A hotel tech vendor can have the better product, a keen general manager and a fair price, and still lose the deal in one sentence: the brand does not allow it. Brand standards decide a large share of software choices at branded hotels before any vendor gets a meeting. If you sell to hotels that fly a flag, you need to know how those standards work, where they are written down and which of your categories they touch.

This explainer covers what brand standards are, how they reach the software stack, and what that means for how you sell. If your goal is specifically to get onto a brand's list, we have covered that separately in how to get on a hotel brand's approved vendor list. This post is about the wider system around that list.

What brand standards are

Brand standards are the written operating rules a hotel brand sets for every property that carries its name, enforced through the franchise or management agreement. Technology standards are the part that decides which systems a branded hotel must use, may use, or may choose freely.

Standards exist so a guest gets a predictable stay and the brand can run reservations, loyalty and distribution across thousands of hotels. They cover design, service, safety and, increasingly, technology. They live in a standards manual that the brand can update over time, and the franchise agreement obliges the owner to follow them.

That last point matters for vendors. Standards are not a one-off rulebook. Hilton's 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document for Curio says the brand regularly reviews, modifies and implements product and service standards, including to reflect advances in technology. A system that is optional today can become required at the next update, and the reverse.

Where technology standards are written down

In the United States, franchisors must give prospective franchisees a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Two sections are useful to any vendor selling into branded hotels:

• Item 8, restrictions on sources of products and services. It describes what franchisees must buy from the brand, from its designees or from approved suppliers, and how a supplier gets approved.

• Item 11, computer systems. Under the FTC Franchise Rule (16 CFR 436.5), the franchisor must disclose whether it requires computer systems, their cost, any obligation to upgrade them, the annual cost of support contracts and whether the franchisor has independent access to the data they hold.

Many brands publish their FDDs on their development websites, and they are some of the most specific public documents about hotel technology you will find. They name systems, prices and approval routes in writing.

How standards reach the software stack: three tiers

Read enough FDDs and brand announcements and a pattern appears. Hotel software falls into three tiers at a branded property:

The tiers differ by brand, by region and over time. That is why a vendor's first question about any branded prospect should be which tier its category sits in for that brand.

What the tiers look like in practice

Mandated: Hilton OnQ

The Curio FDD is direct. Franchisees must use Hilton's required business computer system, currently OnQ, which it describes as made up of proprietary components for reservations, property management, revenue management, rate and inventory management, forecast management and learning management. Item 8 adds that franchisees must install and use an approved property management system including business software and hardware.

The costs are disclosed too. OnQ hardware, software and installation was listed at between $133,395 and $303,395, with a refresh in the same range, an additional rooms fee of $120 per room, and the Delphi Sales and Events System at $858 per user per year, paid to Hilton's technology affiliate and passed through to the vendor less a mark-up. For fiscal 2023, Hilton and its affiliates reported $1,022,902,170 in revenue from sales of goods, services, computer systems and supplies to franchisees of Hilton's subsidiaries.

For a PMS or revenue management vendor, that hotel is not a prospect at property level. The decision sits with the brand. The same document also notes that franchisees are not required to adopt the pricing recommendations of Hilton's GRO revenue tool, which shows that even inside a mandate, how hotels use a system can vary.

Brand-level selection: Marriott and OPERA Cloud

In January 2024, Oracle announced that Marriott International had selected OPERA Cloud PMS and Sales and Event Management as a hospitality cloud platform for its Luxury, Premium, Select Service and Midscale properties. A decision like that is made once, centrally, and then rolls out across a portfolio. Competing PMS vendors cannot reverse it by winning over general managers.

Approved options: Choice and Mews

Some brands give hotels a choice from a vetted shortlist. In April 2025, Choice Hotels introduced Mews as a property management system option for its international franchisees, integrating with choiceEDGE, its proprietary cloud reservation system. Choice's CIO described it as another cloud-based platform option to serve Choice hotel owners outside the US. For Mews, the brand deal opened the door; each owner still has to choose it.

Why brands control technology this tightly

• Distribution and loyalty. Rates, availability and loyalty points must flow cleanly between every hotel and the brand's central systems.

• Data. The FTC rule makes franchisors disclose whether they can access the data in required systems. Brands want guest and performance data across the whole portfolio.

• Security. One weak system at one hotel can expose guest data under the brand's name, so brands vet suppliers. IHG's supplier page describes a thorough vetting process to ensure due diligence is completed. Our post on the hotel security questionnaire covers what that looks like from the vendor side.

• Consistency. The guest should get the same check-in and the same app at every property.

What this means for how you sell

Brand standards change three things in a hotel tech go-to-market plan.

Who your buyer is. For mandated categories, the buyer is the brand's technology and procurement team, the sales cycle is measured in years and one decision can be worth thousands of hotels. For open categories, the buyer is the owner or management company, and the brand is a gatekeeper rather than a customer. Our guide to selling to hotel chains goes into how those two routes differ.

How you segment. A branded select-service hotel, a soft-brand collection and an independent can look identical in a prospect list and behave completely differently. Tag every account with its brand and, for your category, its tier. The breakdown in independents, chains and management companies as an ICP is a useful starting point.

What you have to prove. In open categories, owners will ask whether you integrate with the brand's PMS and comply with its standards before they ask about features. Listing in the relevant PMS marketplace and a clear one-page answer on brand compatibility remove that objection early. Owners and operators also weigh these rules differently, as covered in why owners and operators want different things from software.

Questions to ask about any branded prospect

1. Which brand and which tier of that brand is the hotel, and is it franchised or managed?

2. Does the brand's FDD or standards mandate a system in our category, offer a shortlist, or leave it open?

3. Who signs: the brand, the owner, or the management company?

4. What integrations and security reviews must we pass before the hotel can switch us on?

5. When does the brand next update its standards or renew the incumbent contract?

Brand standards sit inside the segment and reach layers of a hotel tech go-to-market strategy. Vendors who map them early stop wasting demos on hotels that cannot buy and focus on the owners, operators and brand teams who can.

If your pipeline is full of branded hotels that stall at the last step, the free GTM leak audit will show where those deals are leaking and whether brand rules are the reason.

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