PHOENIX (Nov. 11, 2014) – Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western International, THE WORLD’S BIGGEST HOTEL FAMILY®, was named the 27th most influential CMOs in the world in the Forbes/Appinion CMO Influence Study.
The third annual study evaluates the highest-ranking marketing officers from the Forbes Global 500 Largest Companies list. The honorees include individuals from top global brands, including Apple, Ralph Lauren and General Motors. Dowling is one of just two hotel marketing leaders on this year’s list.
“It is a significant honor to be named to a group of such accomplished marketers and thought leaders from brands that I respect,” said Best Western’s Dorothy Dowling. “We have been able to achieve much at Best Western because of our commitment to listening to, and learning from, our customers, partners and colleagues.”
Dowling joined Best Western 2004. During her tenure she has reenergized the Best Western Rewards loyalty program, grown the brand’s market share and undertaken several groundbreaking initiatives, especially in the digital space with the award-winning bestwestern.com, and integrations with TripAdvisor and Google Maps Business View.
In congratulating Dowling, Best Western President & CEO David Kong said, “Dorothy is smart, hardworking and genuine. She is a tremendous asset that has helped contemporize and unlock the potential of our 68-year-old brand through partnerships with Facebook, Disney, AAA/CAA and Harley-Davidson, among others.”
Best Western has been selected by AAA as the Hotel Partner of the Year since 2008, and in 2014 readers of Business Travel News (BTN) selected BEST WESTERN® as the No. 1 Midprice Hotel Company and BEST WESTERN PLUS® as the No. 1 Upper Midprice Hotel Company.
Direct Making News inducted Dowling into its Marketing Hall of Femme in 2014. Dowling was named vice president of the Global Business Travel Association Allied Leadership Council in 2013. She also serves on the North American board for the U.S. Travel Association. Dowling currently serves on, and is the former chair of, the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Americas Board and is past president of HSMAI Canada. Dowling has twice been listed among HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales in Marketing.
Dowling began her hospitality career in Canada after earning a joint Masters of Arts degree in sociology and leisure studies from the University of Waterloo in Ontario. In 2008, she received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
The complete Forbes/Appinions 2014 CMO Influence Study can be viewed and downloaded at http://dj.appinions.com/CMO-2014/. The study examines influence, which is ranked by extracting opinions, quotes, and other reactions from hundreds of millions of articles from news, blog, and social media sources. Proprietary Appinions algorithms rank opinion holders based on the influence of the people who react to them, the attributes of the publication or source where the reaction occurs, and the overall quantity of reactions to a single opinion.
