All Brands Owned by 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.