Playground →
Hardware stores and gas stations define the shape of Best Western's nearest audiences — not other mid-range hotels. Across the top 10 neighbors by audience similarity (a measure of how closely two entities' audiences resemble each other in composition), not one shares Best Western's own subcategory of Mid-range Hotels.
The shape is broad, with scores spread from 0.81 down to 0.60 and no single neighbor pulling far ahead of the rest. Travelodge leads at 0.81, but it is a budget lodging brand, not a mid-range peer. Below it, the cluster splits into two cross-category groups: home improvement and hardware retail — Ace Hardware (0.77), True Value Company (0.67), and Do It Best (0.60) — and gas station brands — ConocoPhillips (0.67), Sinclair Oil (0.66), and Ferrellgas (0.66). Electronics retailers Victra (0.78) and Russell Cellular (0.60) round out the set. The two budget lodging entries, Travelodge and Rodeway Inn (0.66), are the only hospitality neighbors in the top 10, and both sit below the mid-range tier.
The overall picture is an audience whose shape aligns with franchise-oriented, independently operated, roadside commerce — hardware co-ops, regional fuel brands, and cellular resellers — rather than with the hotel category itself.
