Meet Ivona Meissner from BWH Hotel Group Central Europe
Ivona Meissner, Director of Hotel Development Austria & CEE, BWH Hotel Group, Austria
Since January 2018, Ivona Meissner has been Director Hotel Development at BWH Hotel Group Central Europe in Vienna. In this role, she is responsible for the growth of the three global brand families with 18 hotel brands, including Best Western Hotels & Resorts, WorldHotels Collection and SureStay Hotel Group, in the region of Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. Since 2007, she has been working for Best Western Hotels Central Europe in various management positions. She has more than 30 years of experience in the hotel and tourism industry in Austria and CEE and is an enthusiastic hospitality expert in the areas of sales/marketing, revenue management, quality assurance, consulting and hotel development. Due to her expertise and years of experience, Ivona Meissner is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international events as well as in teaching institutions. She is fluent in German, English, Slovak, Czech and speaks Italian as well.
Best Western Hotels (BWH Hotel Group) is a well-established brand on the global market. But how BWH has changed and expanded over the years?
BWH Hotel Group is a global hotel group and the umbrella brand for the three global brand families including Best Western Hotels & Resorts, WorldHotels Collection and SureStay Hotel Group with a global network of approximately 4,500 independent hotels in over 100 countries worldwide. In the last years, we have focused on building a strong brand portfolio within our group and introducing new, fresh brands, serving the needs of modern sophisticated travelers and forward-thinking hotel developers from all countries and segments. Today, our brand portfolio includes 18 full brands and soft brands or “collections”, ranging from midscale up to luxury.
Recently Best Western launched a new “boutique lifestyle” hotel brand Aiden by Best Western. What is so special about Aiden and what are the first guest impressions?
Aiden by Best Western is a modern, young hotel product, combining unique interior and design with authenticity and local identity. Aiden offers hoteliers and developers a high degree of flexibility and individuality in the design concept. The style and furnishings are always referencing the respective region, so the surroundings serve as an important source of inspiration for the design concept of each hotel. At the Aiden by Best Western @ Steyr, Austria, for example, the focus is on wood and metal elements, reflecting the three dimensions of nature, city and metal that have shaped Steyr as a destination.
Today, modern hotel concepts are tailored to the traveler's mindset, lifestyle, and values. Our Aiden hotels are designed for modern travelers who are looking for upper midscale, smartly equipped, and individual accommodation. All properties have in common that they literally put the guest in the center: The central meeting point in every Aiden is the lobby, and guests are invited to join get-togethers in a spacious lounge bar, where they can enjoy great drinks and food. Nowadays, spatial boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred – the lobby becomes a mobile office or meeting room with a café during the day and a stylish cocktail bar with live music in the evening. This creates a cool meeting place for travelers and locals alike.
A great example for this is the Aiden by Best Western @ Biberach, Germany, that is boasting huge steps as seats in the lobby. With this young brand of BWH Hotel Group, hoteliers can position themselves in the highly demanded lifestyle sector. Along with this, all Aiden hotels naturally benefit from the advantages and the full marketing and sales power of a globally operating hotel cooperation, including worldwide partnerships and the award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards with more than 50 million members worldwide.
Aiden by Best Western @ Lorient Centre in Lorient, France
What has your broad professional experience taught you about hospitality and what is the main reason you are loyal to it for so many years?
I have been working in the hospitality industry for over 30 years now – and I feel like no day was like the other! My several roles have taught me to be flexible, what it means to be passionate about things and that sometimes, you need huge stamina and commitment, but in the end it is absolutely worth it. And this is also the main reason I have been so loyal to this industry: If you are willing and passionate about what you do, you can move mountains! I love to create new things, I love to invent and shape new prodcuts, and I love how you can make people happy by offering them great experiences. Also I find it very inspiring to be working in a real „people's business“. Meeting passionate people everyday to exchange ideas and experiences is a main driver for my work.
What is your favorite destination and type of holiday?
I have turned my passion for travel into a profession, and I travel to many countries in my job. Every day I meet many hotel owners and get to know numberless new hotels, cities, and destinations. In my private life, too, I passionately travel the cities of Europe with my partner to explore the "undiscovered" away from the tourist spots. A breakfast with local products, authenticity of the product, history of the house and friendly employees who are informed about the current exhibitions are particularly important to us, they know insider tips away from touristic spots. In summer we like to relax for a few days in the south of France, with our feet in the sand and a view of the sea. In winter we spend our days off to recharge our batteries in the beautiful Austrian Alps.
At Best Stay 2022 Ivona will share her wisdom on the topic “How to be a hospitality superhero - planning your hospitality business proactively while building resilience”.