Worldhotels embarks on "The Customer Journey" in 2014 Frankfurt

Frankfurt (ots) - Together with more than 350 hoteliers, sales
representatives and industry experts from all over the world,
Worldhotels has kicked-off the year with its 2014 Global Annual
Conference. Under the banner of "The Customer Journey', the global
group for independent upscale hotels has launched its new strategy,
designed to drive guest experience and incremental revenue for its
hotels.

During the gathering, which was held at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel
& Resort in Monaco from 16th to 18th January, Worldhotels' Vice
President Global Marketing and Sales, Paulo Salvador, gave an outlook
on the group's new initiatives for the year. These include the launch
of Worldhotels' Global Loyalty Programme in April, the revamp of its
quality and training offerings in cooperation with IFH, and several
Sales & Marketing activities targeting luxury and leisure guests.

"'The Customer Journey' marks the next step in our strategy going
forward", explains Salvador. "In the past years, we have put the
focus on reinforcing the power of our global brand to end consumers
by introducing a new brand identity. In doing so, we have revamped
all our communication channels, be it our website worldhothotels.com,
our advertisement and PR approach or our E-commerce and Social Media
strategy. Now that we've completed this metamorphosis, we can
capitalise on our strong brand recognition to maximise customer
experience, and ultimately connect with our guests."

In his keynote speech, Robert Hornman, Managing Director at
Worldhotels, also outlined the importance of quality for the group.
In line with its ambitious objective to become the epitome for
high-quality independent hotels worldwide, it will not only work on
maximising its service delivery to guests, but also reshape its
growth strategy. Having reached a critical mass with almost 500
hotels in 250 destinations and 65 countries worldwide, the group now
sees itself in a strong position to put quality front and centre, by
focusing on growing in quality rather than in quantity.

"In the quest for customer loyalty, quality is key", comments
Hornman. "To meet our guests' high expectations, we constantly work
on improving our hotel portfolio as well as the group-wide quality
and education offerings we provide to our hotels. Our own Global
Loyalty Programme is another crucial resource to increase guest
retention, giving us the opportunity to provide tailored services to
our guests in accordance with their individual needs and travel
behaviour".

Established in 1971, the Worldhotels Annual Conference has become
invaluable to the group's hotels by not only providing local and
global market travel industry updates and insights into market
trends, but also offering opportunities and solutions. Guest speakers
at the 2014 conference included the number one authority on loyalty,
Stowe Shoemaker, Dean at University of Nevada; Jason Peacock, Senior
Manager Parterships & Benefits Global Network & International Card
Services at American Express; Jos Jumelet, Senior Consultant at
Lausanne Hospitality Consulting; Patrick Bosworth, Co-Founder & CEO
of Duetto; as well as senior executives from IFH, Stream2, and
Pangaea.

Media contact:

Veronika Bahnmann
Worldhotels
+49 (0) 69 660 56 - 259
vbahnmann@worldhotels.com