Credit card numbers and personal details have been stolen by hackers who successfully infiltrated the booking system used by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino chain and Loews Hotels.

The hack related to Sabre Corp.’s Hospitality Solutions SynXis Central Reservation System used by both chains. Hackers gained access to the system between last Aug. 10 and March 9 of this year, with the hack itself only discovered in June.

How the hackers accessed the system was not detailed. In a statement, Sabre said only that “an unauthorized party gained access to account credentials that permitted unauthorized access to payment card information, as well as certain reservation information, for a subset of hotel reservations.”

The company claims that the hackers accessed payment card information for hotel reservations, including cardholder name, payment card number and card expiration date, while in some cases they also got payment card security code information. In addition, “in some cases,” the hackers obtained the guest’s name, email, phone number, address. and other information. But details such Social Security, passport and driver’s license numbers were not accessed.

Hard Rock said in a separate statement that the hack only affected a limited number of its properties, specifically hotels in Biloxi, Cancun, Chicago, Goa, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Panama, Punta Cana, Rivera Maya, San Diego and Puerto Vallarta. Loews was not as forthcoming in detailing which of its upmarket hotels were affected, saying only in a statement to NBC that “some customers” may have been affected. Sabre itself claimed that less than 15 percent of the average daily bookings were viewed by the hackers.

Hacks in 2017 may be a dime a dozen, but the mere fact that Sabre, a company that provides booking software that is used by travel agents around the world along with 400 airlines, 220,000 hotels, 42 car rental brands, 38 rail providers and 17 cruise lines, raises deep concerns. That hackers could access one part of their network potentially means that other parts of their network may also be vulnerable. Anyone who has traveled anywhere in the world over the last few years has virtually a 100 percent chance that details of those trips will be stored somewhere on Sabre’s network.

It’s recommended that people who have visited Hard Rock or Loews Hotel locations check their credit card statements for any unauthorized activity and if any is found, they should immediately report the details to their financial institutions.

Photo: Santcomm/Wikimedia Commons