Is there anyone with more information about you than the hotel or accommodation you’re staying at? Think about it: they have your payment details as well as your passport and identification documentation, not to mention they, to some degree, know your schedule — when and where you’ll be during your stay. Apart from the hospitality industry, your bank is the only other institution with so much access to your data. This is why securing data in hospitality is essential, mitigating the risks before they even arise. This article aims to shed light on the importance of data security in hospitality.
How Safe is Your Data?
Data security is a pivotal concern for individuals, but on a larger scale for different industries—and the hospitality sector is no exception. Hotels, motels, resorts, and rented apartment complexes all gather, process, and electronically store sensitive personal customer data. Multiple databases and devices containing both Payment Card Information (PCI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) make the hospitality sector an ideal target for credit card fraud and identity theft crimes. It’s like having a vault of sensitive data in a database that hopefully has fantastic encryption and safety measures.
Cybercriminals are very smart; they know that if they gain access, they can sell guest information on the dark web, employ ransomware to demand payment or leverage the data for additional illicit activities such as phishing attacks and identity theft. The financial implications are staggering because data breaches in the hospitality sector lead to huge public scrutiny and damage to reputation, not to mention panic across customer and supplier bases.
Hotel owners can look into various methods to improve security and efficiency, and property management systems are a good start. Many may not be fully aware of the losses resulting from data breaches; studies have been carried out, one in 2022 by the Ponemon Institute and IBM Security, which report that hospitality sector data breaches carry with them an approximate cost of $2.94 million. This underscores the importance of worthwhile investment in cybersecurity, reliable data processing services, as well as PMS for hotels (property management systems) for the hospitality industry so that you always have an overview and can spot a mistake in minutes. Partnering with experts in these fields can promote data security and confidentiality.
Small, Simple Measures
In addition to acquiring a property management system and keeping an eye out for inconsistencies or errors, there are small, simple measures that hoteliers and their staff can do relatively easily. It seems too cliche and trite to say, but your passwords are the first open window for scammers to get into your life. Having secure passwords is an easy way to strengthen your security and doesn’t cost much or take time. Your staff members should all have different passwords primarily to identify who accessed servers at what time, and owners or managers should ensure that their staff changes their passwords every few months, or better yet, weeks. You can introduce password policies for your staff to encourage good habits.
It seems that the ads for anti-virus and anti-malware software pop up on every screen one opens. However, as annoying as it may be to invest in this software, it will one hundred percent be less arduous than sorting out a data leak later down the line. Anti-virus and anti-malware tools are indispensable to protecting your establishment’s and guests’ data. It should be standard across all computers that access customer data and end terminals like mobile devices that use your hotel’s Wi-Fi and public facilities. Things can go badly quite quickly if illegal access is gained. Regarding data security, taking measures to prevent it will ultimately prove more beneficial.
Why is PCI Compliance Important?
The abbreviation PCI used above stands for Payment Card Information, and PCI compliance is the cornerstone for hoteliers to ensure that they are safeguarding themselves against the threat of data fraud. Fraud and data leaks in the hospitality sector have been rampant; one couldn’t imagine that even big hotel chains have experienced credit card security problems and have been a target for fraudulent behavior and security issues recently. Huge corporations and chains like the Hilton, Starwood, and Hyatt have all reported credit card security issues. Since most travelers use credit cards as a payment method, accommodation providers need to be more vigilant about data security since it can devastate one’s reputation, no matter the size or scale of your hotel.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements to protect cardholder account information. Think of it as a uniform set of standards among the five major credit card brands (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB) that provides a good basis for data security surrounding the storage of credit cards. What it basically means to be PCI compliant is that a company has taken steps to protect cardholder data through the guidelines provided by the PCI council.
Furthermore, to store, process, and transmit cardholder data, you must securely host that data with a PCI-compliant hosting provider, which means that it’s about safety and security from start to finish. The data is collected with encryption and only processed by PCI-compliant processors. PCI compliance is a good start to protect your guests against a hack or information security breach, but a holistic approach is needed here in the long term.
Education is Key
The last tip to ensure data security in hospitality is less about the tech side and more about the human aspect. Your staff comes into contact with guests personally and their private information. For this reason, they should have regular and adequate staff training about data leaks, breaches, and privacy. Educate your staff on how to securely handle credit card data, control the property management system, and secure and safekeeping all information that comes and goes through the entrance doors. Stay safe and secure; your guests will thank you later.
