – our growth is real.”
The type of product will also continue to expand as Best Western adds boutique city-based hotels to its list of standard, Plus and Premier ranges. New destinations include Bhutan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, and a 236-room property on the longest white sand beach in the world at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which is due to open in February 2015.
Best Western’s recent business results include an average occupancy of 68-70% – but the political crisis in Thailand brought that number down to roughly 25-30% in the country in the first two quarters of the year.
Strong-performing countries included Myanmar, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, and Japan is improving thanks to improved visa regulations. The average room rate was US$91 and the average length of stay was 2.7 days, for the year-to-date.
Discussing the trade event, de Souza continued: “It’s important, as a global brand, to have a presence at these events, but you also need to follow up afterwards. We need to showcase new destinations to travel agents and so we must be visible – and transparent – with our news.”
Best Western currently has approximately 29,000 hotel rooms either operating or in the pipeline in Asia and the Middle East.
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