On what revenue subset must a Caption By Hyatt franchisee pay the Digital Acquisition Fee?
Caption_By_Hyatt Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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- Digital Acquisition Fee. We currently charge the Hotel and other Participating Hotels the "Digital Acquisition Fee" to help drive bookings through the Hyatt Group's online direct booking channels (the "Digital Channels"). The Digital Channels currently are the Hotel System Website and any Hyatt-branded website or mobile app (such as the World of Hyatt app). You must pay the Digital Acquisition Fee on the subset of Gross Rooms Revenue resulting from reservations that are generated through the Digital Channels, whether directly or via a link from another platform, such as a search engine advertisement, social media page, or any Franchisee Organization Website. We may, in our sole judgment and subject to change, exclude certain types of bookings that originate through Digital Channels for purposes of calculating the Digital Acquisition Fee and certain portions of Gross Rooms Revenue that is generated through the Digital Channels, such as the Upsell Revenue (defined below). Digital Channels do not include reservations placed through external sources, such as online travel agencies (e.g., priceline.com and expedia.com) or through Hyatt-managed channels that are not digital in nature, such as reservations placed via telephone calls to our global contact center.
Source: Item 6 — Other Fees (FDD pages 20–36)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Caption By Hyatt Franchise Disclosure Document, the Digital Acquisition Fee is applied to a specific subset of the hotel's revenue. Specifically, Caption By Hyatt franchisees must pay the Digital Acquisition Fee on the portion of Gross Rooms Revenue that comes from reservations made through the Hyatt Group's online direct booking channels, referred to as the "Digital Channels". These Digital Channels include the Hotel System Website and any Hyatt-branded website or mobile app, such as the World of Hyatt app.
Reservations that trigger the Digital Acquisition Fee include those made directly through the Digital Channels or via a link from another platform, such as a search engine advertisement, social media page, or any Franchisee Organization Website. However, Caption By Hyatt may exclude certain types of bookings that originate through Digital Channels when calculating the Digital Acquisition Fee, as well as certain portions of Gross Rooms Revenue generated through these channels, such as Upsell Revenue.
It's important to note that reservations made through external sources, such as online travel agencies like priceline.com and expedia.com, or through Hyatt-managed channels that are not digital in nature, such as telephone calls to the global contact center, are not included in the calculation of the Digital Acquisition Fee. This means that the fee is specifically targeted at revenue generated through Hyatt's own digital platforms, incentivizing franchisees to promote and utilize these channels.