I received an e-mail message from the Hyatt Gold Passport frequent guest loyalty program earlier this morning which stated that the password to my account was reset due to access to a small number of accounts by “unauthorized individual utilizing member usernames and passwords.”
This is the unedited content of that e-mail message:
As part of Hyatt Gold Passport’s routine monitoring of member account activity, we found a small number of accounts were accessed by an unauthorized individual utilizing member usernames and passwords. We have no reason to believe, at this time, the login information was obtained through Hyatt Gold Passport, and we continue to analyze and monitor our systems. We have reached out to members we know have been affected to resolve any concerns.
To enhance your account security, we are resetting all passwords connected to a username. The next time you sign in to your Hyatt Gold Passport account, you will need to change your password by following the directions below. We strongly recommend that you reset your username and password to a unique combination not used elsewhere. You will not be able to access your account online until you change your password.
To change your Hyatt Gold Passport password:
- Visit goldpassport.com
- Click “Forgot Password” in the sign-in section and follow the directions
- Look for a temporary password sent to your email and follow the directions
We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, please call us anytime at 800.228.3360 in the US and Canada or contact Hyatt in your region.
For a brief moment, I was concerned due to having my Starwood Preferred Guest account compromised with all of the Starpoints I earned wiped out of my account on Friday, January 16, 2015; but after following the instructions and changing my password, my Hyatt Gold Passport account was untouched.
There have been similar account breaches in recent months which have affected members of the frequent travel loyalty programs of not only Starwood Preferred Guest; but also Delta Air Lines SkyMiles, American Airlines AAdvantage, United Airlines MileagePlus and Hilton HHonors.
To help reduce the chances of your frequent travel loyalty program account becoming compromised, consider following these steps as imparted to me by a member of the account integrity department of Starwood Preferred Guest:
- Do not use your e-mail address as your user name or identification to log into different Internet web sites
- Use a complex password and regularly update it
- Use different credentials — passwords and user names, as two examples — to log in for each of your accounts in different frequent travel loyalty programs
- Always check your account regularly
- Promptly report any potential suspicious activity
Even if you were not a recipient of the aforementioned e-mail message from the Hyatt Gold Passport frequent guest loyalty program, I strongly recommend that you change the password to your account anyway in order to ensure that your points remain as secure as possible.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
