Best Western Appoints Venushe Wickramarathne Regional Director of Commercial Asia - Destination Partner

Bangkok (Thailand) – July 30, 2019 (travelindex) – Best Western Hotels and Resorts is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Venushe Wickramarathne as Regional Director of Commercial – Asia, effective immediately. A highly skilled and experienced hospitality professional, Wickramarathne graduated from the Business Hotel Management School in Lucerne, Switzerland, with a BA Honors Degree in Hotel & Hospitality Management. Since he embarked on his career, Wickramarathne has worked in a series of roles in Europe and Asia, rising from Night Manager at an AccorHotels property in Zurich to Deputy Head of Sales – Events & Banqueting for the popular Cinnamon Grand hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In 2017 he joined Centara Hotels & Resorts, initially as Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Colombo, before he moved to Thailand in January 2018 to become the company’s Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Krabi.

Wickramarathne now brings his impressive industry expertise to Best Western Hotels & Resorts, where he will oversee the sales and marketing activities for the group’s entire collection of hotels and resorts in Southeast Asia and Japan, encompassing all 16 of the company’s diverse and distinct brands.

“Venushe is exciting true talent with a proven ability to deliver results. His creative vision and detail-oriented approach will allow us to devise strategic sales and marketing campaigns, while his charisma, leadership and communication skills will help to implement them effectively. I am confident that Venushe will become an integral member of our executive team in Asia,” said Olivier Berrivin, Best Western’s Managing Director of International Operations – Asia.

“I am personally very honored to join the Best Western Hotels & Resorts Asia team at a moment when the company is set for unprecedent growth in the Southeast Asia region. With a clear focus on expansion, Best Western Asia currently has a pipeline of properties under development in the region, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan to name a few. I am extremely excited to contribute towards this growth and add value to our hotel members and clients alike in the months and years ahead,” Wickramarathne commented.

Venushe Wickramarathne is now based at Best Western’s Regional Head Office in Bangkok.

About Best Western Hotels and Resorts:
Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of approximately 4,500 hotels in nearly 100 countries and territories worldwide*. Best Western offers 16 hotel brands to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market. Best Western branded hotels include Best Western®, Best Western Plus®, Best Western Premier®, Executive Residency by Best Western®, Vīb®, GLō®, Aiden®, Sadie®, BW Premier Collection®, and BW Signature Collection®. Through recent acquisition, Best Western now also offers WorldHotels® Luxury, WorldHotels Elite and WorldHotels Distinctive brands. Completing its portfolio, Best Western offers SureStay®, SureStay Plus®, and SureStay Collection® franchises**. Now celebrating more than 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and award-winning online and mobile booking capabilities. Best Western continues to set industry records regarding awards and accolades, including 66 percent of the brand’s North American hotels earning a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award in 2018, Business Travel News® ranking Best Western Plus and Best Western number one in upper-midscale and midscale hotel brands respectively for two consecutive years, and Fast Company honoring Best Western Hotels & Resorts with a spot in the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in the Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality category. Best Western has also won 10 consecutive AAA®/CAA® Lodging Partner of the Year awards, recognizing the brand’s commitment to providing exceptional service and great value to AAA/CAA’s nearly 60 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Best Western-branded hotels were top ranked in breakfast (food and beverage category) by J.D. Power’s 2018 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study – ranking first for midscale; and second for upper midscale. Nearly 40 million travelers are members of the brand’s award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards®, one of the few programs in which members earn points that never expire and can be redeemed at any Best Western-branded hotel worldwide. Best Western’s partnerships with AAA/CAA and Google® Street View provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Through its partnership with Google Street View, Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch a virtual reality experience for customers, setting a new industry standard and reinventing how guests view hotels.
* Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.
**All Best Western, WorldHotels and SureStay branded hotels are independently owned and operated.

Contact information:
Sirimanas Maungrod (Cake) | Senior Regional Marketing Communications Manager | Asia
Email: sirimanas.maungrod@bestwestern.com

Phanintorn Tangtrongjit (Dream) | Assistant Marketing Communications Manager | Asia
Email: phanintorn.tangtrongjit@bestwestern.com