Originally Posted by
lowfareair
My guess would be advanced pay reservations - IHG probably collects money up front, takes their cut, and forwards the rest to the hotel. Also, there is reward night reimbursement that could be paid monthly.
AFAIK, the individual hotels themselves always process payments and prepayments. (I've always been directed to the individual hotels for refunds for example)
Award night reimbursement could be it, although there is a lot of offsetting between what the hotels owes IHG for points issued, and what IHG owes the hotel for award nights.