At The North American Convention, Best Western Celebrates 75 Years & Ushers New Leadership

BWH Hotel Group had its first in-person convention in two years. Hundreds of members gathered at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. This year’s conference occurred at a critical juncture for the company, which is commemorating its 75^th anniversary while facing a leadership shift. Best Western President & CEO David Kong, who has been with the company since 2001 and has been president since 2004, recently declared his intention for retirement. During the convention, the board of directors of BWH hotel Group announced the hiring of a new president and CEO, Larry Cuculic, who has been working as senior vice president and general counsel for the firm for 12 years and will start in December 2021.

Leadership with Vision:

The subject of this year’s convention, Spirit of Caring, stressed how members and the firm are working together to go ahead in one direction, with an emphasis on assisting members to achieve. During his parting presentation to members, Kong remembered the “Impossible Dream” he outlined in 2015, which includes goals such as driving RevPAR growth, concentrating on customer care to reach top J.D Power Guest Satisfaction rankings, and increasing guest loyalty through the Best Western Rewards programme.

Those ambitions are still alive and well today, and they are reflected in the company’s corporate scorecard, Larry Cuculic stated “I ‘ve had the pleasure of working with Mr Kong for the past 12 years, and his ambitions are my dreams”.

 Cuculic also made a personal commitment to work hard with honesty, integrity, and fairness; to focus on driving superior revenue to members; to use fees to invest prudently and intelligently in areas such as marketing, technology, and the corporate team to ensure a strong ROI; to strategically grow the brand through measured development that does not negatively impact existing members’ hotels, and to protect Best Western reputation and goodwill to promote repeat visits and loyalty. “We can achieve this by delivering a great stay at a price that surpasses our visitors’ expectations,” Cuculic added.

The Digital Transformation:

Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president for Best Western, emphasised that the advertising environment has been in a continual state of transformation over the previous decade, and the worldwide Covid-19 epidemic has accelerated the rate of change.

Dowling elaborated, “We are continuing to work on increasing brand relevance with loyal and potential consumers, as well as ensuring that Best Western is properly represented throughout performance-based media to promote reservations”.