BWH® Hotels has opened the GLō Best Western Olive Branch, an 80-room property at 8853 Midsouth Drive in Olive Branch, Mississippi, adding to the brand's footprint in a DeSoto County market that has drawn sustained investment from logistics, healthcare and manufacturing operators.

The Property

The hotel is owned and operated by Yogi DeSoto Corporation and was constructed by Patel Construction. The build-to-suit project reflects growing owner-operator appetite for select-service, upscale-adjacent product in high-density suburban nodes adjacent to major metros — a segment that has attracted significant franchise development activity across the mid-market hospitality sector in recent years.

The property features an outdoor pool with an adjoining fitness center, a pergola-shaded seating area, outdoor grilling stations and a fire pit — amenities calibrated for extended-stay and leisure crossover guests. Curated artwork referencing regional cultural landmarks gives the interior a sense of place consistent with GLō's brand positioning, which sits above standard select-service in BWH's 18-brand portfolio spanning economy to luxury across approximately 4,300 hotels in more than 100 countries.

Market Rationale

Olive Branch sits within the greater Memphis logistics ecosystem, a corridor that has seen substantial distribution-center investment given its interstate access and proximity to Memphis International Airport, one of the busiest cargo hubs in the world. Managing Partner Chintu Patel cited the area's economic growth, expanding business landscape and increasing traveler demand as the primary draw, noting that the GLō format's social layout and modern design suited both corporate and leisure guests.

Beyond the business corridor, the hotel is positioned to capture youth-sports tourism — a high-frequency demand generator for suburban Mississippi markets — as well as leisure travelers heading to blues music destinations near Clarksdale and Ole Miss athletics events, both within roughly an hour's drive.

Amy Hulbert, Vice President of Boutique and Upscale Brands at BWH Hotels, framed the opening as consistent with the brand's broader strategy of placing elevated product in suburban growth markets rather than urban cores. "Olive Branch is a dynamic hub for logistics, healthcare and manufacturing," Hulbert said, "and this new property provides the perfect blend of contemporary design and character for those visiting the Memphis area."

Hospitality Context

For foodservice and hospitality operators tracking hotel development as a leading indicator of local demand, the Olive Branch opening signals continued confidence in the Mid-South's suburban commercial strip. New limited-service and upscale-select hotels generate incremental covers for adjacent restaurant operators and supply-chain activity for food and beverage distributors servicing hotel breakfast and grab-and-go programs — a dynamic well documented in recent coverage of select-service hotel expansion.

Guests at the property can earn and redeem points through Best Western Rewards®, a loyalty mechanism that increasingly influences ancillary food and beverage spend decisions at branded hotels. The program's points-for-gift-cards structure has been cited in hospitality loyalty trend reporting as a driver of on-property dining capture rates.

BWH Hotels has not disclosed a development pipeline figure specific to the GLō brand for the current fiscal year.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.