"Ideal Western International, Inc. has the very best Western Hotels & Resorts brand name, which it certifies to over 4,500 resorts worldwide. [2] The franchise, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix az, Arizona, [3] includes more than 2,000 hotels in North America. [4] The brand was founded by M.K. Guertin in 1946. As of May 2019, David Kong is the head of state and also Chief Executive Officer of Best Western as well as Dorothy Dowling is the chief marketing officer.

In 1964, Canadian resort owners signed up with the system. Finest Western after that broadened to Mexico, Australia, and also New Zealand in 1976.

In 2002, Finest Western International launched Ideal Western Premier in Europe and Asia. (The various other hotels in the chain were referred to as Finest Western.) In 2011, the chain's branding system-wide changed to a three-tiered system: Best Western, Best Western Plus, as well as Best Western Premier."