Donald Trump hotels hacked

The Trump Hotel Collection has fallen prey to a credit card hack, according to a report by previous Washington Post journalist, Brian Krebs in his Krebsonsecurity.com blog.

Data shared by several US-based banks revealed the breach on the luxury properties, which are tied to business magnate, investor, television personality, author and 2016 presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

The banks traced a pattern of fraudulent debit and credit card charges to accounts that had been used at Trump hotels.

Eric Trump, executive vice president of development and acquisitions, The Trump Organization, commented: “Like virtually every other company these days, we have been alerted to potential suspicious credit card activity and are in the midst of a thorough investigation to determine whether it involves any of our properties.

“We are committed to safeguarding all guests’ personal information and will continue to do so vigilantly.”

If confirmed, the hack is not the first to impact the hotel industry this year.

In March, luxury hotel operator Mandarin Oriental released a statement confirming that its credit card systems had been hacked.

A number of hotels in the US and Europe, but none of the company’s Asia hotels were impacted by the unauthorised cyber-attack.

The Trump breach, which extends as far back as February 2015, has impacted hotels in several US locations, including Chicago, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and New York, according to sources in the financial industry.

There are currently no confirmed Trump Hotel Collection properties in the Middle East, however the company is eying luxury properties in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, The Trump Organization executive vice president of development & acquisitions, Ivanka Trump told Hotelier Middle East in an exclusive interview in May.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, Trump refuted recent rumours the company was set to sign a luxury hotel in Damac’s Akoya Oxygen development, which will house the Trump World Golf Course, saying ‘there was no hotel planned as of now’.

She added: “Dubai is a top priority city for us. We are looking at multiple opportunities in Abu Dhabi, in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia, so those are the four areas where we are seeing the most interest.

“We haven’t made a final decision in any of the markets but we have many very compelling deals in each of them.”