Kimpton Hotels, which operates boutique hotels including 62 around the U.S. disclosed Tuesday (July 26) that it is looking into reports that credit cards were compromised at several of its hotels.
According to a report from KrebsOnSecurity, after reaching out to Kimpton Hotels last week on the heels of hearing about credit card breaches at around 24 of the hotel brand's locations around the U.S., Kimpton responded.
“Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants takes the protection of payment card data very seriously," the company said in a statement. "Kimpton was recently made aware of a report of unauthorized charges occurring on cards that were previously used legitimately at Kimpton properties. As soon as we learned of this, we immediately launched an investigation and engaged a leading security firm to provide us with support.”
The company went on to say it is working to resolve the matter as quickly as possible but it also recommended that customers monitor their payment card statements and notify their bank if they see any unauthorized charges. “Payment card network rules generally state that cardholders are not responsible for such charges,” the company said.
If reports of the breach turn out to be true, Kimpton would have a lot of company to share the pain with. In the past year alone, Trump Hotel, Hilton, Mandarin Oriental, Hyatt, Starwood and White Lodging have all confirmed respective card breaches.
Earlier this month, Omni Hotels revealed it was breached and that hackers took off with 50,000 payment card numbers gleaned from point-of-sales systems. The hackers got access to the hardware and then installed malicious software on the POS systems. The malware may have operated between Dec. 23, 2015 and June 14, 2016. A majority of hotels were affected, to the tune of 49 of 60 locations.
