Best Western Introduces New Boutique Brands – Sadie & Aiden
Date: September 2018
Location: Global
Name: Sadie Hotel & Aiden Hotel
Who: Phoenix-based Best Western Hotels & Resorts today marked an industry first, introducing a pair of boutique brands – Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel.
Sadie Hotel will compete in the upscale segments, and Aiden Hotel will compete in the upper midscale segment. These conversion brands offer developers an opportunity to reposition existing properties to improve their performance and enhance their asset value.
These brands will offer hoteliers a design program with unprecedented flexibility. Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel’s edgy personalities will be reflected across each hotel, starting from the moment travellers enter the colourful, imaginative lobbies.
The same charming style will be interwoven throughout other common areas and in unique guestrooms, services and amenities. The appealing brands will allow hoteliers to tap into the local flair of their market, broaden their customer base, and achieve higher RevPAR.
“Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel are chic, sophisticated and unique hotel brands that will reflect the style and pulse of the community they are in – bringing a sense of adventure and fun to guests at each hotel,” said David Kong, President & Chief Executive Officer at Best Western Hotels & Resorts.
“We’re thrilled to be the first in the industry to launch a pair of boutique brands – Sadie Hotel for the upscale segments and Aiden Hotel for the upper midscale segment.
A dedicated on-boarding team will ensure these repositioned hotels are quickly integrated with Best Western’s powerful revenue engines intended to drive a fast ramp up in business. A marketing and PR playbook for each hotel will drive social media visibility and buzz.”
Filling a void in the upscale hotel scene, Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel give developers the chance to be creative and incorporate local flair into their designs, retrofitting or re-branding an existing hotel with a modern, spirited aesthetic.
The brands creatively use space and technology, while eliminating some typical hotel requirements. At the centre of each Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel is a multi-functional public area with either a café or bar; modern signature seating; and mobile check-in for convenient guest check-in.
Properties will also have branded Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel items on display and available for purchase so that guests can take a piece of Sadie Hotel or Aiden Hotel home with them.
With the launch of Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel, today’s Best Western portfolio includes 13 distinctive brands, continuing the evolution begun by the company’s successful $2 billion brand refresh.
Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel will benefit from Best Western’s reputation for providing superior guest service and will have access to the award-winning Best Western Rewards® program, which contributes about 50% of gross room revenue to hotels.
Each Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel will become one of the most talked about hotels within its community and hoteliers will benefit from Best Western’s robust global influencer programming and PR efforts, as the Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel story is told on both paid and earned channels.
Customizable marketing playbooks provided by Best Western will make achieving PR and social media wins easy, including Sadie Hotel and Aiden Hotel PR and social media campaigns that are unique, full of surprises, and will tap into the flair of the local market.
THPT Comment: OK until we see the first hotels that undertake the new brand conversion, hard to say if the Sadie & Aiden brands will be winners. Too many hotel chains with too many brands…not a lot of which really stand out for us….IHG’s Indigo and Marriott’s Edition being two that do.
Postscript November 2018: Best Western Hotels & Resorts’ first Aiden hotel is open, and the debut Sadie properties are on their way.
The first-ever Aiden Hotel opened last month in Seoul, South Korea. Located in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu neighborhood, the 151-room boutique hotel has a multi-functional public area, mobile check-in and locally inspired design.
The second Aiden Hotel is set to open in December just north of Paris. The 90-room hotel will have a bar and restaurant, a pool and three meeting rooms for business travellers. Guestrooms will highlight local designs.
The first three Sadie Hotel properties, meanwhile, are coming to Tampa, Fla.; Fredericksburg, Texas; and New York in 2020. The 70-room Sadie hotel in Tampa is slated to open in the spring of 2020. The New York City location will follow shortly after, followed by the Fredericksburg property in Texas’ Hill Country, home to more than 45 wineries and vineyards. All three of these hotels will compete in the upscale segments.
First Seen: AZ Big Media