BTE: At the 2018 Best Western North American Convention and Conference in Grapevine, TX, you introduced the first-ever “Women in Leadership Forum.” As one of the most recognized female leaders in the hotel sector, how do you see developing opportunities for women in the travel industry?
DOWLING: This concept of women in leadership is really something at this time in my career I want to own in a pretty significant way and that’s why I’m also leading the Women’s Strategic Advisory Board for GBTA. We’re really trying to develop programs, mentorship, and understand how we can work with the supply chain in the industry to really provide custom content to help develop women within the organization.
BTE: There has been much discussion about women breaking the glass ceiling in corporate America. Where do you see that conversation going?
DOWLING: “Glass ceiling” – that’s a very interesting point of view. It’s one of the things I think about often, because I’ve been very active in the industry for 35 years. And, you know, we don’t have as many women as I would have thought we should in that C-Suite organization frame.
BTE: What would you say are the obstacles to more women taking leadership roles in travel?
DOWLING: I don’t know what’s stopping it, I really don’t. I know it’s a very demanding business. I have a stay at home husband who has really empowered me to have the kind of career that I really wanted. There’s a combination of things. Part of it is that women have to figure out how to power through some of the challenges. I wish I had the answer. I mean, we had a lot of really brilliant women executives at our women’s leader forum, many of whom have achieved great success. But I don’t think there’s a common path that any of us have taken and I don’t know that there are playbooks. It’s individual – people have to figure out what’s right for them.
BTE: You’ve had great success at Best Western. What kind of leadership opportunities have been available to you within this organization?
DOWLING: I’ve been with Best Western for 14 years. I came to join the company because of David Kong, the CEO, because he’s an amazing leader and I knew that I could do good work for him as a leader. David has been a very important person to me in my career because he does allow me to have a lot of autonomy and to lead in the way I think.
BTE: In many companies marketing communications gets left out of the strategic planning process. As Best Western’s CMO, do you see your division as a strategic player in the organization’s success?
DOWLING: I think we are an integral partner. I was David’s first executive hire. I view myself as a key business partner to him and to our hoteliers. My voice is part of the conversations around how we’re envisioning our future. I’ve always felt that the customer voice is important and that our team is bringing that perspective forward. Marketing is a critical voice and it always has been, and I’ve never felt that I haven’t had a seat at the table.
BTE: With the launch of two new hotel brands, Sadie and Aiden, which reflect an expanding global and digital footprint, are there any thoughts about whether the legacy Best Western name should be shortened to something like just BW?
DOWLING: Certainly that is how many companies are paving the way forward in terms of their growth. We already have BW as a critical asset. Some of our brands are branded that way; others have Best Western. We have an incredibly high name brand awareness as Best Western and we also have a very strong global footprint. We’re the largest in Great Britain, we’re the largest in France, we’re the largest in Germany. They all have Best Western on their buildings. People aren’t seeing it with that geo-centric American lens. So that’s where I would say that BW will be an important part, certainly a part of our digital positioning, for sure. But Best Western and Holiday Inn have the two highest name awareness of any brands, mostly because of their longevity in the industry. And it’s hard to give that up. So I think it’s an evolution.
