Marriott Reimbursing Passport Costs for Those Affected by Data Breach

Under pressure from figures in the government, Marriott International will be footing the bill on new passports for those affected by the recent data breach.

Last week, Marriott was the victim of a massive data breach in their guest reservation database, and the personal information of nearly half a billion customers was potentially compromised. Marriott posted on their website that the personal information of 327 million customers could be at risk.

The level of information that was exposed in this hack is immense and very worrying. According to Marriott, information such as names, dates of birth, mailing address, phone numbers, email addresses, and passport numbers were out in the open. Marriott has a two-step encryption system set up to protect credit card numbers used to make reservations, but they have admitted that they have no idea whether or not their system is working. It’s possible that the hackers have credit card information as well.

Needless to say, Marriott is in extremely hot water, with their stocks taking a considerable dip after this hack. Making it worse is the fact that this hack has apparently been ongoing for four years. Numerous figures within the government, such as Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren have been outspoken about the data breach, and asserted that Marriott should pay the replacement passport fees for all customers that were affected by the hack. Marriott has agreed, at least halfway.

Marriott will not be outright paying the replacement fees for passports of those affected. Not at all a surprise since a replacement passport costs around $110 USD, and 327 million people were affected by this breach. Instead, Marriott will reimburse the cost of a replacement passport if fraud has been found. Which is to say that they probably will not be paying for many passports. It’s unknown what lengths Marriott is going through to inform all 327 million persons affected, but many customers may still be unaware. If you have stayed at any Marriott or Marriott associated hotel in the past four years, it may be a good idea to cover all of your bases.

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5 years ago
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