Hospitality Brokers Advice: Why You Need Data Security

The hotel industry has advanced in ways previously unimaginable, thanks to the rapid innovation of 21st-century technology. Being able to track metrics and customer data has been invaluable to hotel owners. But having access to customer data isn’t something we should take for granted. Customer data is extremely valuable — and often extremely sensitive — so it needs to be carefully protected. In today’s blog from Southeast International Hotel Brokers, our hospitality brokers explain why customer data security is so essential.

Why Data Security is Important

When a customer stays at your hotel, they’re inherently trusting you with their personal information. They give you their name, birthday, credit card number, contact information, and more. A guest should never have to worry if their personal information is safe in your hands.

Data security is extremely crucial because without it you’re potentially opening your guests up to their information being stolen. You need to make sure your guests feel completely comfortable trusting you with their information and that you’re not the reason a scammer gains access to their personal and financial details.

Our hospitality brokers recommend making sure your processes and systems are up-to-date to prevent this from ever happening.

How You Can Improve Security

Now you know how important data security is, but how do you optimize security? The first point of contact guests will have is with your staff. When they give their names and contact information, they’re giving it to a hotel employee. Your employees should all be trained on how to safely enter guest information into the system. Our hospitality brokers recommend taking time to make sure your employees are properly trained on how to handle customer information. This is one of your best security measures. Of course, your employees can only do so much with the system they’re given. You also need to make sure your data system is updated regularly.

Most hotel IT systems are cloud-based. There are plenty of options out there, so it’s important to do your research and make sure you find a well-reviewed system that has all the proper security measures in place. When you choose a system, you’ll work with a vendor. Ask the vendor questions about data security. A good vendor will be able to tell you about their full stack encryption, their data security teams, and their secure data centers. Our hospitality brokers recommend choosing a vendor who runs their software on a large cloud platform.

Contact the Hospitality Brokers at Southeast International Hotel Brokers

If you’re looking to buy or sell your hotel, the hospitality brokers at Southeast International Hotel Brokers can help. We’re dedicated to providing our clients with excellent customer service by walking them through every step of the buying and selling process. Contact us today for more information and to speak with a member of our hospitality broker team.