FiservFiserv
Mandatorypropriate management and staff trained and competent to operate NGP at all times. Each licensee will be required to enter into a merchant processing application and agreement with Fiserv, the SCH-appr
From the filings
+5.714% units YoYHQ-led decisions
Hotel Indigo
LodgingSoftware purchasing for Hotel Indigo is controlled at the corporate level by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) executives, including the SVP of US and Canada Franchise Operations. The brand mandates a specific, IHG-centric tech stack across all 74 franchised US locations. This creates a single, HQ-driven sales motion for vendors with a total addressable market of 74 units.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
74
74 franchised
Unit growth YoY
+5.714%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2026
Royalty
2%
of gross sales
Ad fund
3.5%
national + local
Initial fee
—
per unit
Investment range
$9.32M–$48.52M
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Item 19
Claims
from the filing
Ongoing fee load
What the operator pays every month
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
5.5%of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
2 of these are mandated in the franchise agreement. Each is named in Item 11 of the filing, the incumbents a challenger must displace or integrate with.
FreedomPayFreedomPay
Mandatorylicensee will be required to enter into a merchant processing application and agreement with Fiserv, the SCH-approved merchant service provider, and a participation agreement with FreedomPay and SCH (
First DataFiserv
plication and Agreement for New Properties (“Addendum”) is entered into between FDS Holdings, Inc. (“First Data” or “Processor”), Bank of America, N.A. (“Bank”) (collectively with First Data, “Service
HotelKeyHotelKey
not generally available to licensees). Hotels must utilize the Cloud PMS. Currently recommends Standard OPERA Cloud PMS for Brand System hotels; however, you may choose to utilize HotelKey depending o
MeetingBrokerMeetingBroker
(33) Type of Fee Amount Due Date Remarks Groups & Meetings 4% of consumed or Monthly (Paid to SCH) Note 5 (“G&M”) Fee presumed/agreed room revenue for leads sent to hotels via IHG MeetingBroker Groups
NextGen PaymentsNextGen Payments
G Connect Hardware Varies; can range from Renews every five years Note 8 Software License $1,000 to $200,000 following the original Renewal purchase (Payable to Service Provider). NextGen Payments $22
OracleOracle
places the secure payment solution previously in use by IHG and Hotel and is supported by key third party providers including FreedomPay, Inc. (“FreedomPay”), Oracle Corporation (“Oracle”), Hewlett-Pa
Oracle OPERAOracle
yable to Note 8 Maintenance fees may be Maintenance Holiday’s affiliate SCH or increased by up to 5% per Service Provider) year. Costs will vary according to your technology needs OPERA Cloud PMS $6.2
Sabre SynXisSabre Hospitality
compromise of personal information due to a data security breach affecting Kimpton Hotels during the period August 10, 2016 – March 9, 2017. This suit relates to the breach of the Sabre SynXis reserva
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
21 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 10 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
Holiday and SCH have independent access to the information and data collected by the PMS and Reservation System.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesItem 17
Upon request, you will provide us and our Affiliates, quarterly financial statements within 45 days after the end of each fiscal quarter and annual audited financial statements within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
SCH and its affiliates may enter into agreements with suppliers and receive revenue attributable to purchases by licensees and by SCH and its affiliates.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 20
The IHG Owners Association was created by Holiday’s predecessor in interest in 1956.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
Holiday may issue specifications by brand, by approved equivalent products, by physical characteristics, or by other methods, depending on the product or service involved.Holiday can make changes to the Standards, which will become binding on you as if originally set forth in the Standards.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
The GPO, or in some cases, the supplier, may also pay a rebate or allowance to the licensee directly based on the volume of your purchases.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
We will review any consultant you propose.
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Licensee and the Hotel shall, and Licensee shall cause its Agents to, comply with: 7.1.1 all applicable laws, including the Data Privacy Laws and contractual obligations, and any requirements of the credit card processing industry, including PCI DSS and any successor standard,
Franchise management
Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?
YesItem 8
will include the restaurant in all guest satisfaction surveys and quality inspections and will allow IHG’s inspection of the restaurant in accordance with the License and the Standards.
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
The Quality System may include, but shall not be limited to, online questionnaires for the Hotel to complete and/or inspections of the Hotel by IHG’s representatives; (13) permit inspection of the Hotel by IHG’s representatives at any time and give them free lodging for such time as may be reasonably required to…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
The Hotel and all other hotels operated under the Brand System will be subject to the Standards, as they may from time to time be modified or revised by IHG, including limited exceptions from compliance which may be made based on local conditions, type of hotel or special circumstances.
Marketing
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesFranchise agreement
Licensee will conduct an opening advertising and marketing campaign that complies with the Standards.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
An Initial Loyalty Marketing Contribution and a monthly Loyalty Program Contribution, currently known as the “IHG One Rewards Fee” (or other guest loyalty and frequency program fee as it may be re- characterized from time to time) at the prevailing rate on qualifying room rates and other eligible hotel charges for…
Operations
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
If Holiday requires you to purchase equipment, furnishings, supplies or other products for the Hotel from a designated or approved supplier or service provider to comply with the Standards, then you must procure the products or services from the approved supplier unless you receive prior written approval to procure…
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
In addition, Licensee will be required to enter into a merchant processing application and agreement with the IHG-approved merchant service provider.
