Since 1972, John P. McCoy supported and led Best Western as a prominent hotel owner, Governor and member of the Board of Directors. But by the end of 2007, after 35 years, John decided the hotel could no longer sustain the increased costs simultaneous with declining reservation contribution from Best Western.

"Over the years, we have always stuck with the basics, we operate on reputation,” stated John. “We have always known how best to get by, however in later years, we and other hotel owners found ourselves working for the brand. That system is just not relevant anymore."

In order to transform the family hotel business toward a legacy, John knew the first thing to do was to develop a complete new operating structure without the burden of non-revenue producing brand fees and corporate mandates. The hotel was repositioned as a true family business and town center, McCoy's Inn & Conference Center, Ripley West Virginia.

Magnuson Hotels was retained to replace BW, and provide complete global marketing through its massive global reservation system. Magnuson Hotels’ fee structure is one where the hotel pays only for reservations received from over 650,000 GDS travel agents, 2000 online channels including Orbitz, Expedia, Priceline, Google, and a US based toll free phone reservation center. As a result, the hotel is functioning leaner, operational control is in the hands the owners, and the hotel is saving a great deal of money in a tough economic environment.

In addition to a larger global marketing reservation system, the hotel enjoys personalized 24/7 market specialist service to maintain pricing, promotions, placement and reviews across thousands of worldwide channels.

Ripley is a saturated market with 97 online competitors, with an increase of 13 hotels since December 2007. Despite this new supply increase, McCoy’s Inn & Conference Center is beating the STR National Trends, in both average daily rate and average stay per reservation with continuous year over year contribution growth.

Today, leadership is being transitioned to daughters Cissy McNabb and Robin Corbin as they help carry the 137-room conference center into a new era for the family and town. Located as a perfect mid-point lodging spot between Florida and New England, the hotel is within walking distance of both the Ripley Convention Center and the Ripley branch of West Virginia University.

This 3 Star full service hotel is #1 out of 41 local hotels on Orbitz and top ranked by TripAdvisor as "one of the best" and a "First Class Private American Hotel." No matter what the economy, McCoy's Inn and Conference Center shows that running leaner and offering the right rate on the right channels has allowed it to beat the trend of declining occupancy.
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When Bob Beebe and Paul Jinneman took over operations of The Seashore Inn … on the Beach in 1998, the Inn had been in a state of decline for many years. Capital was invested in the property, and operations and marketing were improved, but it was still difficult competing with the large hotel chains.

With only 54 rooms and 12 employees, the Seashore Inn...on the Beach could hardly compete on its own with the worldwide reservation systems and big brand name recognition of Best Western, Holiday Inn, and Comfort Inn. "We really felt the pressure from the franchises when booking through the Internet became more popular. Unless you were a franchise, you weren't in Expedia and all the travel agent systems." stated Paul Jinneman, Managing Member of Golden Hospitality, LLC, the hotel's management company.

But that's all changed, and reservation revenues are climbing since the motel affiliated with Magnuson Hotels. "Magnuson Hotels enabled us to keep up with the big boys," added Jinneman. "Not only have we been able to hold our own against the franchise hotel chains, we are seeing a pretty nice increase in reservations as well."

"We tried to get on Expedia, and it was difficult; it wasn't my expertise," Jinneman said. "We had registered with some of the large companies, but I hadn't been getting the personalized service Tom Magnuson gives me. I've known Tom for 20 years. He's been on the ownership side and on the franchising side. I trust Tom to do what is right for us."

Jinneman said he toyed with the idea of becoming a franchisee but because the inn is an older property, the options for branding were limited. "It's in a resort area, and I didn't think the franchise would pay for itself."

