Last Updated On 26th February 2026. Hotel data breach claims can help recover financial losses and compensate for emotional hardships if the hotel failed to comply with data protection legislation, leading to a compromise of your data. Whether you’re visiting as a guest or working, hotels should be a comfortable and safe environment for all. As businesses, hotels will need to collect and process your personal data, such as your name, address, date of birth, and your financial details.
However, if a hotel fails to keep this data secure, you can lose your sense of trust. Therefore, you may be wondering, ‘Can I sue a hotel for giving out my personal information?’ Thankfully, our team can guide you through the claims process and help you gather evidence to strengthen your legal position. In essence, you could be awarded compensation for any mental and financial harm you may have suffered due to a hotel data breach.
At Legal Expert, our team is here to guide you through this challenging time. We understand that starting a hotel data breach claim can seem overwhelming, and so our advisors are here to help you. As part of the free services that we offer, you could enjoy an eligibility check to look at the merits of your case. Following this, you could be connected with one of our specialist data breach solicitors to start your compensation claim. Working on a No Win No Fee basis, our solicitors are ready to help you secure the settlement that you rightfully deserve.
4.8 (466 reviews) What Is A Hotel Guest Data Breach?
Before we explain what a data breach is, we should first define what we mean by personal data. According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, such data is information that could be used alone or in combination with other information to identify a natural living person.
Examples Of Personal Data A Hotel Could Hold
Hotels can hold a wide-range of data on individuals. Some examples of key pieces of data they may hold include:
- Customer names
- Addresses
- Credit card details, such as card numbers
- An IP address
- E-mail Addresses
- Passports and driving licenses
- Special request information, like accessibility needs
Can You Claim Compensation After A Hotel Data Breach?
Data breaches in the hotel industry could include incidents that are accidental, negligent or malicious.
Any data security incident that leads to the loss or theft of data could be considered a breach.
In addition, unauthorised or unlawful transmission, alteration, disclosure, processing, storage or loss of availability of personal data could represent a breach.
When Could A Hotel Data Breach Lead To Compensation
There are various incidents that could lead to a hotel data breach compensation claim. Let’s take a look at some of the most common:
- An error by a member of staff, for example, sending guest data to an unauthorised recipient
- Failing to secure customer data, such as leaving forms on hotel reception or computer screens visible
- A hacking, such as a cyber-attack on hotel systems
- Malware and spyware
- Lack of protection of cloud-held databases
- Loss of computer equipment or devices containing personal data
How Should Hotels Protect Personal Data?
Hotels could collect process and store lots of personal information relating to their guests and employees. In doing so, they become a data controller, and as such, they are legally bound to protect such data.
They should therefore take steps such as only using a secure domain name for bookings, ensuring they have cyber-security provisions in place, such as a firewall, and even protecting physical data by locking filing cabinets in order to ensure no one accesses that data without authorisation.
A failure to adequately protect personal data from a breach could lead to hotel data breach penalties. It could also lead to you being eligible to claim compensation for a data breach under the GDPR.
Examples Of Hotel Data Breach Fines
There was a huge hotel data breach fine issued to a hotel chain. The Marriott Hotel data breach fine totalled £18.4 million. It was the result of an estimated 339 million guest records having been breached. During the course of the investigation, it was found that the breach was initiated by a cyber attack. The attack was on a guest reservation database in 2014. However, the breach was identified in 2018.
The hotel chain data breach was said to include information such as names, passport numbers, addresses, phone numbers and arrival/departure information. The Information Commissioner’s Office found that Marriott failed to put in place appropriate organisational or technical measures to protect the processing of such data on its systems, which is a requirement of GDPR.
Top Hotel Chains In The UK
There are a variety of different hotel chains in the UK that could process and store personal information of their guests. According to a YouGov poll, popular UK hotels include:
- Premier Inn
- Travelodge
- Holiday Inn
- Hilton
- Marriott
- Savoy
- Butlins
- Ritz
- Best Western Hotels
- Four Seasons Hotel
- Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
- Haven Holidays
- Mercure Hotels
- Crowne Plaza
- Novotel
- Radisson
- Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts
- Ibis
- Champneys
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/travel/popularity/hotel-brands/all
No matter whether you’ve been harmed financially or emotionally by a hotel data breach we could help. We could check your eligibility to make a claim and provide you with a specialist solicitor who could assist with your case.
