Monday, March 9, 2009

PCI Standard Compliance

The Chancellor Hotel just took the next step toward guest data security and it takes a little getting used to. We upgraded our computer system to be Payment Card Industry (PCI) Standard Compliant which protects guest credit card information through encryption and limited access. From now on, when a desk agent enters a credit card number, once they enter the number, it can no longer be seen by anyone. There is only one person at the hotel that has the password to view credit card numbers. In the past, anyone that had access to the hotel system, could view an account and see the credit card number. Now, no credit card information can be viewed in the system at all. We also, no longer take a physical imprint of the card so we do not keep paper copies of the information anywhere. While this new system will provide much greater data security, if we need to re-enter a credit card number or something, we must call the guest to get it because we have no back up. Every once and a while, there is a glitch when entering credit card information and we would have to re-enter it from the imprint or from what was in the computer...no more!
If we have to ask for a number again for some reason, please bear with us, it is because we are protecting your information to the best of our ability.
Thanks for your understanding.

2 comments:

pci compliance said...

Hi your blog is cool.
I think it's a good point for debate. Looking forward to it.

Anonymous said...

Interesting... so if anyone wants to stay for free while they're in San Francisco, simply de-magnetize your strip, charge back the transaction, and when they call for your number, don't answer!