InterContinental Hotels Group Selects Merchant Link as an Approved Provider of Credit Card Gateway Services and Security

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), whose brands include Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Indigo, has signed a master agreement with credit card gateway and payments security provider Merchant Link.

The contract endorses Merchant Link as an approved provider for IHG's franchisees in the United States, covering more than 3,000 hotel properties, and encouraging franchisees to evaluate Merchant Link products and services, which are designed to deliver security, assist with PCI compliance and provide faster, more accurate payments.

"In our search for a new payments gateway provider to introduce to our franchisees, IHG established a number of key criteria," says Tammy England, director of treasury for the IHG Americas region. "We wanted to point our franchisees toward a hosted, gateway solution which would be easily upgradable and would not require the adoption of extra hardware or software. We sought competitive pricing, wanting to help our franchisees eliminate pass-through fees by third-party processors. And, we insisted on a high level of responsive service."

England added that having met these stringent criteria, Merchant Link also distinguished itself with its long-standing relationship with property management system (PMS) and point of sale (POS) system MICROS, the primary property management system software provider to IHG hotel franchisees.