London, October 19th 2016 -- Ovation Incentives, the technology-led global rewards specialist, has today announced that it has been selected by Best Western® Hotels & Resorts to be the primary international provider of gift cards for its award winning loyalty programme, Best Western Rewards®. The deal will see Ovation curate an exclusive selection of retail gift cards for the millions of Best Western Rewards members in over 100 countries.
As one of the few hotel loyalty programmes that is truly global, Best Western Rewards provides greater consistency and quality for its members when redeeming their points. By working with Ovation, Best Western is able to offer to its international members locally relevant and desirable gift card rewards, ensuring that the latest brands and e-gift cards are always available for its members – wherever they may be.
Through this deal, Best Western has also been able to streamline its rewards administration and supply chain from managing multiple regional providers to a single centralised resource. Apart from the consistency in reward selection and customer service, this also drives significant operational efficiencies for the global rewards programme.
Best Western’s award-winning loyalty program, Best Western Rewards®, is one of the richest reward programs in the industry, offering among the most generous rewards compared to other loyalty programs. In addition to being recognized by U.S. News & World Report for the past three years, and in 2015, J.D. Power & Associates ranked Best Western Rewards as one of the top three hotel loyalty programmes.
“Through working with Ovation, our Best Western Rewards members around the world will immediately be able to redeem their points for a greater selection of local gift card rewards, and this selection will continue to evolve as we listen to members’ preferences,” said Tammy Lucas, vice president of marketing for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “We know our hotel partners will benefit from increased bookings as a result of better rewards and our cost of global reward administration will decline. Our partnership with Ovation will bring great value to our members and our brand, helping Best Western Rewards® remain one of the world’s best loyalty programs.”
About Ovation Incentives
Ovation Incentives is a technology focused incentive marketing company. They provide solutions to improve business performance by incentivising, rewarding and motivating their customers, partners and employees. This is achieved by combining its world-class global reward portfolio with tailor-made technology systems to deliver award-winning local solutions in 120+ countries and 40+ languages.
About Best Western Hotels & Resorts
Best Western® Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,100* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers seven hotel brands to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market: Best Western®, Best Western Plus®, Best Western Premier®, Executive Residency by Best Western℠, Vīb®, BW Premier Collection® and GLō℠. Now celebrating 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and online and mobile booking capabilities. More than 26 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 regarding awards and accolades, including Business Travel News naming Best Western as the best midscale hotel brand in 2014 and Best Western Plus as the best upper mid-price hotel brand in 2014 and 2015, four consecutive Compuware Best of the Web gold awards for best hotel website, and seven consecutive AAA/CAA Hotel Partner of the Year awards. Nearly sixty percent of Best Western branded hotels earned a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award in 2015.
* Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.