BOSTON, MA (WBZ-AM) — Marriott Hotels may have been part of a massive security breach.
The worlds largest hotel chain announced Friday morning that two weeks ago, an unauthorized party hacked into it guest database dating back to 2014 — stealing personal info up to half a billion guests.
They say that for approximately 327 million of these guests, the stolen information includes some combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest (“SPG”) account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences.
While credit cards are encrypted, hotel officials say it is likely that hackers were able to obtain them.
“We deeply regret this incident happened,” said Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s President and Chief Executive Officer through a release. “We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves. We are doing everything we can to support our guests, and using lessons learned to be better moving forward.”
The company says it plans on contacting affected customers in the next few days via e-mail. Anyone who believes they were affected can contact Marriot through their website or newly established call center for 877-273-9481.