The latest development of Jiangyin Marriott Hotel

Text | AI Finance and Economics Society Chen Fang

Edit | Sun Jing

Marriott International Hotel Group has made new progress in disclosing customer information. Recently, the Office of the British Information Commissioner imposed a fine of 65.438+08.4 million pounds (about 65.438+600 million yuan) on Marriott for failing to protect the personal information and data of its customers.

As the largest hotel group in the world, Marriott International Hotel Group, which is located in high-end luxury hotels, owns more than 30 hotel brands such as Marriott, Starwood, Sheraton and Ritz-Carlton. The reason for this fine is that two years ago, Starwood Hotel leaked the personal information of 339 million guests, including names, telephone numbers, dates of birth, gender and so on.

The initial exposure data was 500 million person-times, which was later confirmed as 339 million by investigation. It is understood that the reason for the disclosure of personal information of Wanhao customers is cyber attack. As early as 20 14, hackers gained remote access by implanting code and software into the hotel system, thus stealing the data in the database, and Marriott did not discover this problem until four years later.

Originally, the British Information Commissioner's Office fined Marriott 99.2 million pounds, but considering the measures taken by Marriott after the problem occurred, the risk of damage to customers was reduced, and the fine was finally reduced to 6.5438+0.84 million pounds.

Despite this, Marriott has not learned its lesson. At the end of March 2020, Marriott experienced another customer information disclosure incident. About 5.2 million hotel customers' personal information was leaked, including their names, contact information, addresses, birth dates and preferences. However, unlike the last cyber attack, the source of this time is the "inside ghost".

Marriott said that at the end of February this year, the company found that two employee accounts had obtained a lot of customer information. This illegal operation began in the middle of June 65438 and lasted for more than a month. Due to information leakage, Marriott is now beset with lawsuits, and some users and lawyers have decided to sue Marriott, claiming as much as $654.38+025 billion. It is understood that Marriott faces lawsuits in the United States, Canada and other places.

It is worth noting that Marriott is not the only company that leaks customer information. Similar incidents have occurred in giants such as MGM Hotel and Hilton Hotel.

In this regard, industry insiders have analyzed that information leakage incidents in the hotel industry occur frequently. First, there are many interfaces with the hotel system, and improper management may be related to the possibility of being invaded; Second, the lack of IT talents in the hotel industry and the relatively low treatment have laid a hidden danger for information security. Hackers like to attack hotel companies because most of their customers belong to high-net-worth people. Their information resale is very valuable and can make them earn a lot of money.

It is understood that the 500 million pieces of information leaked by Huazhu were shouted at a high price of 370,000 yuan. According to industry insiders, it takes thousands of dollars to buy a high-net-worth person's 10,000 mobile phones on the black market, while the hotel's customer data is more comprehensive, with more information, higher value and higher price.

Although the frequent disclosure of customer information shows that there are huge loopholes in Marriott's management, it finally gives a chance to "people with a will". But obviously, Marriott can't take care of these at present, and how to survive has become its primary goal.

Affected by the global epidemic, Marriott's performance this year is not satisfactory. In the first half of the year, its revenue was US$ 665,438+RMB 45 million, down 40.44% year-on-year, and its net profit turned from profit to loss, with a loss of US$ 203 million (about RMB 654,338+RMB 36 million). In response to the crisis, Marriott has taken various measures to reduce costs, such as reducing the salary of senior executives by 50%, laying off employees and closing stores.

It is understood that there are more than 4,000 employees in the headquarters of Marriott International Hotel Group, two thirds of whom are on vacation in March. Marriott gave a decent statement about this, not firing but taking a vacation, but by September, these employees who were "forced to take a vacation" still did not return to work. 10 year1On October 23rd, Marriott International Hotel Group also laid off employees 17%, involving 673 people.

In the capital market, the market value of Marriott has evaporated by $565,438 +0.9 billion in the last month, and the total market value of10.30 was $30,654.38 +0.2 billion.