Of the 153 Marriott-owned hotels in the Middle East, 125 can be booked through the Starwood Hotels reservation system, the site of a hack that accessed up to 500 million customer records, exposing data including passport numbers and payment cards in a breach of the world’s largest hotel operator.
Marriott,based in Maryland, US, said on its website that it had started to inform affected guests about the breach on Friday, and that it had reported it to law enforcement and regulatory authorities. Two spokesmen for the brand in the Middle East could not be reached for comment. Calls to the UAE-specific customer hotline on Saturday went unanswered.
The breach comes amid a rapid expansion for the hotel operator in the region. Over the next five years, the chain will add 20 more properties in the UAE, in addition to the 57 already open. In Saudi Arabia, Marriott is planning a $2 billion investment over five years for 27 hotels on top of the 25 currently in operation.
Starwood brands with properties in the Middle East include W Hotels, St Regis, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Westin Hotels & Resorts, The Edition, Aloft Hotels, Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts, Four Points by Sheraton and Design Hotels.
Its most recent opening is The Edition Abu Dhabi in Al Bateen last month.
The hack began in 2014, according to Marriott, a year before the company offered to buy Starwood to create the world's largest hotel operator. The $13.6bn deal closed in September 2016.
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Read more:
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The company said on its website that it learned of the breach on September 8 when an internal security tool sent an alert about suspicious activity. In its quarterly filing dated November 6, Marriott added a warning about security breaches to its disclosures without providing details on specific attacks, Bloomberg reported.
Some 327 million customer records containing information including passport details, birth dates, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses were exposed, according to the company.
The hackers also accessed payment card data for an undisclosed number of customers, the company said.
Marriott shares plunged on Friday, falling as much as 6 per cent before ending the day 5.6 per cent down, shaving about $2.4 billion off equity value, while investigators in the UK and five states in the US opened inquiries into the cyber breach.
Morgan Stanley analyst Thomas Allen called the huge sell-off in Marriott (MAR) shares “an overreaction”, saying that a 2 to 3 per cent impact would have been more appropriate. Data breaches typically cost $1 per customer in notification and other services, according to Insurance Insider, and Mr Allen estimated potential fines and/or settlements of about $200 million for Marriott. Insurance Insider also reports that sources suggest the company has about $300m of cyber insurance coverage to partially offset losses, Mr Allen said.
“We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves,” Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson said on Friday. “We are doing everything we can to support our guests, and using lessons learned to be better moving forward.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
FIXTURES
December 28
Stan Wawrinka v Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Milos Raonic v Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm
December 29 - semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Stan Wawrinka / Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Milos Raonic / Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm
December 30
3rd/4th place play-off, 5pm
Final, 7pm
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Match info
Huddersfield Town 0
Chelsea 3
Kante (34'), Jorginho (45' pen), Pedro (80')
