Michael Morton

Michael Morton is vice president, owner relations for Best Western® Hotels & Resorts. Morton is responsible for the company’s efforts in on-boarding new Members, education and training, revenue management, the hotel quality inspection process, and district management.

Since joining Best Western in 2009, Morton has made many contributions – leading brand training efforts to become one of the best in the industry, including partnerships with eCornell, AH&LA, and Rosetta Stone. He was instrumental in the development and implementation of the company’s customer-care initiative: Best Western I Care® and in creating new breakfast product & presentation standards. Morton has led the company’s customer feedback initiative by working with partner Medallia to greatly enhance the customer survey feedback reporting tools and training available to Members.

Morton currently serves on the AH&LA Educational Institute Training & Education Advisory Council. In 2010, Best Western won a Fast Company award, along with consulting firm IDEO, for the Best Western I Care® program that Morton helped develop. In 2012, Best Western also received the coveted Brandon Hall Excellence award for I Care program.

Before joining Best Western, Morton was involved in single property and corporate multi-hotel operations since 1985, working with such brands as Doubletree, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt and Marriott. He spent more than ten years with Boykin Management Company (BMC), most recently as senior vice president of operations for BMC overseeing their full-service hotel portfolio. Morton was also vice president of operations for JHM hotels, hired to lead the company’s entry into the full-service upscale hotel market. He has a very strong hotel operations background with expertise in food and beverage operations. He is a graduate of the University of Akron with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management/Industrial Accounting.