BWH Hotels Adds an Outdoor Brand: Exclusive

BWH Hotels, the privately held parent of Best Western, will announce a new outdoor brand called Backdrop by WorldHotels on Tuesday, executives told Skift. 

The brand will debut with a resort near Zion National Park in Utah, river cabins in Asheville, N.C., and an eco-lodge with fine dining in Honduras, according to Ron Pohl, president of WorldHotels and international operations for BWH Hotels.

Pohl said the brand will focus on glamping, or upscale outdoor accommodations, and that WorldHotels’ soft-brand structure is particularly suited to a segment where no two properties look alike. At soft brands, properties retain their own names and identities while gaining access to BWH Hotels’ reservation systems, loyalty program, and purchasing power.

“No one that’s running a glamping operation wants a cookie-cutter type approach, and neither do guests,” Pohl said.

Since 2024, the hotel industry has been moving into outdoor ho