Tampa Hotel Targeted in Credit, Debit Card Data Breach

TAMPA, FL — Credit card data was stolen from 20 hotels across America, including one in Tampa, leaving customers vulnerable to identity theft.

The 20 targeted hotels are owned and operated by HEI Hotels and Resorts. They include such brands as Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton and Westin.

The hotel in Tampa affected by the breach is the Intercontinental Tampa Bay, 4860 W. Kennedy Blvd. According to HEI Hotels, the breach there occurred between March 21 and June 15, 2016.

Other Florida hotels affected by the breach are:

• Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center, 5150 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton
• Royal Palm South Beach Miami, 1545 Collins Ave., Miami Beach
• Westin Fort Lauderdale, 321 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

See the full list of 20 hotels where the data breach occurred along with the impacted dates.

According to HEI, the beach occurred at point-of-sale terminals that were affected with malware. The company doesn’t store credit and debit information from those terminals. That means potential victims will not be notified by HEI.

Instead, the hotel company recommends that potentially affected guests check their credit accounts and reports for inquiries they don’t recognize.

"If you see anything you do not understand, call the credit agency immediately,” HEI said in a statement. “If you find any suspicious activity on the credit reports, call your local police or sheriff's office, and file a police report for identity theft and get a copy of it. You may need to give copies of the police report to creditors to clear up credit records."

Checking credit and bank statements is not enough, officials warn. It’s also important to check credit reports to make sure thieves haven’t opened new, unauthorized accounts in victims’ names.

Image via Shutterstock

Patch’s Bea Karnes contributed to this report