IHG reports criminal activity to law enforcement after unauthorised access to systems

Hotel giant has issued reassurances saying all services were recovered after September breach

Criminal activity has been reported after parts of InterContinental Hotels Group’s technology systems were subject to “unauthorised activity”.

The owner of 17 brands such as Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza said the action caused disruption to its booking channels and other applications on September 6.

In an update today (Thursday), the company said: “Following a period of disruption, by Wednesday 7 September IHG had re-activated its booking websites and mobile app together with most of its other booking channels and revenue-generating systems. 

“Subsequently, service at our reservation and customer care call centres has been recovered and all our systems restored. 

“During the disruption in our central systems, IHG-branded hotels continued to operate and were able to take reservations directly.”

IHG added: “We have continued to carry out additional steps as part of our recovery and assurance plans to review and further enhance our security measures. 

“External specialists were engaged to investigate the incident, and no evidence of unauthorised access to systems storing guest data has been identified. 

“We have also reported the criminal activity to law enforcement. We continue to work closely with our hotels and owners throughout this time.”