Booking.com has confirmed a data breach in which unauthorised parties accessed customers' personal information, including names, contact details, and reservation data. The company stated that financial information was not compromised, but the incident has raised concerns about rising cybercrime on the platform.
The Amsterdam-based accommodation booking site, which lists over 30 million properties worldwide, said it detected suspicious activity and took immediate action to contain the issue. Affected customers were notified and their reservation PIN numbers were updated. However, Booking.com declined to disclose the number of impacted users.
According to an email sent to affected customers, hackers may have accessed booking details, names, email addresses, phone numbers, and any information shared with the accommodation provider. This breach is part of a series of cyberattacks targeting Booking.com, including a 2018 incident where criminals used phishing to steal hotel employee login details, compromising over 4,000 people's data.
The company recently faced a €475,000 fine for reporting a breach to the Dutch privacy regulator 22 days late. The wider travel industry is under pressure to combat fake listings and online scams, with fraudsters increasingly using stolen data to request payment verification before trips.
Booking.com is owned by Booking Holdings, a US company valued at $137 billion, which also operates OpenTable, Agoda, and Kayak. The group employs over 24,000 people globally.
