BWH Hotels and Madrid-based hotel management firm Braintrust Hospitality entered a “preferred partnership” agreement to help grow BWH Hotels’ portfolio in Spain and Portugal.
Javier Serrano, director of development and investor relations at Braintrust, said in an interview the partnership aims to develop “a five-year growth plan to revamp and reposition the brand with the aim to recover historical supply numbers in the Iberian markets."
“The goal is to grow between 30 to 40 hotels in year five in Spain and Portugal,” he said.
He added the plan will return BWH’s fortunes in the region.
“Former Best Western Hotels, now BWH Hotels, used to have about 30 hotels in its portfolio [in Iberia] until the late 2000s, when, for different reasons, specially driven by the economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis, hotels started to de-brand," he said.
Phoenix, Arizona-based hotel firm BWH currently has seven hotels in Spain and one in Portugal.
Braintrust also has a transactions and development consultancy and services division, as well as one providing all other manners of hotel consultancy.
Braintrust will benefit by having access to BWH Hotels’ brands when discussing owners’ and investors’ growth strategies in markets increasingly attracted to franchise agreements.
Franchises to the Fore
The franchises business model has seen considerable movement in Europe since the end of the pandemic.
Global hotel companies such as Choice Hotels International and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts only do franchises and have grown in Europe over the last decade. Added to the mix are an increasing number of white-label, or third-party, management companies.
According to business consultancy HVS, in 2022, 41% of Europe’s hotels had a brand affiliation, with franchising increasingly the chosen business model seeing the highest percentage growth.
That figure is “up from around a third a decade ago,” according to HVS.
In the U.S., HVS added, “an estimated 70% of hotels are branded, which remains unchanged from three years ago. This clearly means that the opportunities for brand growth in Europe, including franchises, remain significant.”
Franchises have also been helped by financial insecurities following the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a news release announcing the deal, Braintrust’s Serrano said he believed the firms’ combined strengths “will drive innovation and excellence. … The flexibility and benefits of BWH Hotels’ franchise agreements are well suited to the dynamic needs of the Iberian hotel market.”
For BMW, the deal likely signifies more pain-free portfolio growth in what is a very competitive regional market.
“[Braintrust’s] extensive experience and network in the Iberian market align perfectly with our vision to expand our footprint in this vibrant region,” said Stefan Dubbeling, managing director of development, Europe, Middle East and Africa at BWH Hotels, in the news release.
In the interview, Serrano said the partnership aims to compete against top international and national hotels brands in terms of room supply in the market.
“But first is to recover brand perception and what was lost in terms of room supply from about 14 years ago," he said.
The partnership’s main targets are independent and small-medium urban hotel chains in primary cities, notably Madrid, secondary cities such as Pamplona and even tertiary markets such as Peñafiel, Serrano said.
“We’re also exploring the resort segments and assets located in leisure or holiday destinations,” he said.
BWH Hotels has within its fold three hotel divisions — WorldHotels, Best Western Hotels & Resorts — which has 13 affiliated brands — and SureStay Hotels.
Globally, the combined company has more than 4,300 hotels in approximately 100 countries.