How To Report A Hotel Data Breach To The Information Commissioner
If you’re looking to claim for a hotel guest data security breach, you could deal directly with the hotel in question. However, it may be wise to have a solicitor represent your case. That way if any of your claims are disputed they will know how to put a counter argument forward.
The ICO advise victims of a data breach to put their data breach report in writing to the organisation, giving details about how the breach occurred, and what the effects were. In addition, it would be a wise idea to give them a reasonable timeframe within which to respond to your request. If they do not respond to your satisfaction or you don’t hear back from them, you could consider escalating your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO could then investigate your report and they may even choose to issue hotel data breach penalties to the hotel. These penalties could include a hotel data breach fine.
How A Hotel Data Breach Can Affect You
A hotel data breach can severely impact you by exposing sensitive data, creating both mental and financial consequences. Impacts of a hotel data breach can therefore include the following:
- Psychological harm, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Depending on the nature of the personal data being exposed, a hotel data breach can cause paranoia, stress and frustration.
- A mistrust of businesses and organisations, resulting in social withdrawal.
- Having to move address. This can arise due to your home address being leaked, causing you to fear for your safety and needing to relocate. This can also add extensive financial losses to your life.
- Home security costs, such as installing cameras if your address was compromised.
- Lost earnings from being unable to work due to psychological effects from the data breach
- Financial losses due to medical expenses from counselling sessions and travelling to and from appointments.
To discuss your personal experience with one of our friendly advisors, please contact our team today.
How Hotel Data Breach Victims Could Be Compensated
Under GDPR, and its application in the Data Protection Act 2018, victims of a data breach could claim for both non-material and material damage.
- Material damage – this is the quantifiable financial damage caused by a breach. It could include monies stolen from you or the cost of fraudulent purchases made using your credit card details, for example.
- Non-material damage – this is damage that could be more difficult to put a price to. It could include loss of privacy and emotional distress.
How Much Compensation For Hotel Data Breach Claims?
When calculating compensation for a GDPR data breach, evidencing how the breach has affected you is vital. While evidencing material damages could involve paperwork such as bank statements and bills, evidencing psychological harm may require a medical report. During your claim, you may be assessed by an independent medical expert. They could assess how the breach has affected you psychologically and put together a report to evidence your injuries. This could also be used to come to an appropriate value for your claim.
While assessing how much compensation could be appropriate, solicitors could look at the Judicial College Guidelines. This is a publication that gives guideline payout amounts for different injuries. We’ve included figures from the publication in the table below to give you a rough idea of how much compensation claimants could achieve for different levels of psychological injury. Please also note that the figure in the top row is not from the JCG.
| Type of Injuries | How Severe Is Your Injury | Approximate Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Psychological Harm with Significant Financial Losses | Very Severe | Up to £500,000 and above |
| Psychological injury (General) | Severe | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Psychological injury (General) | Moderately severe | £23,270 to £66,920 |
| Psychological injury (General) | Moderate | £7,150 to £23,270 |
| Psychological injury (General) | Less severe | £1,880 to £7,150 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorders/PTSD | Severe | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorders/PTSD | Moderately severe | £28,250 to £73,050 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorders/PTSD | Moderate | £9,980 to £28,250 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorders/PTSD | Less severe | £4,820 to £9,980 |
4.8 (466 reviews) Hotel Data Breach Claims Process
If your personal data has been compromised by a hotel, there are several practical steps that you could take to support a claim. As such, please see the following suggestions to help strengthen your evidence and legal position when making hotel data breach claims:
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- Seek medical treatment. Personal data breaches often create psychological effects, including anxiety, PTSD and depression. No matter how severe, you should seek the medical care that you need. Moreover, this can also help to create official medical records of the harm you suffered.
- Gather evidence. When the time is right, you should start to gather evidence to show the hotel’s failure to comply with data protection laws. Examples of evidence may include a copy of an official notification of breach from the hotel and any correspondence between you and the hotel. You could also include the findings of an ICO investigation, as well as any financial records to show the harm you suffered.
- Ensure the hotel data breach is reported. If not already notified, you should alert the hotel about the personal data breach you suffered. Moreover, you could report the breach to the ICO to create an official investigation.
- Track how your harm affects you. By keeping a daily symptoms diary, you should track any psychological impacts you suffered due to the hotel data breach. You should also keep note of any financial losses, such as lost earnings and medical expenses relating to the breach.
