Best Western’s Pohl focused on WorldHotels opportunities

PHOENIX – BWH Hotels continued to progress on its now almost two-year-old plan to invigorate the 52-year-old soft brand, WorldHotels, with the November addition of the newly opened 151-room Daxton Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan. That is good news and a box partially checked for the global brand that has a predominance of its recognition in Europe.

It is Ron Pohl’s job to expand that brand awareness deeper into North America while he simultaneously maintains responsibility for all BWH Hotel brands internationally. In fact, said the WorldHotels president, North American brand growth for the soft brand is his top priority.

Pohl knows the luxury and upscale soft brand space is very competitive but believes the post-COVID trend of travelers venturing further afield bodes well for WorldHotels. “It was very exciting for me to jump in at a time when it wasn’t about new construction,” Pohl said. “It’s about conversions and the luxury segment. It is also about learning that there’s some great brands in the segments that we can learn from and certainly evolve what we do.”

So, the timing is right for the 160-hotel-plus brand, now the story for the development community needs to grow.

“We’re larger than Marriott Autograph Collection, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and we’re the equivalent of Kimpton,” Pohl explained. “But all of those are very well recognized brands; we weren’t. So, let’s put that as job number one – to get that recognition out there and do a better job of creating the story and experience around the WorldHotels brand.”

Pohl has four sub brands to work with that provide different levels of service – Luxury, Elite, Crafted and Distinctive, the last one added when BWH bought the brand. He said his team is communicating the global brand story as well as supporting owners who have distinct stories to tell about their properties. All of that connects to how the brand is now portrayed online and what consumers can expect experientially as they travel the globe.

WorldHotels also introduced at the beginning of 2023 a new logo that accentuates the “W” of the brand name, which Pohl said resonates more with consumers and better connects to the brand’s identity.

Taking a further step, WorldHotels now offers a hard brand option that Pohl said appeals to more owners in Latin America and Asia Pacific. To date, there are five hard-branded WorldHotels – three in China, and one each in Brazil and Thailand. Pohl said the corporate travelers are identifying with the brand in those locations and nearly all of the hard-branded hotels are in corporate markets. “We have a number of others in the pipeline, and we are encouraging it in North America where appropriate,” he added.

The differentiation story also translates to sales with Pohl boasting more than 160 worldwide salespeople representing BWH brands, including WorldHotels, a claim he said soft brand competitors cannot make and gives him a leg up.

Pohl also sold the story that WorldHotels tries not to flood any markets as to not compete with itself and avoiding that conflict with owners.

WorldHotels President Ron Pohl

Another differentiator WorldHotels plays up is owner only pay premiums on the business generated as opposed to charging a percentage of gross rooms revenue. “If I drive $1 million of business, you pay me 10% commission on that and not the other $5-10 million that you generate on your own. I don’t deserve that.”

This year, Pohl said WorldHotels on average is delivering double-digit revenue growth to its membership with Asia Pacific likely driving the strongest growth.

Of course, like other soft brands, owners do pay to participate in the BWH loyalty program, but Pohl is quick to point out that WorldHotels is where its members tend to redeem a lot of points.

WorldHotels pipeline update

At the moment, WorldHotels has about 38 hotels in its pipeline with a bigger focus today on Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Mexico), which Pohl believes can be a huge market for the brand, including in the all-inclusive space. It opened in Brazil and Mexico City this year and, overall, Pohl expects at least one-third of the 38 properties to convert in the next six months.

He added that Asia is always on the development radar for WorldHotels and singled out Vietnam and Bangkok as having strong potential. He added that conversions in Japan are also presenting themselves and points to the August addition of the Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport, Tokyo, to its Distinctive collection.

In North America, over the next 12 to 18 months, I’m hopeful that we double that size again – closer to 60 to 70 hotels, and when you spread that knowledge of the brand in North America, it speaks highly to the success of the brand.

Ron Pohl

Share this quote

All of that said, Pohl reiterated that his key focus is North America, where the brand grew to 31 hotels from 18 in the past year, including the brand’s first eight hotels in Canada. “In North America, over the next 12 to 18 months, I’m hopeful that we double that size again – closer to 60 to 70 hotels, and when you spread that knowledge of the brand in North America, it speaks highly to the success of the brand.”

On the retention front, this year was a heavy lift for WorldHotels with Pohl estimating about 77 hotels up for renewal. But, Pohl said, only 10 gave notice due to reasons other than performance, and another hotel actually returned to the brand after trying to go it alone.

The coming year will bring continued refinement of brand offerings, according to Pohl, with some 20 to 30 properties expected to join the brand. WorldHotels will launch an app and continue to leverage technology underneath the greater BWH platform. It will also focus on environmental, sustainability and community efforts with specific initiatives being introduced at the brand conference in January. Better benchmarking of energy consumption and focusing on managing food waste are among the highlights, Pohl said.

Bigger picture BWH

Putting on his bigger BWH Hotels & Resorts cap, Pohl said North America has witnessed about 10%-unit growth this year, opening about 200 hotels across all brands. He said percentages are similar outside North America and that the pipeline internationally is now stronger because new construction is more of an option outside the U.S. He estimated that there are about 300 hotels in the North American pipeline and 325 internationally.

“We think more of the same for 2024 and we’ve actually budgeted to have a stronger year from a development perspective than what we’ve had in 2023,” he added.

He said that a key focus within the Best Western suite of brands is the Aiden brand in the upscale segment with a lot of conversion potential, and the launch of the Home by BWH economy extended-stay brand with “quite a few hotels in the pipeline and a lot more discussions happening.”

The first Home by BWH property is expected to open in the next 90 to 120 days, Pohl said, and it might be in Australia or Thailand.

The executive team is also spending a lot of time in India to grow with its master licensee Sorrel Hospitality, which has 31 hotels open today and another 27 in the pipeline.