Martin Bryant, founder of tech and media consultancy firm Big Revolution, is leading the class action suit on behalf of English- and Welsh-domiciled guests after the personal details of roughly 393 million Marriott customers were compromised by a data breach between 2014 and 2018.
“I hope this case will raise awareness of the value of our personal data, result in fair compensation for those of us who have fallen foul of Marriott’s vast and long-lasting data breach, and also serve notice to other data owners that they must hold our data responsibly,” he said in a statement.
The suit seeks unspecified damages for the loss of personal data, which potentially includes passport and credit card information. The suit automatically includes people who made a reservation at a former Starwood brand hotel before 10 September 2018, including Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and St. Regis hotels.
Marriott announced in 2018 that it had notified the FBI following a data breach which saw hackers gain access to the reservation database of Starwood hotels, which it had bought in 2016.
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This latest legal action follows a £99 million fine levied against Marriott by the UK data watchdog last year over the breach. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that roughly 7 million UK guests were affected by the breach.
In a statement, the ICO said Marriott “failed to undertake sufficient due diligence when it bought Starwood and should also have done more to secure its systems”.
Bryant will be represented by law firm Hausfeld, and the case funded by Harbour Litigation.