- Seek legal advice. By consulting a specialist data breach solicitor, they could use their expertise to show how a hotel failed to adhere to data protection laws. Most offer free consultations, so there is no obligation to pursue a claim.
- Be aware of the time limit. In personal data breach cases, claims must be started within 6 years of the breach.
To discover more about the evidence needed to make a personal data breach claim, please get in touch with our team.
How Our Specialist Data Breach Solicitors Can Help
Many people prefer to have legal support when claiming compensation. If you’d prefer to use a data breach lawyer to help you make your claim, there are certain benefits to doing so, including:
- Not having to put together any complex paperwork
- Being assured that you were claiming for everything you could be eligible for
- Not having to negotiate compensation by yourself
- Having support should your case go to court (although many cases settle outside of court)
When it comes to finding a solicitor, you’ll find there are lots of firms out there offering similar services. So why choose us? Here at Legal Expert, we have years of experience in helping fight for compensation for a wide variety of claims and great reviews too. Our expert advisors could offer you a free, no-obligation case check, and answer any questions you might have. If we feel you could have a valid claim, we could provide you with a No Win No Fee solicitor. They could fight for the maximum compensation possible on your behalf. Our expert advisors are only a call away. Why not get in touch to start your claim today?
No Win No Fee Hotel Data Breach Compensation Claims
If you’re looking for a data breach solicitor to help you claim compensation for a hotel guest data breach, you may worry about what legal fees you’d need to pay. With No Win No Fee claims, you don’t pay your solicitor anything upfront to start your claim. And what’s more, you’d only pay your solicitor if they obtain a compensation payout for you.
The No Win No Fee Claims Process
Making a claim under a No Win No Fee Agreement is relatively straightforward:
- Your solicitor would send the agreement to you, containing details of the small, legally capped success fee you’d pay them out of your compensation payout.
- If you agree with the terms of the agreement, you sign and send it back, and your solicitor starts work on your case.
- When they have negotiated a payout for you, they would deduct their success fee, and the balance would be for your benefit.
What Happens If There’s No Compensation?
If there’s no compensation, you don’t pay a success fee to your solicitor. Nor do you pay any costs your solicitor incurred while fighting your case. Want to know more? We have put together a useful guide to help you. Or if you prefer, you could call our team with any questions.
Contact An Advisor
If you think you’ve suffered harm from a hotel data breach in 2020, 2021 or even earlier than that, we could help. We could offer you a no-obligation free-of-charge eligibility check to see if you could be eligible to claim compensation. Our advisors could answer any questions you might have about making a claim for a breach of data protection and could provide you with a solicitor to help you start your claim. To get in touch, simply:
- Call our expert team on 0800 073 8804
- E-mail [email protected]
- Use our Live Chat service
- Or complete our contact form and we’ll call you back.
Related Guides
- Assistance For Claims For Data Loss – You might be looking to make a claim because an organisation has lost your personal data. If so, this guide could help.
- GDPR Breach Distress– You can learn how to claim for data breach distress in this guide.
- My Employer Breached My Data– Take a look at this guide for more information on claiming against an employer that has breached your data protection.
- IPsec & Data Protection – The National Cyber Security Centre also offers some advice regarding the use of IPsec to establish a VPN (virtual private network), which could help protect data.
- Medical Records Data Breach By A Hospital Claims Explained
FAQs On Hotel Guest Data Breaches
Below, you can find answers to some common questions on hotel data breach claims.
Was I Affected By The Marriott Data Breach?
If you are worried that you might have been affected by the Marriott hotel data breach, you should check whether the company has emailed you to tell you. If you cannot see an e-mail informing you that your data has been compromised, you could make a subject access request to the hotel to ask them about whether your information has been breached. There is also a page on the hotel’s website that you could submit a request through.
What Caused The Marriott Data Breach?
It appears to be a cyberattack.
How Do Hackers Breach Databases?
Hackers use a variety of methods to breach databases. Some use automated bots that look for vulnerabilities in websites so that they can find targets to exploit. They could then use a computer virus, worms, phishing attacks, ransomware, DDoS attacks to exploit, steal or leak private information.
What Is The Difference Between A Breach And An Incident?
Not all security incidents are data breaches. A security incident could include a situation where a hacker gains access to systems but does not gain access to personal information. A data breach is when a security incident leads to personal data being breached.
