Best Western adds first hotels to its Premier Collection
The three are the Winchester Royal Hotel, Winchester; the Grade-II listed Richmond Hotel, Liverpool and the Bank House Hotel, Golf and Spa in Worcester. A leading conference hotel will also be joining the collection shortly.
All BW Premier Collection properties are independently-owned, need to be four-star minimum with the AA or tourist board and have a Trip Advisor rating of 4.2 or above. They must be situated in city centre or destination locations.
Christine Jones, director of hotel development for Best Western Great Britain, said: “The BW Premier Collection is proving incredibly popular. I have a list of really exciting properties all keen to have conversations with me about joining because they can see it makes business sense for high quality, independent hotels to soft brand with a global powerhouse like Best Western.”
The three new hotels said they had joined the collection to tap into the reach of a global brand.
Louis Rigney, general manager of the Winchester Royal Hotel, said: “As an independent hotel operator this is definitely something that has been missing from the marketplace because it allows us to tap into the global reach of the multi-billion dollar Best Western brand and its loyalty reward scheme, but at the same time celebrate and retain the independence of the Winchester Royal.”
Richard Bailey, general manager of the Bank House Hotel Golf and Spa, agreed: “This gives us all the benefits that come from association with a high profile, international hotel brand whilst allowing us to maintain an independent position in our local market.”
The managing director of the Richmond Hotel Liverpool, Steven Hesketh, said it was important to allow the hotel to retain its 'unique local identity' while accessing “the power of a global brand”.
The BW Premier Collection is one of the first new brands from Best Western to launch in almost 70 years. It also recently launched a new range of high-tech hotels called Vib aimed at digital savvy guests.
