16 SPECIAL FEATURE BUSINESS TRAVEL Hilton Aims To Please Modern Business Travellers Despite enviable brand recognition, Hilton continues to evolve its approach to the corporate market Having joined Hilton Worldwide in 2013, and with more than 30 years experience in the hotels business, Hilton’s Head of Sales, Europe, Paul Malcolm told ITBBerlinNews how important the business travel market is to the brand. Hilton is iconic. We probably have the highest level of awareness as the largest hospitality business on the planet right now. 1-in-5 hotel rooms is a Hilton-branded room somewhere around the globe - with 350 hotels in EMEA. 53% of our turnover is from business travel. It is 53% OF OUR TURNOVER IS FROM BUSINESS TRAVEL. IT IS OUR BREAD AND BUTTER, OUR MOTHERSHIP our bread and butter, our mothership. Most of our hotels are in city centres. For 2015, after our first year as a publicly listed company on the NYSE, we are optimistic in terms of business travel. The economies in Europe are improving now, meaning there is pent-up demand after conference & launch cutbacks. How has the business travel market evolved? The business traveller has become a lot more savvy, discerning and digital. The digital side of the business is something we’re particularly proud of. We are testing something in the US we call Straight To Room – so if you are a Hilton Honours member you will be able to check in on your smart phone, and use that as your room key. This is testing in the summer, with the plan to roll it out in 2016. Up and running now in over 4,100 hotels is Room Selection – like an airline where you select your seat, if you’re one of our 44-million HHonors members, you can preselect your floor, and your room. It’s a breakthrough; we’re the first to do it on this scale. We’re excited about that. How important is ITBBerlin, where your competitors and rivals are literally next-door – like a microcosm of a busy city hotel district? ITB is huge. You can see we have a two-storey stand and over 130 Hilton representatives at ITB – including corporate, tourism, general managers & hotel owners here, as well as sales staff. We are the largest hotel company on the globe, this is the largest travel trade show in the world, so we are here to showcase our latest brands and what we’re doing technology-wise, how we’re innovating. How do you keep ahead of your competitors? There is a proliferation of smaller bespoke companies opening up, so that keeps you on your toes. You can’t get complacent and rely on the brand. I would love to be in a situation where, when we open a new hotel, people are lining up 24 hours in advance to get in – that’s the power of Apple. They launch the iPhone 6, and people will queue because they don’t just like that brand, they love it - as an indispensible part of themselves. That’s what we want to do – when you’re travelling for business, we want to make that experience successful and memorable so that you become an advocate and spread the word to your colleagues. And of course - the beauty of that is you wouldn’t have to queue Paul Malcolm Head of Sales, Hilton Worldwide, at ITBBerlin 2015 around the block because you’ve already checked-in on your iPhone! What else is on the horizon in EMEA for Hilton? The continent of Africa. We have hotels in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria and generally it’s a huge development area. There is mineral wealth, investment opportunities, oil, mining – as the middle class and incomes grow in these countries, we need to be part of the infrastructure – and that is very much on our radar. Hall 9 Stand 316 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 6 th March 2015 www.itb-berlin-news.com
BUSINESS TRAVEL SPECIAL FEATURE 17 ADVERTORIAL Best Western – Better for Business The US-based hotel chain reaches new levels in service for business travellers Phoenix, Arizona-based Best Western International, the world’s biggest hotel chain with around 4,000 independently owned and operated hotels, is a partner of Brand USA at ITBBerlin, and is again showing its versatility in the business travel sector. Best Western International recently set a brand record when it achieved a North American revenue per available room (RevPAR) index of 111.2 in 2014 (100 represents fair market share). This follows the company’s previous twoyear record of a RevPAR index of 110 or above and represents a 26.8 percent growth rate in RevPAR since 2011, outpacing the competition by six points. 2014 also saw the brand reach two other milestones; generating total revenue of .9 billion in North America and exceeding the billion mark through its central reservations system. David Kong, Best Western president and CEO, said he was pleased with the success achieved over the past three years: “Several factors have contributed to this success including the introduction of our descriptor program [which divides the chain into three types of properties: Best Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier], improving the quality of Best Western hotels in North America and our continued investment in our marketing and sales programs and our technology infrastructure.” Part of this success has been Best Western’s increased success in the business travel sector. In yet another high-profile acknowledgement for the Best Western International brand, readers of Business Travel News (BTN) selected Best Western’s the No. 1 Mid-price Hotel Company and Best Western Plus as the No. 1 Upper Mid-price Hotel Company for 2014. The Annual Hotel Chain Survey measures corporate buyer opinions of the lodging brands they use. BTN readers include more than 44,000 travel managers who control 4 billion in corporate travel spending. In addition to being voted No. 1 Mid-price Hotel Company, Best Western was also the top-scoring brand in the following categories: quality of sales staff, consistency, arranging group travel, meeting facilities, corporate rate program, quality of data, helpful/ courteous staff and inroom business amenities. Best Western Plus earned the highest ranking for arranging group travel, BEST WESTERN DISTINGUISHED ITSELF ON THE QUALITY OF ITS SALES TEAM, THE APPEARANCE OF ITS HOTELS, PUBLIC SPACES AND IN-ROOM BUSINESS AMENITIES, AND ITS HELPFUL AND COURTEOUS STAFF corporate rate programs, quality of data and physical appearance. In just one year Best Western has advanced dramatically in the rankings, with Best Western and Best Western Plus moving up from 4th and 5th place in their respective categories in BTN’s 2013 survey. Much of this success is attributed to the brand’s Descriptor Best Western’s meeting facilities continue to be a big draw card for business travellers program, its awardwinning loyalty program, and increased investments in its worldwide sales department. “Best Western distinguished itself on the quality of its sales team, the appearance of its hotels, public spaces and in-room business amenities, and its helpful and courteous staff,” said Louis Magliaro, group publisher of The BTN Group. “Best Western is making great strides, and Business Travel News readers are clearly taking notice.” Meanwhile, US News voted the Best Western Rewards program the third best rewards program in North America for 2014. Geared toward budget-minded business travelers, Best Western Rewards members David Kong Best Western President and CEO can earn and redeem points at more than 4,000 Best Western hotels in 100- plus countries. Members can also earn points by using Best Western partner services (which range from car rentals to flower delivery) and by making everyday purchases using a Best Western Rewards MasterCard. These points can be put towards future stays at Best Western hotels. And because of Best Western’s affiliation with airlines like Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, members can redeem earned points for miles Hall 9 Stand 311 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 6 th March 2015
