Best Western's Dorothy Dowling Honored as 2017 Silver Stevie® Award Winner for Marketing Executive of the Year
PHOENIX, AZ. May 8, 2017 - Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Best Western Hotels & Resorts, has been named the recipient of the Silver Stevie Award in the Marketing Executive of the Year category. The awards are part of the 15th Annual American Business Awards℠. With more than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, Dowling was selected for her 30-plus years of dedication to hospitality marketing, and for leading Best Western's notable achievements in 2016 including: the brand's iconic refresh, the revamp of its industry-leading Best Western Rewards® (BWR®) loyalty program, and it's coveted industry partnerships known for driving innovation and business activation and delivering superior guest experiences.
“Dorothy is an outstanding member of Best Western's executive leadership team, and one that we are grateful to have leading our marketing and sales initiatives” said President and CEO for Best Western, David Kong. “Dorothy's receipt of this award is well deserved, as it reflects her tremendous work ethic, deep industry experience, and unwavering commitment to the forward direction of our brand.”
“It is an incredible honor to be recognized with this award, as it is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team,” said Dowling. “We are committed to listening to the voice of the customer, and this voice is our guiding force at Best Western. I am thrilled with what our brand was able to accomplish together in 2016, especially our historic brand refresh and the ongoing enhancements to our award-winning BWR program. On a personal level, it is quite fulfilling to see those programs - and our innovation - be recognized in this way.”
Dowling played a central role in the 2016 Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand refresh, helping develop the brand's re-energized identity and enhancements to their hotel portfolio, including the establishment of the individualities for each of the core brands to best showcase the $2 billion product investment by hotel owners. Dowling's efforts helped her earn a promotion as Chief Marketing Executive in 2016 - where she now oversees Best Western's loyalty program (Best Western Rewards), brand partnerships, consumer and field marketing activities, advertising and public relations, social media, B2B marketing and global sales. Dowling is also responsible for an $80 million marketing budget and used the budget effectively to implement an array of enhancements within the company. These initiatives include: • Award winning partnership with AAA®/CAA® (8X Partner of the Year)
• Global brand refresh
• Best Western Rewards (BWR) refresh
• Business activation of global distribution partnerships
• Award winning promotions with Disney® Media Group
• First mover brand partnership with the Google® VR platform
• Business Travel News® (BTN) recognition 3x over
• Launch of You Must Be Trippin' (YMBT) blog
• Launch of global group platform with HotelPlanner®
The American Business Awards are the nation's premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations - public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. More than 190 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year's Stevie Award winners.
“Each year the judges find the quality and variety of the nominations to be greater than the year before. The 2017 competition was intense and every organization that has won should be proud,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.
Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Tuesday, June 20. Additional details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2017 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.
About Best Western® Hotels & Resorts
Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,200* 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®, Vîb®, BW Premier Collection® and GLo®. Now celebrating more than 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and award-winning online and mobile booking capabilities. Best Western continues to set industry records regarding awards and accolades, including nearly sixty percent of the brand's North American hotels earning a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award in 2016, Business Travel News® ranking Best Western Plus and Best Western in the top three upper-mid-price and mid-price hotel brands for three years in a row, and Best Western receiving five consecutive Dynatrace® Best of the Web gold awards for best hotel website. Best Western has also won eight AAA®/CAA® Lodging Partner of the Year awards, recognizing the brand's commitment to providing exceptional service and great value to AAA's 56 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Nearly 30 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. Best Western's partnerships with AAA/CAA and Harley-Davidson® provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Through its partnership with Google® Street View, Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch a virtual reality experience for customers, setting a new industry standard and reinventing how guests view hotels. * Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.
About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.
Contact:
Courtney McCurry
Manager, Public Relations
602.957.5639
Samantha Jacobs or Matt Ritter
Hemsworth Communications
[email protected]
954.716.7614
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is a global leading lodging company based in Bethesda,Maryland, USA, with more than 4,200 properties in 80 countries and territories. Marriott International reported revenues of nearly $14 billion in fiscal year 2014. The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 19 brands, including: The Ritz-Carlton®, BVlgari®, EDITION®, JW Marriott®, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott Hotels®, Delta Hotels and Resorts®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club®, Gaylord Hotels®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Courtyard®, Residence Inn®, SpringHill Suites®, Fairfield Inn & Suites®, TownePlace Suites®, Protea Hotels® and MoxyHotels®. Marriott has been consistently recognized as a top employer and for its superior business ethics. The company also manages the award-winning guest loyalty program, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® program, which together surpass 50 million members. For more information or reservations, please visit our website at 
