Does the Atwell Suites franchisee (Hotel) have to agree to FreedomPay's pass-through terms?
Atwell_Suites Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
By execution of this Participation Agreement, the parties hereto agree as follows:
Requirement for Participation Agreement.
Hotel acknowledges that IHG and FreedomPay have entered into the Secure Payment Solution Agreement (the "SPS Agreement"), effective as of July ___, 2021.
The SPS Agreement provides that an IHG-branded hotel or service company to such a hotel may, upon execution of a Participation Agreement, receive the benefit of the Secure Payment Solution services agreed by IHG and FreedomPay.
FreedomPay Services.
FreedomPay will provide services in accordance with the terms of this Participation Agreement, including the FreedomPay Pass-Through Terms set forth on Attachment 1, which Hotel expressly agrees to and accepts.
With respect to security, availability, and confidentiality, FreedomPay provides the statement set forth on Attachment 2.
Hotel will sign the PIM Acknowledgement set forth on Attachment 3.
Relationship of Hotel, IHG, and FreedomPay.
Hotel acknowledges that, although IHG will process the onboarding of Hotel, administer payments related to the services, and facilitate support for Hotel, FreedomPay is the provider of services.
Hotel will be accessing a single hosted environment configured for IHG, and Hotel does not have the right or ability to customize the hosted environment for its individual needs.
The payment of fees and requests for service, and other interaction with FreedomPay will be routed through IHG, acting as a facilitator.
Hotel will direct requests for service to IHG.
Fees.
Hotel will pay IHG a fee of $0.06 per transaction, where "transaction" means each of (i) an on-line authorization request, (ii) a captured request that does not have a corresponding on-line authorization (examples include verbal authorizations, below floor limit or offline requests), (iii) a return request, and (vi) a void request.
For most transactions, this fee will be collected by the merchant service provider as part of the settlement reconciliation.
IHG reserves the right to lower (but not to increase) this transaction fee upon notice to Hotel.
In addition, Hotel will pay IHG a support fee of $140 per month.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 99–486)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Atwell Suites FDD, if an IHG-branded hotel or service company wants to receive the benefit of the Secure Payment Solution services agreed upon by IHG and FreedomPay, they must execute a Participation Agreement. As part of this agreement, the Hotel expressly agrees to and accepts the FreedomPay Pass-Through Terms, which are detailed in Attachment 1. These terms outline the conditions under which FreedomPay provides its services. Attachment 2 contains FreedomPay's statements regarding security, availability, and confidentiality. The Hotel is also required to sign the PIM (PCI-Validated Point-to-Point Encryption Secure Switching) Acknowledgement, which is set forth on Attachment 3.
This means that as an Atwell Suites franchisee, you are obligated to adhere to FreedomPay's terms and conditions as they are a crucial part of the payment processing system implemented by IHG. You will not have the ability to customize the hosted environment for your individual needs, as you will be accessing a single hosted environment configured for IHG. All payment of fees, requests for service, and other interactions with FreedomPay will be routed through IHG, which acts as a facilitator between the Hotel and FreedomPay.
The FDD specifies that the hotel will pay IHG a fee of $0.06 per transaction, where "transaction" means each of (i) an on-line authorization request, (ii) a captured request that does not have a corresponding on-line authorization (examples include verbal authorizations, below floor limit or offline requests), (iii) a return request, and (vi) a void request. The merchant service provider typically collects this fee as part of the settlement reconciliation. Additionally, the hotel will pay IHG a support fee of $140 per month. IHG retains the right to lower the transaction fee but cannot increase it without providing notice to the Hotel.