WorldHotels (formerly BWH Hotels)

Who owns WorldHotels?
WorldHotels is owned by its member hotels through a nonprofit cooperative structure. There are no public shareholders. Each member property holds one vote, and the company reinvests fees in brand services rather than paying dividends.

What happened to BWH Hotels and Best Western?
BWH Hotels renamed itself WorldHotels on October 27, 2026. The 18 individual hotel brands, including Best Western and Best Western Plus, keep their names. The change applies to the parent masterbrand and the unified WorldHotels Rewards loyalty program launching January 5, 2027.

Is WorldHotels publicly traded?
No. It is a member-owned cooperative and cannot be bought on any stock exchange. It is one of the few major hotel groups without public shareholders.

How many hotels does WorldHotels have?
The group reports more than 4,000 hotels across 18 brands in over 100 countries and territories, with roughly 3,920 operating properties as of 2026 and a pipeline of more than 400.

When was the company founded?
The cooperative began in 1946 as Best Western, a referral network of independent motels founded by Merrill K. Guertin. It incorporated as Best Western International in 1966, renamed itself BWH Hotels in 2021, and adopted the WorldHotels name in October 2026.

What is WorldHotels Rewards?
WorldHotels Rewards is the unified loyalty program launching January 5, 2027, merging Best Western Rewards and WorldHotels Rewards. It consolidates the group's roughly 62 million loyalty members into a single program with three tiers.

Merrill K. Guertin founded Best Western in 1946 in Long Beach, California, as a referral network of independent motel owners along the new US highway system. The "Best Western" name reflected the network's concentration in the western United States. Members referred guests to one another and shared a quality standard, an early version of the soft-brand model that now dominates hotel conversions.

The cooperative incorporated as Best Western International in 1966 and moved its headquarters to Phoenix. It grew into the world's largest hotel chain by property count during the 1970s and 1980s, peaking above 4,000 member hotels while remaining independently owned properties under a shared flag.

The brand tiered up beginning in the 2000s. Best Western Plus launched in 2003 as an upper-midscale option, followed by Best Western Premier for upper-upscale. The group then added boutique and conversion brands: BW Premier Collection and BW Signature Collection for independents, Vib and Aiden for boutique, GLō and Sadie for new-build economy and midscale, and Executive Residency for extended stay.

In 2019 the company acquired WorldHotels, a roughly 250-property collection of upscale and luxury independent hotels founded in 1970, adding a genuine luxury soft brand. The parent renamed itself BWH Hotels in 2021 to reflect a portfolio broader than one flag. Larry Cuculic became president and CEO in December 2021.

On October 27, 2026, the company announced it was renaming itself WorldHotels, taking the name of the 2019 acquisition to serve as the single masterbrand for the whole portfolio. The change addresses low public awareness of the group's other 17 brands and unifies loyalty into WorldHotels Rewards on January 5, 2027. CEO Cuculic said the 18 individual hotel brands keep their names and that the cooperative structure is unchanged.

The October 2026 renaming drew criticism from a portion of the member base. Because each hotel holds one cooperative vote, three quarters of which belong to Best Western-flagged properties, some owners objected that they were not given a vote on adopting the WorldHotels name. CEO Larry Cuculic defended the change as a masterbrand overlay that leaves individual brand names and member economics untouched.

The cooperative model has also produced periodic tension over brand standards. Members have at times resisted required property improvement plans and fee changes, a structural feature of one-hotel-one-vote governance.

Like other large chains, the group faces standard hospitality scrutiny over franchise disclosure, loyalty program terms, and ADA compliance at member properties. No major regulatory enforcement actions or systemic controversies have been reported as of November 2026.