Best Western

Best Western International Incorporated is the parent company behind the Best Western Hotels and Resorts brand. There are more than 4000 hotels and motels located all over the world and the corporate headquarters for Best Western is located in Phoenix, Arizona. 2000 of those hotels are found in North America. The company most recently celebrated 30 years of business in May 2018. They have over 1200 employees at their corporate office, which does not include the employees working at the motels. Some of the employment opportunities at Best Western include area outside sales managers, brand managers for the boutique, hotel sales consultants, instructional designers, manager of communications, automation engineers, regional services manager, shipping administrators, and much more.

The hotel began before World War II. At the time, most of them were small family-owned roadside motels or large luxury motels. However, an independent network of hotel operators began referring customers to each other in California. This small network eventually became the best Western Hotel chain which was created by M.K. Guertin in 1946. The name was chosen because most of the properties were located within the Western United States having originated in California. The company continued to grow and by 1962 had the only hospitality reservation service that was across the entire United States and it was the largest motel chain in the industry in 1963.

The company also has a large international presence, including expansion into Canada in 1964 when Canadian hotel owners joined the system. Best Western then expanded to the south in Mexico and then in Australia and New Zealand in 1976. Best Western Great Britain began in 1978 and the rest of the world shortly after including Europe and Asia. The company was estimated to have approximately $6 billion in revenue as of 2012.