Marriott: Private Data of 500 Million Starwood Guests May be Exposed

Photo source: Marriott International

Marriott International on Friday announced a data security incident involving the Starwood guest reservation database, which contains information on up to approximately 500 million guests who made a reservation at a Starwood property.

The largest hotel chain in the world, Marriott on November 19 discovered that an “unauthorized party” had access to the Starwood network* since 2014.

For approximately 327 million of the people who made reservations at Starwood properties, the information which may have been exposed 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.

In an announcement, Marriott said it reported the incident to law enforcement and continues to support the investigation.

“We deeply regret this incident happened,” said Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

“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.”

Marriott announced that it has taken steps to help guests monitor and protect their information. The group established a dedicated website (info.starwoodhotels.com) and call center to answer questions about the incident. Marriott will also begin sending emails on a rolling basis to affected guests whose email addresses are in the Starwood guest reservation database.

* Starwood brands include: W Hotels, St. Regis, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Element Hotels, Aloft Hotels, The Luxury Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts, Four Points by Sheraton and Design Hotels. Starwood branded timeshare properties are also included.