What agreement will a Crowne Plaza enter into upon activation of the NGP program?
Crowne_Plaza Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Next-Gen Solutions: Upon activation of the NGP program at your Hotel, you will enter into a Next-Gen Payment Agreement with SCH (See Exhibit G-4). SCH will immediately bill you monthly and administer support for the hardware and software. All Hotels are required to use NGP or such successor payments program as may be implemented by SCH. Pursuant to the terms of the Next-Gen Payment Agreement, licensee will be liable for payment to IHG of an early termination fee for any reason equal to (x) 50% of the NGP monthly fee, multiplied by (y) the remaining monthly payments in the term.
Each licensee 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 SCH (see Exhibit G-4). Your monthly NGP fee may increase according to the terms of the NGP agreement signed at install (no more than a 5% increase from your original quoted rate), based on increases in costs incurred by SCH to provide the service. The exact amount of the fee will be defined on the quote received prior to installation.
Source: Item 6 — OTHER FEES (FDD pages 31–51)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Crowne Plaza FDD, upon activation of the Next-Gen Payment (NGP) program at a hotel, the franchisee will enter into a Next-Gen Payment Agreement with SCH. SCH (presumably Six Continents Hotels, Inc.) will then bill the franchisee monthly and provide support for the necessary hardware and software. The FDD stipulates that all hotels must use NGP or any successor payment program implemented by SCH.
This agreement also makes the Crowne Plaza licensee liable for an early termination fee if the agreement is terminated for any reason. This fee is calculated as 50% of the NGP monthly fee, multiplied by the number of remaining months in the term.
In addition to the Next-Gen Payment Agreement, each Crowne Plaza licensee is required to enter into a merchant processing application and agreement with Fiserv, the SCH-approved merchant service provider, and a participation agreement with SCH. The monthly NGP fee may also increase, but no more than 5% from the original quoted rate, based on increases in costs incurred by SCH to provide the service. The exact amount of the fee will be defined on the quote received prior to installation.