Marriott Warns Millions of Guests About Security Breach

Marriott is notifying millions of guests of a security breach involving one of its property systems.

 The notice explains what occurred, the information involved, the measures taken by Marriott to investigate and address the issue, how Marriott is assisting guests, and the steps guests should consider taking.

Hotels operated and franchised under Marriott’s brands use an application to help provide services to guests at hotels. At the end of February 2020, the company identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property. The company believes that this activity started in mid-January 2020.

Upon discovery, Marriott says that the login credentials were disabled and it immediately began an investigation, implemented heightened monitoring, and arranged resources to inform and assist guests.

Marriott has also notified relevant authorities and is supporting their investigations.

Although Marriott’s investigation is ongoing, the company says that it currently has no reason to believe that the information involved included Marriott Bonvoy account passwords or PINs, payment card information, passport information, national IDs, or driver’s license numbers.

At this point, the company believes that the following information may have been involved for up to approximately 5.2 million guests, although not all of this information was present for every guest involved:

- contact details (e.g., name, mailing address, email address, and phone number);

- loyalty account information (e.g., account number and points balance, but not passwords);

- additional personal details (e.g., company, gender, and birthday day and month);

- partnerships and affiliations (e.g., linked airline loyalty programs and numbers); and/or

- preferences (e.g., stay/room preferences and language preference).

Marriott has been sending emails to guests involved and has also set up a dedicated website and call center resources with additional information for guests.

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