Hyatt Hotels

On December 23, 2015 Hyatt Hotels Corporation released a press statement announcing that it had recently become aware of malware on the computers that operate the payment processing systems for Hyatt-managed locations. The breach of customer data occurred between August 13, 2015 and December 8, 2015.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. is headquartered in Chicago; it is a global hospitality company with 627 properties in 52 countries under brand names such as Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Residences, and Hyatt Residence Club. Although the Hyatt press release did not disclose the affected locations of the hotels, subsequent reports confirmed that customers who stayed in one of 250 Hyatt hotels in 50 countries across North America, Africa, Europe, Australia and Asia were all affected by the breach.

Hyatt stated that an immediate investigation was initiated and that the hotel chain engaged a third-party cyber security firm aid in the investigation as well. Hyatt also stated they are taking the proper steps to strengthen its security network systems and reassured its customers that they can feel confident using payment cards at Hyatt properties across the world presently.

The statement goes on to ask their customers to carefully review their credit and debit card statements for any unauthorized charges or signs of fraud and to report any unusual activity at once to their card issuer. The statement also reassured customers that cardholders generally are not held responsible for unauthorized charges provided that they report the fraudulent charges in a timely manner.

In closing, the statement advises customers that as the ongoing investigation progresses Hyatt will keep its customers updated with new information posted to its website. Customers who may have any questions are directed to the same web page or instructed to call 1-877-218-3036 (U.S. and Canada) or +1-814-201-3665 (International) from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST.  The link for the website is listed below in Links For Consumers Affected for your convenience.

 Additional Resources About This Breach:

http://newsroom.hyatt.com/news-releases?item=123450

http://fortune.com/2015/12/23/hyatt-hotels-hack-cybersecurity/

http://krebsonsecurity.com/

http://www.hyatt.com/protectingourcustomers/

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/01/14/heres-the-list-of-250-hyatt-hotels-hit-by-data-breach/