Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?Boutique hotel brands have been increasing consistently over the past decade and Best Western Hotels & Resorts is one of the largest hotel companies responsible for that growth. Best Western Hotels & Resorts entered the boutique space in 2014 and has looked to earn more market share ever since. Today, Best Western Hotels & Resorts has four different boutique brands – Vib, GLo, Sadie and Aiden – and has established itself as an international powerhouse comprised of 18 distinct brands covering a broader spectrum of the economy, midscale and upscale sectors. With the rise of boutique brands, hotel companies such as Marriott and Hilton have gotten the bulk of the notoriety and credit for leading boutique expansion. However, Best Western Hotels & Resorts has also become a leader in the space and now offers four distinct boutique brands that provide authentic local experiences and focus on meeting the social and connectivity expectations of today’s travelers. Additionally, Best Western has also led in the boutique conversion space with brands like Sadie and Aiden, giving developers and hoteliers a faster and lower-cost development option. To build awareness for Best Western Hotels and Resorts’ boutique leadership and to showcase the brand’s four different boutique brands, as well as its conversion opportunities, Best Western and the agency team sought a feature trade media opportunity for the company’s SVP and Chief Development Officer Brad LeBlanc and for President and CEO David Kong. The feature would serve as the foundational piece for LeBlanc’s boutique development leadership and build credibility for Best Western Hotels & Resorts within the boutique space, while earning the attention of prospective developers and hoteliers.

Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)Best Western and the agency team leveraged its relationship with Hotel Management and Jena Tesse Fox to arrange an interview for Brad LeBlanc and David Kong, so they could discuss how Best Western Hotels & Resorts is leading in the boutique space, as well as what’s on the horizon for Best Western and its boutique brands. This resulted in an extensive Hotel Management online trade feature, and also was the cover story of Hotel Management in December 2020. The feature included several key messages that Best Western Hotels & Resorts was hoping to communicate to hoteliers and developers, including: • The cost benefits of a conversion versus a new build hotel and how repositioning the asset enables a high return on investment through high occupancy, making it a very attractive value proposition. • Best Western is on the pulse of what consumers want from their hotel stay – and each brand offers a fresh, contemporary and exciting option that attracts a diverse customer base – from seniors and Boomers to the younger set. • Developing one of the boutique hotel brands provides a combination of opportunities for developers, allowing owners to take portions of one prototype or brand standard and apply it to a property flying a different flag. • Developers seeking opportunities in suburban American provides Best Western Hotels & Resorts with a distinct advantage. The company has historically dominated secondary and tertiary markets and development is trending in that direction amid the pandemic.

Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?The budget for this PR campaign was included in Best Western Hotels & Resorts’ agency’s monthly retainer

Project Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the project and your company efforts to demonstrate good corporate citizenship in the areas of community involvement, environmental, or socially responsible practices.

Objectives and Goals: What did organization set out to achieve in undertaking this project in CSR? What were the goals you set to measure your success?

Results: How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve? Please be as specific as possible and share the full impact of your efforts in CSR.

Leadership: Please list the individual in a leadership role responsible for the project and how would you characterize their commitment to promoting corporate social responsibility in the travel and tourism industry?

Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals and audience. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?

Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)

Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?

Situational Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the original initiative and how it evolved as conditions changed from pandemic to recovery.

Goals: Clearly state your goals. What did you strive to achieve with this initiative and how did your goals change over time?

Results: Which of your goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the initiative?

Objective(s): What problems did the sales, marketing & guest satisfaction, or revenue optimization technology aim to solve?

Innovative use of technology: The extent to which new directions are charted or old challenges are resolved by using the technology in a new way.

Implementation & creativity: How was the technology implemented so that it was easy to use, solved a manpower problem, streamlined a function, or fueled recovery?

Results & Evaluation: How did the technologiy move the department or business foward to achieve goals, revenue or otherwise?

Goal: How did you demonstrate that you are committed to advancing diversity in your organization through your marketing?

Initiatives: Describe the promotion. What was your organization's message and how does it foster diversity? How was the target audience channel developed/pursued?

Results: Please describe how your organization was purposeful in advancing diversity through this initiative. Please describe the metrics you used to judge success. What were the forecasted and actual outcomes described in your Key Performance Indicators (KPI)? What impact did the initiative have on your organization and for your customers?

Goal: How did you demonstrate that you are committed to advancing diversity in your organization through your campaigns?

Initiatives: What was your approach to this campaign and how was the organization purposeful in advancing diversity through it? What types of data did you use to support your plan? How many locations were involved in the campaign? How did you effectively reach diverse audiences? What was the message?

Results: What metrics are you using to evaluate diversity (soft and/or hard metrics)? Were you successful at meeting forecasted goals? Was it limited to a specific promotion or across multiple creatives? What impact did the campaign have on your organization? How did this campaign change your brand’s perception amongst travelers?

Entry TitleBest Western Hotels & Resorts' Boutique Success

DivisionPublic Relations - FEATURE PLACEMENT ONLINE - Trade Media

CategoryPublic Relations