Hotel booking site being investigated after reported leaks of private details
A hotel booking website that was reportedly leaking customer information is now being investigated by a data privacy watchdog.
Owned by HotelStayUK, booking tool HotelHippo.com was reportedly leaking information about people’s home addresses linked to their website hotel bookings, leading a security expert to determine that customers could potentially be susceptible to burglaries while on their trip.
The BBC reports that security consultant Scott Helme had found the potential pitfalls and contacted the company with the details on 25 June, with the site being taken down on 1 July.
Having explored the vulnerability of the site, Helme was easily able to get information on the date, location and length of a customer’s hotel stay, while on a separate page he could find the home address of the person who made the booking.
"We confirm that we have taken down the HotelHippo.com website to take some urgent action to deal with a technical situation,” the company said in a statement.
"Privacy of customer data is our prime concern, and we are committed to ensuring this safety."
Some of the booking options available through the site included offerings with chains such as Marriott Hotels and Radisson.
In response to the findings, HotelHippo has established a contact number for customers to call if they’re concerned about privacy issues.
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