PHOENIX— Best Western International plans to expand into South America, adding up to 30 hotels in the next 18 months. Suzi MacDonald, vp/international operations, recently completed a fact finding visit to Argentina, Brazil and Chile, and “is confident in the future growth opportunities that exist,” according to the company. “Best Western is poised to take on a more dominant hotel development position in South America. Previously, Best Western had regional representation through a local partner, however, that partnership agreement was set to finish this year. We see tremendous brand growth opportunity and expect to add significantly to our existing portfolio of 53 member hotels,” said MacDonald. Best Western is investing in the region, establishing operations offices in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires and has plans to open offices in Peru and Venezuela in early 2003. “We believe this move will raise the level of services and better support our South American hotels,” she added. Last December, Best Western added Spanish and Portuguese speaking agents to handle reservations and customer service calls. “We have an aggressive sales and marketing effort in place to support our growth which includes a presence at all major trade shows and the relaunch of our global frequent guest program, Gold Crown Club International” said Bob Gilbert, vp/worldwide marketing and sales.
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