Booking.com warns customers after reservation data breach

Travel website Booking has warned an unspecified number of customers that hackers have accessed their reservation data, in the latest cyber security breach to hit a major company operating in the Netherlands.

The Amsterdam-headquartered company began emailing affected users on Sunday evening about “suspicious activity” linked to certain bookings, and confirmed the incident publicly later the same day.

Exposed information may include booking details, names, email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and any extra notes guests had shared directly with their accommodation, the company said. No payment or credit card information was accessed.

Booking has not said how many reservations were affected, or when the breach took place.

“We recently noticed suspicious activity affecting a number of reservations and immediately took action to contain the issue,” the firm told affected guests by email. “The security of your personal information is our utmost priority. We’ll continue to enhance and extend the robust security measures we have in place.”

PIN numbers reset

Booking has reset the PIN numbers on all impacted reservations and says the problem is now “under control”. A spokesperson told reporters that all affected customers had been contacted directly.

The company has not issued a formal press release or shared technical details about how the breach occurred. Nor has it commented on whether the incident is connected to repeated phishing campaigns in recent years targeting hotels that use its platform, which scammers have exploited to send convincing fake payment requests to guests.

The incident comes two months after telecoms firm Odido confirmed that hackers had accessed personal data belonging to 6.2 million current and former customers, in one of the largest breaches ever reported in the country.