Traveling Blog: Airbnb's Superhost Push + Marriott Breach Blowback + Southwest Shows Resolve

December 3, 2018

Editor's Note

Six months after Europe's new privacy protection regulation went into effect — the so-called GDPR — Marriott may be providing the first significant test case after reporting on Friday a data breach impacting 500 million hotel customers. It's too early to predict the fallout, of course, but Skift's blanket coverage of the breach (see below) reveals that GDPR-related fines could be significant, especially if regulators want to send a message that the new rule has teeth.

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson worked at a D.C. law firm previously, and has a politician's temperament, so it will be interesting to see how he handles the breach's aftermath. If Marriott gets fined, being the first big player to be spanked by Europe's ambitious privacy protection effort won't bode well for its reputation and brand. Schadenfreude may be in order on the part of rivals but probably best to keep that in check since nobody really knows whose systems at any given time are being laid bare to hackers.

— Tom Lowry, Managing Editor

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