Best Western is the largest hotel chain in the world, with nearly 4,000 hotels in nearly 80 countries. The Phoenix-based chain operates more than 2,000 hotels in North America alone. Best Western has a marketing program involving placement of free Wi-Fi access hotspots in its hotels. Best Western operates in almost every country in the world including its original hotel in Phoenix.

Each hotel in the chain is independently owned and operated. Best Western does not offer franchises in the traditional sense (where both franchisee and franchisor are operating for-profit). Rather the chain is operated as a nonprofit membership association, with each hotel acting (and voting) as a member of the association.

Best Western charges a rate that is based on an initial cost plus a fee for each additional room. Best Western also publishes a list of standards that each hotel needs to maintain. Instead of long term contracts, each hotel renews its membership on a yearly basis - and the renewal rate is well over 90%.

The hotels are allowed to keep their independent identity. Even though they must use Best Western signage and identify themselves as a Best Western hotel, the hotels are allowed the option of using their own independent name as part of their identity.

Best Western began in the years following World War II. At the time, most hotels were either large urban properties, or smaller family owned roadside hotels. In California, a network of independent hotel operators began making referrals to each other to travelers. This small and informal network eventually grew into the modern Best Western hotel chain.

Best Western used to call itself a cooperative membership association, and as such could be seen as a giant co-op. Around 1985, it gave up on using the "cooperative" terminology after the courts kept insisting on calling it a franchisor despite its nonprofit status. The most dramatic example of this was Quist v. Best Western Int'l, Inc., 354 N.W.2d 656 (N.D. 1984), in which the North Dakota Supreme Court decided that Best Western was a franchisor and had to comply with the appropriate laws and regulations.

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