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
IHG requires Licensee to pay all outstanding fees by electronic funds transfer, direct account debit, ACH or other similar technology designed to accomplish the same purpose as may be designated by IHG.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
the Hotel shall at all times be operated by a management company approved by IHG (“Management Company”).
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
All employees must wear the Brand System defined uniform from the Cintas Uniform Collection or such other mandated supplier.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
All Brand System hotels must use an approved F&B POS System that meets the Standards which includes full integration with the PMS.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 17
Hotel acknowledges and agrees that IHG will have full access to the transactions and data processed on behalf of Hotel by FreedomPay.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
For in-person classes, you must pay for trainees’ travel expenses or any training expenses incurred from any optional or supplemental courses that your trainees attend.
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?Item 8
- Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?Franchise agreement
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?Franchise agreement
The vendor opportunity at Hotel Indigo
Hotel Indigo operates 74 franchised locations in the US, with no company-owned units reported. The brand posted 5.714% year-over-year unit growth in its latest filing, signaling a slowly expanding footprint. For a software vendor, the addressable market is exactly those 74 properties. Because all units are franchised and technology mandates flow from the top, the sales motion is purely HQ-driven. There is no fragmented operator base to navigate—your pitch goes directly to IHG’s corporate leadership.
Key financial metrics like Average Unit Volume (AUV) and royalty rates are not disclosed in the 2026 FDD. This lack of public unit economics means vendors must rely on industry benchmarks for the upscale lodging segment when building a business case.
Who controls software purchasing
Purchasing authority sits with IHG’s Americas leadership team. The executives on file from the FDD’s Item 1 include Jolyon Bulley, Chief Executive Officer, Americas, and Colin Macdonald, Senior Vice President, US and Canada Franchise Operations. For technology-specific pitches, Macdonald is the most direct operational buyer, while Heather Balsley, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, likely influences any guest-facing or marketing technology decisions. The ultimate CEO is Elie W. Maalouf, who leads InterContinental Hotels Group, PLC globally.
No independent operator groups are mapped in our corpus, reinforcing that franchisees have minimal autonomy over core systems. This is a classic HQ-controlled environment where a vendor must secure corporate approval to access the entire chain.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2026 FDD mandates three specific technology components. IHG Concerto and IHG Merlin are required operational systems. Concerto serves as IHG’s proprietary property management and central reservation platform, while Merlin is the brand’s intranet and operations portal. Additionally, a Revenue Management System (RMS) with Price Optimization is mandated, though the specific vendor behind this RMS is not named in the filing.
This stack is entirely IHG-proprietary at the core. There is no mention of a third-party point-of-sale system, guest Wi-Fi provider, or back-office accounting platform in the available data. A vendor selling complementary software—such as staff scheduling, preventative maintenance, or guest messaging—would need to demonstrate seamless integration with Concerto and Merlin to be viable.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Procurement mechanics remain opaque. The Item 8 extract, which would describe designated versus approved supplier requirements, was not available in our corpus. Similarly, the initial franchise term length and Item 17 renewal signals were not disclosed. This makes it impossible to predict contract renewal windows or formal RFP cycles from the FDD alone.
Vendors should approach Hotel Indigo with a direct outreach strategy to the named Americas leadership, prepared to navigate an unknown procurement process. The absence of a published supplier portal or procurement guidelines in the FDD suggests a relationship-driven evaluation rather than a transactional bidding process.
How to read the Hotel Indigo FDD
The full Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. It was filed with state franchise regulators in 2026 and contains the legal and operational disclosures that govern the brand’s franchise system. For software vendors, the most critical sections are Item 1 (the executives listed above), Item 11 (the mandated tech stack), and Item 8 (procurement obligations, though not available in this extract). Reviewing the document directly is essential before committing to a sales cycle. For a ranked target list of franchise brands matched to your software category, talk to FranCloud.
Questions vendors ask
Hotel Indigo, answered from the filing
Decisions are centralized at IHG. Key contacts include Colin Macdonald, SVP of US and Canada Franchise Operations, and Heather Balsley, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer.
The 2026 FDD mandates IHG Concerto and IHG Merlin for operations, plus a Revenue Management System (RMS) with Price Optimization. No third-party POS is named.
There are 74 total units, all of which are franchised. The brand showed 5.7% year-over-year unit growth in the latest filing.
The specific procurement model is not disclosed in the most recent FDD. The Item 8 extract was not available, so designated vs. approved supplier status is unknown.
Renewal timing is unclear. The initial term length and Item 17 renewal signals were not disclosed in the 2026 FDD, making contract cycle prediction difficult.
The FDD was filed with state franchise regulators in 2026. You can read the full document in the embedded PDF viewer below to verify all cited facts.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Hotel Indigo files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
1 operators run 1 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit1
Ownership
The portfolio behind Hotel Indigo
strategic_multibrand of IHG.
Sibling brands
Related Lodging brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.