Since their affiliation with Magnuson Hotels, The Seashore Inn has consistently been of the top ten regional performers on Travelocity, one of the world's largest online travel agencies. The hotel ranks at the top of Yahoo searches for hotels near Seaside, Oregon and has achieved a 2 Diamond AAA rating.
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When the family turned their 150 room waterfront full service hotel over to a leading national brand for full brand service and management, profitability was important. But equally as important was the need to serve a high-security client base, as the nearby Bangor Sub Base manages the third largest collection of nuclear weapons in the country, with 1,700 Trident missiles and eight Trident submarines which still roam the seas on secret missions.

Unfortunately, the hotel went downhill-from a 4 diamond to a 2 diamond AAA. Revenues dropped, and expenses soared, with a disproportionate share going to pay for management fees and franchise brand support.

When a decision was made to take the hotel independent, Magnuson Hotels provided owners with a complete step by step Independence transition plan. The hotel was immediately placed on Magnuson Hotels' complete independent hotel operating system, powered by the world's largest full service GDS and Internet reservation system. Magnuson brought in national branding specialists Range NW, and relaunched the hotel as the Silverdale Beach Hotel and Conference Center. Since their switch to Magnuson Hotels in January 2006, the Silverdale Beach Hotel has already received 22% of its gross room revenue through Magnuson's worldwide reservations system, with an online average daily rate of nearly $90.00 year to date. And, the hotel has already regained a 3 Diamond AAA rating.

"Magnuson did what they said they were going to do," stated Chris Koebelin, General Manager. "In only a few months, Magnuson Hotels has helped us turn this hotel around, and create a new operating structure without high management fees and franchise brand costs. Instead, we pay Magnuson based upon performance and we are running our own show. Now we are the first to get paid, instead of the last."
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"We'd been Best Western members since 1997, and decided it was time to move above and beyond the constraints of Best Western," stated owners John and Millie Burton. John Burton, a former Best Western Governor further added, "We know how to run a hotel—our goal is to provide the highest level of hospitality in our own unique and independent way. Magnuson Hotels delivers complete brand power and an end to big brand fees and requirements."

The Magnuson Sweetwater Hotel is well known in the south as the largest convention hotel midway between Knoxville and Chattanooga. With over 8000 square feet of meeting/banquet space, the hotel also features premium class rooms with 40" flat panel high definition televisions, high speed internet access, indoor atrium pool and business services. The Magnuson Sweetwater Hotel is located minutes from Sweetwater Shopping District, Cherokee National Forest, the Lost Sea Cavern, and Great Smoky Mountains.

The Magnuson Sweetwater Hotel has already achieved a five star user rating from Yahoo Travel.
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When PKNA Hotels purchased its Nashville Airport hotel three years ago from Holiday Inns founder Kemmons Wilson, significant challenges lay ahead. Not only did the new owners face the longest hotel decline since the Great Depression, they needed to find a way to compete against the combined global marketing firepower of nearly 70 national chain-affiliated hotels located within a 6-mile radius.

"We wanted to introduce our own 'Alexis' style of services and amenities," stated Kirrit Bhikha, General Manager of the now "Alexis Inn & Suites". "We didn't want to be subjected to the traditional high fees needed to compete with other large hotel chains; we wanted to pay a company for performance-based results."

With the help of Magnuson Hotels, the PKNA partners have been able to do just that -- offer their own level of services and amenities, and pay based upon performance.

Since their affiliation with Magnuson Hotels, The Alexis Inn & Suites has consistently been of the top ten performers in the Southeast US on Travelocity, one of the world's largest online travel agencies. The hotel ranks high in Yahoo searches for Nashville airport hotels, and has already achieved a 3 Diamond AAA rating.

"We're pleased to announce that the Alexis Inn & Suites has quickly become a very successful hotel and business model," Bhikha said. "In our little guy vs. big guy world, we are winning against big odds. We have found that we can be successful as an independent hotel in this crowded regional marketplace."
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Owner Wes Beal had given Best Western many chances to increase his occupancy and rate. "It's plain and simple; we don't need Best Western anymore. We are making more money backed by Magnuson Hotels. We've reduced operating costs, and outperformed what we did as a Best Western. Now, we run our own show and pay based upon performance."
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