Best Western Plans 10 Hotels in Ireland in Next Five Years

Best Western Hotels & Resorts (BWHR) has launched an awareness building campaign to demonstrate to Irish hotel owners, developers and potential investors how much the brand has changed and emerged significantly over the past number of years

BWHR intends to build awareness in the Irish market of this new and improved global brand and its products.

And the group intends to have 10 hotels in Ireland within five years and is targeting existing properties and new builds with at least 75 rooms in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

BWHR has established a team of 23 in its Dublin-based office, working across revenue, eCommerce, sales, marketing, support and business development. A new Director of Development Vivienne Nyhan has also been appointed to work with hoteliers and potential investors.

Best Western Hotels & Resorts has a portfolio of over 4,200 branded hotels in operation with a global footprint covering over 100 countries. There are two existing BWHR hotels operating on the island of Ireland however “our objective is to motivate more Irish hotel owners and investors to take a look at the new brand image and talk to us to show what we can offer them”, says Vivienne Nyhan, International Development Director, BWHR (pictured).

There are 13 brands in the BWHR portfolio that cater for all market segments, from 3 to 5-star property types. In the UK there are 250 hotels, while BWHR is the largest hotel group in Sweden, with 156 hotels in Germany and over 2,000 hotels in the United States.

In Ireland, the group is looking to establish the Best Western Plus, Best Western Signature and Best Western Premier brands as well as new boutique brands, Sadie and Aiden, whether for hotel conversion opportunities or indeed new builds.

So why would an Irish hotel owner, property developer, or investor look at BWHR now, and what’s in it for them?

According to Nyhan, the group offers access to Best Western’s US$4 billion global reservation system; participation in Best Western Rewards, the brand’s award-winning and fast-growing loyalty programme with over 38 million members to date; powerful mobile, eCommerce and technology resources.  Its fee structure is competitive verses other global hotel groups and works as a simple percent fee of GRR (gross room revenue) that will improve the hotel’s profitability.

BWHR says it can offer interested Irish parties’ short-term contracts and flexible contract terms – a five-year initial contract and one-year rolling – unlike other brands that require a commitment of at least 10-15 years. It also includes links to all GDS systems (Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan) and active sales and marketing teams worldwide.

Also, of interest to Irish-based hoteliers and investors is the Group’s contact with over 1,000 business travel, group and leisure accounts around the world; state-of-the-art revenue management services, and customised eCommerce and digital marketing programmes.

Vivienne Nyhan: “We intend to rollout the new and improved BWHR portfolio in Ireland over the next five years and our team are currently out around the country meeting hoteliers, investors and indeed those in the construction and property sectors, showcasing our various and suitable brands, so, we hope to have some good news with hotel announcements and launches to talk about soon.”

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