Starwood Hotels POS Infected with Malware

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc said the point-of-sale systems at some hotels in North America were infected with malware, enabling unauthorized parties to access payment card data of some customers.

The company said an investigation showed no indications that guest reservation or customer information, such as contact information or PINs, were affected.

Starwood Hotels, which has agreed to be bought by Marriott International Inc., said the payment systems at the 54 hotels had been affected for varying periods between November 2014 and October 2015.

Starwood owned or managed 1,222 properties, including hotels and vacation rentals, globally as of 2014, including about 600 properties were in North America.

The company released a list of the affected hotels, including the Sheraton New York Times Square hotel, the Westin New York Grand Central New York and The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort in Florida.

The company said the affected payment systems were at the restaurants, gift shops and other places in the hotels, and did not affect its reservation or rewards program systems.

Starwood Loyalty Program Members Fret Over Marriott Acquisition

The hotel chain said it has implemented additional security measures to prevent a reoccurrence. Starwood Hotels’ shares were up 1.3 percent at $73.16, while Marriott’s stock was little changed at $72.24 in afternoon trading.

Starwood is the latest hotel operator to report a malware intrusion. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc and Trump Hotel Collection have said that they were investigating possible card fraud at some of their hotels.

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