Hotel Operator White Lodging Struck Again by PoS Attack

Hotel management company White Lodging Services said on Wednesday that hackers appear to have compromised point-of-sale (POS) systems at 10 of its hotel properties, resulting in exposure of customer payment data from July 3, 2014 to February 6, 2015.

News of the breach comes roughly one year later after the company announced an earlier breach of its PoS systems back in Feb. 2014, which affected 14 of its properties.

The most recent suspected breach is connected to PoS systems used at its food and beverage outlets such as hotel restaurants and lounges. Systems other than the point of sales systems at the food and beverage outlets are not believed to be affected, the company said.  

Data likely accessed by the attackers is believed to be the names on credit or debit cards, credit or debit card numbers, the security code and card expiration dates.

The food and beverage outlets affected by the attack include:

• Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, Indianapolis, IN

• Chicago Marriott Midway Airport, Chicago, IL

• Auburn Hills Marriott Pontiac at Centerpoint, Pontiac, MI

• Austin Marriott South Airport, Austin, TX

• Boulder Marriott, Boulder, CO

• Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows, Denver, CO

• Louisville Marriott Downtown, Louisville, KY

• Renaissance Boulder Flatiron, Broomfield, CO

• Courtyard Austin Downtown, Austin, TX

• Sheraton Hotel Erie Bayfront, Erie, PA

“After suffering a malware incident in 2014, we took various actions to prevent a recurrence, including engaging a third party security firm to provide security technology and managed services,” said Dave Sibley, White Lodging president and CEO, Hospitality Management. “These security measures were unable to stop the current malware occurrence on point of sale systems at food and beverage outlets in 10 hotels that we manage. We continue to remain committed to investing in the measures necessary to protect the personal information entrusted to us by our valuable guests.”

Guests at the hotels who did not use payment cards at these outlets, and guests who charged items to their room account at the affected locations, are not believed to be at risk, the hotel management firm said.

With more than $1 billion in annual revenue, White Lodging Services operates more than 160 hotels in 21 states under brands including Preferred Hotel Group, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, InterContinental Hotel Group and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.