@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@ - +Hotel chain Marriott is facing a fine of £99 million over a data breach which is estimated to have affected around 339 million customers.<br>The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) fine relates to a data breach at the company believed to have originated in the systems of the Starwood hotels group in 2014.<br>Marriott acquired Starwood in 2016 but the breach was not disclosed until November last year.<br> Hotels managed by the Marriott group include Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire.<br><br>Mr Trump lends his name to the resort <br> Starwood, which was acquired by Marriott in 2016, also runs the Park Lane Sheraton Grand <br>The ICO said the hotel chain had failed to undertake due diligence when it bought Starwood and should have done more to secure its systems.<br>Last year, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in Europe, which gave regulators increased powers to levy larger fines against companies for data breaches.<br>Starwood hotels, include Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire, London's Park Lane Sheraton Grand, Westbury Mayfair and Le Meridien Piccadilly.<br>Trump Turnberry is run by Marriott resorts but Mr Trump lends his name to it as part of a franchise agreement.  <br>Marriott International's president and chief executive Arne Sorenson said the company was 'disappointed' with the ICO's announcement and said it would contest the fine.<br> RELATED ARTICLES <br><br><br><br>Share this article<br>Share<br><br><br>'Marriott has been co-operating with the ICO throughout its investigation into the incident, which involved a criminal attack against the Starwood guest reservation database,' he said.<br>'We deeply regret this incident happened.<br>We take the privacy and security of guest information very seriously and continue to work hard to meet the standard of excellence that our guests expect from Marriott.'<br>When first disclosing the breach, the hotel firm said the guest records of around 339 million people had been accessed and said it believed more than five million un-encrypted passport numbers were part of the information accessed.<br>Seven million records were said to be related to UK residents.<br> Le Meridien Piccadilly, which is also in the group's collection of luxury hotels and resorts <br> The Westbury Hotel in Mayfair, which is also part of the Marriott group of luxury locations <br>Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: 'The GDPR makes it clear that organisations must be accountable for the personal data they hold.<br><br>This can include carrying out proper due diligence when making a corporate acquisition, and putting in place proper accountability measures to assess not only what personal data has been acquired, but also how it is protected.<br>'Personal data has a real value so organisations have a legal duty to ensure its security, just like they would do with any other asset.<br>In case you cherished this article in addition to you want to receive more information regarding [https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0B9ZTTQDB guide to trusted shop] generously check out our page. If that doesn't happen, we will not hesitate to take strong action when necessary to protect the rights of the public.'<br>On Monday, British Airways was issued with a £183 million fine by the ICO over its own 2018 data breach.<br><div class="art-ins mol-factbox news" data-version="2" id="mol-d4e69410-a25d-11e9-9157-31671f372a7e" website firm Marriott to be fined £99 million for customer data breach