Summary:
The Best Western Hotel Group, a leading US hotelier, has been ranked as the world's largest hotel operator by revenue per visitor for the first time.

Full article:
(CNN) -- Best Western was founded in 1946 by M.K. Guertin, as an informal link between existing hotels and lodging houses in the U.S. Based on distribution and number of locations, Best Western International is the largest hotel company operating under a single brand name with 4,200 independently owned and operated hotels. The breakdown of hotel locations is as follows: 1,312 in Europe, 75 in Asia and the Middle East, 265 in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, 43 in South and Central America, 6 in Africa and 2,395 in North America. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Best Western employs 1076 people and offers 316,095 quality guest rooms located in 80 countries and territories worldwide. In April 2006, Best Western renewed its partnership with NASCAR for another three years, extending its role as the sport's Official Hotel through the 2009 season. This unique sponsorship helps generate new consumer and business-to-business opportunities for the company. Best Western was one of the first lodging brands to provide booking capabilities to Internet users around the world when the hospitality giant added this service on December 19, 1995. On average, bestwestern.com has been booking $1 million in revenue per day for the hotel chain since January 2005.