There's a tremendous amount of variability in BW, but some of the nicer (and worst) hotels I've stayed at have been BW. I *think* BW is a collection of independent hotels (as opposed to franchises like Hilton/Mariott/etc).

I have also noticed that BW seems to be removing many of their lower-tier, "motel" type properties, and seem to be moving upscale to compete.

I travel to a lot of small towns, and BW is the only chain in a lot of those towns.

Nice: http://bestwesternmontana.com/hotels...northern-hotel