PHOENIX, May 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Best Western International, announced that 1,808 Best Western hotels globally received TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence awards, a 13 percent increase over last year. In North America, 1,161 Best Western properties received a Certificate of Excellence. This includes 1,051 Best Western hotels in the U.S. and 110 hotels in Canada. Overall, the number of the brand's North American hotels receiving awards represents a 12 percent increase over last year's total and a 32 percent increase over 2013.
The highly coveted TripAdvisor award is given to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor.com. To qualify for the Certificate of Excellence, businesses must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews, and be listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months.
Additionally, 378 hotels received Hall of Fame recognition. Hall of Fame honorees include those businesses that have earned a Certificate of Excellence for the past five consecutive years.
"We are proud of every Best Western property that earns the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence," said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western International. "These awards truly represent the voice of the customer. We have been on a journey to exceed our guests' expectations, and clearly our hotels are achieving incredible results."
The high percentage of hotels earning the Certificate of Excellence reflects the brand's commitment to provide superior customer care and dedication to responding to guest reviews online. Best Western's award-winning I Care – Reflections tool, developed with the brand's customer experience management partner Medallia, allows hotel operators to authentically engage consumers who respond to 1.3 million guest surveys and post more than 150,000 online hotel reviews each year.
"TripAdvisor is pleased to honor exceptional hospitality businesses that have received consistent praise and recognition by travelers on the site," said Marc Charron, president of TripAdvisor for Business. "By putting a spotlight on businesses that are focused on delivering great service to customers, TripAdvisor not only helps drive an improvement to hospitality standards around the world, it also gives businesses both large and small the ability to shine and stand out from the competition."
About Best Western International, Inc.
Best Western International, Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,000+* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers six hotel products to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market: BEST WESTERN®, BEST WESTERN PLUS®, BEST WESTERN PREMIER®, BEST WESTERN PLUS EXECUTIVE RESIDENCY℠, Vīb℠ and BW Premier Collection℠. Now celebrating 69 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and online and mobile booking capabilities. More than 22 million travelers are members of the brand's award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards®, one of the few programs in which members earn points that never expire and can be redeemed at any Best Western hotel worldwide. The brand's partnerships with AAA/CAA, Minor League Baseball, and Harley-Davidson® provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Best Western continues to set industry records and accolades, including Business Travel News naming BEST WESTERN and BEST WESTERN PLUS as the best mid-price and upper mid-price hotel chains, four consecutive Compuware Best of the Web gold awards for best hotel website and six consecutive AAA/CAA Hotel Partner of the Year awards. Best Western branded hotels worldwide won four times more TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence awards than industry average. For more information or to make a reservation, please visit bestwestern.com.
*Numbers are approximate and may fluctuate.
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and book the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers advice from travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find the best hotel prices. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 340 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 225 million reviews and opinions covering more than 4.9 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 45 countries worldwide. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.
TripAdvisor, Inc. manages and operates websites under 24 other travel media brands: airfarewatchdog.com, bookingbuddy.com, cruisecritic.com, everytrail.com, familyvacationcritic.com, flipkey.com, thefork.com (including lafourchette.com, eltenedor.com, iens.nl and besttables.com), gateguru.com, holidaylettings.co.uk, holidaywatchdog.com, independenttraveler.com, jetsetter.com, niumba.com, onetime.com, oyster.com, seatguru.com, smartertravel.com, tingo.com, travelpod.com, tripbod.com, vacationhomerentals.com, viator.com, virtualtourist.com, and kuxun.cn.
*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, December 2014
**Source: Google Analytics, average monthly unique users, Q1 2015
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