Chain reaction

Hotel franchises offer a refreshing departure from 'cookie-cutter' chains - but they can prove tricky for travel managers, says Bob Papworth

The three-star Montague hotel, on Bournemouth's West Cliff and within easy walking distance of the beach, town centre and Bournemouth International Centre, boasts 31 en-suite rooms with free wi-fi, a heated pool with sun terraces for al fresco dining, and an award winning restaurant.

It is also a fully paid-up member of the Best Western consortium. Gina Mackin, who owns the Montague, wouldn't have it any other way. "I bought the hotel five years ago and we joined Best Western in 2008. I think it's the best thing I ever did for the hotel.

"We are really proud to be part of the Best Western family, and if I ever bought another hotel" - Mackin used to have two properties - "it would have to be a Best Western." Bournemouth has two other Best Westerns - the 83-room Connaught, which has an indoor pool, spa and two gyms, and the 64-room Royale, which has a pool, but no spa and no gyms.

And that, from a corporate perspective, could pose a problem. There are now more than 270 Best Western members in the UK, with well over 15,000 rooms between them. Most have three-star accreditation, but the rest boast four stars. They are all privately owned, and range from historic coaching inns and converted castles to "contemporary boutique" properties.

That's just in the UK - globally, there are some 4,000 Best Westerns, with more than 300,000 rooms spread across 80 countries. And they're all different.

This individuality can prove tricky for travel managers. If it is imperative that the client corporation's employees have access to a spa or pool, for example, how does that work?

With a Holiday Inn, a Ramada or even a premier Inn, the travel manager - and the traveller - has a pretty good idea of what to expect. With consortia such as best Western, hotel 'clubs' such as Leading Hotels of the World (and Small Leading, Great and even Unusual hotels of the world), and franchise operations such as choice Hotels International, variety - a general lack of consistency - would seem to be the point.

But that's not the case, says Brian Garvan, UK sales director for Hotels Europe. "As a global organisation it's important that a business traveller enjoys the same level of service whether they are in Birmingham, Bordeaux or Boston," he says.

"Brand standards are the hallmark of brand consistency and it is vital that we implement and maintain these. Last year we upgraded the business travel experience by introducing enhanced brand standards at all our comfort and Quality properties in Europe, including free internet access, upgraded bedding and a consistent breakfast offering."

Although Choice's standards are "customised for local market implementation to have a positive impact on the guest's overall experience", they do provide for a consistent approach in everything from in-room amenities to staff clothing.

"We occasionally have to work with under-performing hotels to address areas where improvement is needed," Garvan says. "If that is not delivered we do not shy away from the difficult decision to terminate properties for the benefit of the overall network of hotels."

Tim Wade, Western's head of marketing, is equally adamant about the need for quality standards, even among a group of very different properties. "Western has a wide variety of hotels that make up the group - no two are the same, and we are proud of that. All of our hotels have their own unique personality," he says "[but] every property has to adhere to strict quality standards and is subject to yearly inspections. this gives reassurance to our guests."

Price is another issue. With so many variations on the hospitality theme - even within the same group and star rating- rate standardisation is a real challenge. Wade says: "Western has a clear pricing strategy for all major market segments. For the corporate market we have a range of products to suit the individual company's needs, including fixed-pricing for a specific hotel or hotels.

"We also use dynamic pricing for customers who use a wide range of hotels and whose requirements are a little less specific. Western believes in offering a fair pricing policy for all markets, which reassures our customers that they do not need to shop around with other brands."

Choice's Garvan says: "We have corporate sales efforts working at many levels - global, European, national and local - to provide travel management companies and corporates with competitive pricing in all of our franchised properties.

"We ensure that all our key consortia and travel management partners across Europe and globally have access to our specially preferred corporate rates. On top of this, we work with the TMCs' clients to make sure they have the right product and rate to meet their requirements and budget.

"On a global level, we have preferred supplier agreements in place with American Express, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and BCD Travel, while in the UK we have signed preferred supplier agreements with BSI, BookOTel and Co-operative Travel Management, among others."

He adds: "Where appropriate our sales teams also deal directly with travel managers and other procurement decision-makers, and they work direct with corporations where this is their preferred approach.

"We work hard to ensure corporates enjoy rate parity across all the hotels' distribution channels. We see it as essential in ensuring a good relationship with our distribution partners, travel agencies and online travel companies. All of our franchised hotels take part in our best rate Guarantee programme to ensure that rates on their own websites match those on ours, and anywhere else on the web.

"The vast majority of choice-branded hotels achieve 100 per cent parity every single week."

Choice is also re-engineering its global technology platform to help franchisees and corporate clients alike. "We've just announced a multimillion-dollar IT infrastructure designed to strengthen choice's technology platform, automate back- and front-office processes at franchised properties, and drive increased central reservation system delivery to branded hotels, which will position the brands for future growth," Garvan says.

"IT investment includes the international roll-out of choice ADVANTAGE, the company's web-based property management system, which automates processes such as check-in, invoicing and inventory management, starting with a pilot in the UK later this year.

"We are also planning to migrate all our websites on to choicehotels.com architecture and infrastructure, while maintaining the functionality and localisation features that are required by each market. this will not only benefit hoteliers but the many business travellers who book and stay at branded properties in Europe."

For Anthony Rissbrook, head of co-operative franchise hotels do have what he describes as "ascertain individuality factor" but he insists that is a large part of their appeal.

"We have a good number of clients who find franchise groups such as Western and Choice to be good for the corporate sector," Rissbrook says. "sector is certainly an area that the franchises want to develop in, and given the right circumstances, these organisations can be very adaptable and open to negotiation when we try to deliver the best rates for our clients.

"As far as a guarantee of service standards is concerned, we feel they only face the same issues as all mainstream chains - namely, the quality of the management team on-site."

For properties such as the Montague, being part of such an organisation is invaluable. Mackin says: "I went through a great rigmarole to be accepted by Western, and it does cost a lot of money, but owner-operators like us need the back-up of a big organisation.

"When they inspect us each year they go through everything, right down to how many waste-paper bins there are in the rooms. there are an awful lot of boxes to tick, but it's well worth it. We get tons of business through them - I'd say 60 per cent of my business comes from Western referrals. And we get a lot of international bookings, which we wouldn't necessarily achieve by other means.

"On the corporate side, people pick Western because they know they're going to get a certain standard of accommodation and service."