US hotel management company White Lodging is investigating a reported data breach that is alleged to have compromised the card details of thousands of guests.

White Lodging manages hotels for franchises including Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Westin.

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The fraud was exposed by security blogger Brian Krebs, who said banks had experienced unusual patterns of fraud on cards used at Marriott hotels during 2013.

What made the fraud unusual was that it only affected some hotels in the franchise, including those in Austin, Chicago Denver, Los Angeles, Louisville and Tampa.

Krebs said: "Turns out, the common thread among all of those Marriott locations is that they are managed by Merrillville, Indiana-based White Lodging Services Corporation, which bills itself as "a fully-integrated owner, developer and manager of premium brand hotels."

"According to the company’s website, White Lodging’s property portfolio includes 168 full service hotels in 21 states, with more than 30 restaurants."

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A spokesperson for Marriott confirmed that one of its franchisees was investigating a suspected security breach.

They said: "We are working closely with the franchisee as they investigate the matter.

"Because the suspected breach did not impact any systems that Marriott owns or controls, we do not have additional information to provide.

"As this impacts customers of Marriott hotels we want to provide assurance that Marriott has a long-standing commitment to protect the privacy of the personal information that our guests entrust to us, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely."

 

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