The Airline Information Group (AIG) has criticized the hospitality industry for failing to maintain strong payment card security.  The group accused hotel employees of contributing to the high level of credit card fraud in the industry.  AIG Managing Partner Michael Smith noted that front-line hotel employees have access to paper copies of guests’ credit card numbers, which are often stored on-site at the hotel.  Smith stated that the use of paper copies is, “much less secure than the masked electronic credit card information standard in almost any other industry.”

Although the hospitality industry could invest in enhanced hospitality technology to protect guest information, PCI compliance training for hoteliers would have an immediate impact on those front-line hotel employees criticized by AIG.  Hotels are well advised to use PCI training modules or other custom learning solutions to improve overall payment card security for hotel guests.

The Venza Group has partnered with Arnall Golden Gregory (AGG) to create a series of interactive eLearning modules to address PCI compliance in the hotel industry. Management, employees and IT are taught about the requirements they must support as part of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.  The Venza Group also is partnering with AGG to create an interactive eLearning module to train hoteliers on general privacy and security awareness issues.

Link: http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2008290