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Our Work Best Western

Strategic Branding Across a Global Hospitality Portfolio

BWH Hotels worked with Casual Astronaut to refine its myriad brand identities and boost engagement through strategic marketing and communication initiatives worldwide.

A photograph of the entrance to a Best Western hotel at dusk. The building features a large wooden pergola supported by black columns, illuminated by warm lighting. The Best Western logo is prominently displayed above the entrance. Surrounding the building are landscaped gardens.

In the crowded and highly competitive hospitality industry, staying relevant and appealing to today’s travelers is crucial. BWH Hotels — the parent company of 19 hospitality brands including Best Western, WorldHotels, and SureStay — needed to refine the individual identities of its diverse brands to increase global reach and attract new developers.

Casual Astronaut partnered with BWH Hotels to tackle this challenge by executing a comprehensive series of marketing initiatives, ranging from brand development to internal communications, across its diverse global portfolio of hospitality brands. This multifaceted approach ensured that each brand maintained a distinct and appealing identity while enhancing overall engagement and cohesion within the BWH Hotels group:

  • Brand Identity & Collateral: Spearheading the branding and identity efforts for BWH’s newest extended-stay hotel brand.
  • Web Design & Development: Guiding multiple website relaunches to ensure a seamless and engaging user experience, from design to content.
  • Email & Content Marketing: Elevating two of BWH’s email newsletter programs with a fresh design and developing new internal communications website.
Services
  • Branding & Identity
  • Collateral
  • Content Creation
  • Email Marketing
  • Web Design & Development
An orange gradient background has a geometric design forming the word "HOME" in large letters across the top part of the image. Below the design, white text reads "@HOME Best Western.
A modern, four-story hotel with a red and beige exterior and large windows on each floor. The hotel entrance is lit up, and several people are near the main door. The sky is partly cloudy, and there are trees and a city skyline in the background.
An image showing the front and back of a business card for "@HOME Best Western." The front is orange with the company's name and logo, while the back is white with contact information, including a name, job title, phone number, email, address, and website.
A person wearing glasses and a red sweater sits on a dark green couch, smiling and holding a laptop. The background is dark with minimal decor. Large text reads "YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME." Smaller text indicates that each Best Western hotel is independently owned and operated.
A stationery set comprising a letterhead, a business card, and an envelope, all featuring the @HOME logo and branding. The letterhead includes a typed letter addressed to Jack, signed by Jane Smith, General Manager. The design integrates orange accents and a clean layout.

Brand Identity & Collateral

Working with BWH Hotels, Casual Astronaut developed a fresh branding and collateral suite for @HOME, an innovative extended-stay, apartment-style hotel. We crafted a cohesive identity that resonates with modern travelers and emerging hotel developers, reflecting the brand’s design philosophy of “options, not mandates” to give developers the flexibility to create unique properties. New collateral, including signage, business cards, and digital assets, reinforced brand recognition and boosted customer engagement. This updated look is designed to distinguish @HOME from its more traditional extended-stay competitors.

A MacBook and a smartphone display the BVH Hotels website. The site showcases a modern and elegant dining area with the text "Inspiring Global Hospitality." The smartphone screen shows a different section titled "The BVH Partnership" with monochrome imagery.

Web Design & Development

Our web design and development efforts for BWH Hotels have focused on creating a modern, user-centric digital experience that reflects the brand’s global stature. Our biggest web project to date tasked us with revamping BWH’s North American Development Group website with a sleek, intuitive design, incorporating responsive features that ensure a seamless experience across all devices. Enhanced functionality and streamlined navigation were prioritized to improve user engagement and conversion rates. This redesign not only elevated the visual appeal but also optimized the performance and accessibility of the Development Group’s online presence, effectively supporting its strategic goals and outreach efforts across North America. We have now moved into designing microsites for some of BWH’s sub-brands to bolster the resources available to the Development Group and to promote the unique brands and their individual offerings.

Four smartphone screens display different content related to Best Western Hotels & Resorts. The screens show a news update, webinar registration, a welcome message from Ron Pohl, and details of a property spotlight on Hangzhou Goethe Hotel.

Email & Content Marketing

Our email marketing efforts for BWH have been instrumental in driving owner/member engagement and enhancing internal communication. We partner with BWH on its weekly BW News Now newsletter — as well as its monthly WorldHotels News Now newsletter — both of which are meticulously designed to deliver timely and relevant content that resonates with both Best Western’s and WorldHotels’ diverse members/owners, respectively. By leveraging segmented mailing lists and important, need-to-know messaging, we ensure that each brand’s unique voice and offerings are effectively communicated, fostering stronger connections with recipients. This strategic approach has not only increased open rates and engagement metrics, but also reinforced BWH’s position as a leading hospitality brand on a global scale in the eyes of its internal audiences.

Travel Is Our Specialty: Case Studies

The Ritz-Carlton

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Niagara Falls USA

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Niagara Falls is far more than a day-trip destination — here’s how we helped Destination Niagara USA prove that to prospective hotel-booking visitors.
Marriott International

Inspiring Residence Owners to Journey Deeper

Through strategic design and engaging copy, learn how Casual Astronaut helps Marriott’s luxury brands create personalized communications for their residence owners, all while catering to 12 distinct brand voices and guidelines.

We never take a one-size-fits-all approach. Let’s chat about a strategy that meets your needs.

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