The owners of Best Western hotels have approved a plan that will create three levels for the brand's more than 4,000 properties.
CEO David Kong said 55% of hotel owners approved the plan, which was presented to them at last year's annual meeting.
Under the plan, Best Westerns that have a Two Diamond rating from AAA will remain Best Western, Three Diamond properties will be renamed Best Western Plus and Four Diamond properties will become Best Western Premier — an upper tier that is already in place in Europe and Asia.
In an effort to achieve greater brand consistency, the Plus and Premier properties will be bound to a new list of brand requirements governing things like linen thread count and bathroom amenities.
Kong said the tiers are necessary to remedy an ongoing problem of consumer confusion about the chain, which covers a wide variety of properties around the world.
"Because we don’t describe hotels properly, that diversity has become a liability," he said. "An analogy is if a hotel has three different room types, but they don’t tell you which one you’re going to stay in.
"One day you stay in a deluxe room, and you like it a lot. You return the next week, and they give you a standard room. You are going to be disappointed. The next time you get another room. Over time you are going to say, ‘Forget it, I am going to try someone else.' "
Kong said the changes should be complete by February.
Best Western, he said, intends to reach out to travel agents, tours operators and other intermediaries to educate them about the changes, and provide lists of what categories existing hotels will fall under in the new plan.