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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchMarriott’s $52 million payment is a multistate government settlement, not a nationwide fund that automatically sends money to guests. Announced October 9, 2024, the agreement covers investigations by 49 states and the District of Columbia into security and breach-notification failures involving Starwood and Marriott systems. A separate Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order, finalized December 20, 2024, requires stronger security and gives eligible U.S. consumers account-review and data-deletion options.
What was settled?
Two related but legally distinct actions resolved the matter:
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Multistate agreement
Marriott agreed to pay $52 million to 50 participating state attorneys general—49 states plus the District of Columbia—and to implement security and consumer-protection measures. The payment is described in the official announcements as going to the states, not into a nationwide consumer claims fund. See the Massachusetts attorney general’s announcement and the settlement judgment.
FTC consent order
The FTC did not announce a $52 million federal penalty. Its order against Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide requires a comprehensive information-security program and specified protections for U.S. consumers. The order was finalized on December 20, 2024; it was not left at the proposal stage. Details are in the FTC final order announcement and the FTC case file.
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- One Gift Card. Endless Possibilities.
- A day at the spa, a culinary experience or a weekend away - each gift card can be used for hotel stays and so much more.
- Marriott GiftCards may be used throughout the Marriott portfolio of brands, including participating retail, spa, golf, food and beverage outlets.
- Visit gifts.marriott.com/terms.html for participating Marriott brands.
- Redeem at participating physical Marriott locations. Cannot be redeemed online to secure a reservation. When redeeming at a Marriott property, you much present the Gift Card to the front desk during your stay.
The FTC said it lacked authority to obtain civil penalties in this case, while the states pursued the separate monetary settlement. Calling the entire matter a single $52 million federal fine is therefore inaccurate.
What happened in the breaches?
Attackers entered the Starwood environment before Marriott acquired Starwood in 2016. The enforcement actions focus on alleged weaknesses in security, monitoring, remediation and management of the inherited systems—not on the acquisition itself being the start of the intrusion.
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- A day at the spa, a culinary experience or a weekend away - each gift card can be used for hotel stays and so much more.
- Marriott GiftCards may be used throughout the Marriott portfolio of brands, including participating retail, spa, golf, food and beverage outlets.
- Visit gifts.marriott.com/terms.html for participating Marriott brands.
- Redeem at participating physical Marriott locations. Cannot be redeemed online to secure a reservation. When redeeming at a Marriott property, you much present the Gift Card to the front desk during your stay.
| Incident | Timing and scope described by regulators |
|---|---|
| First Starwood breach | Beginning around June 2014; payment-card information from more than 40,000 Starwood customers was involved, and the intrusion remained undetected for about 14 months. |
| Second Starwood intrusion | Beginning around July 2014 and not detected until September 2018; approximately 339 million Starwood guest-account records worldwide were involved, including about 5.25 million unencrypted passport numbers. |
| Marriott-network breach | Approximately September 2018 through February 2020; about 5.2 million guest records worldwide, including data from roughly 1.8 million Americans. |
These figures and the alleged security failures are described in the FTC’s October 2024 announcement. The FTC later referred to more than 344 million customers worldwide across the three breaches. State attorneys general focused particularly on the large Starwood reservation-database incident and reported more than 130 million U.S. guest records; some state materials specify 131.5 million. Those are different geographic and incident totals, not competing counts of Americans.
What information may have been exposed?
Depending on the incident and the individual record, exposed or potentially exposed information may have included:
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- One Gift Card. Endless Possibilities.
- A day at the spa, a culinary experience or a weekend away - each gift card can be used for hotel stays and so much more.
- Marriott GiftCards may be used throughout the Marriott portfolio of brands, including participating retail, spa, golf, food and beverage outlets.
- Visit gifts.marriott.com/terms.html for participating Marriott brands.
- Redeem at participating physical Marriott locations. Cannot be redeemed online to secure a reservation. When redeeming at a Marriott property, you much present the Gift Card to the front desk during your stay.
- Names, mailing addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers
- Dates of birth, or month and day of birth
- Reservation details and hotel-stay preferences
- Marriott Bonvoy or other loyalty-account information
- Passport numbers, including unencrypted passport numbers in some Starwood records
- Payment-card information in some incidents
Not every guest had every category in their record. The Texas attorney general’s description and the FTC materials identify the categories but do not establish that all affected guests’ passports or payment cards were exposed.
Why was Marriott held responsible for Starwood’s systems?
Marriott completed its Starwood acquisition in 2016, after the earliest intrusion had reportedly begun. Regulators alleged that Marriott’s responsibilities after the acquisition included addressing inherited weaknesses, controlling access, monitoring systems, protecting stored data and responding appropriately to warning signs and incidents. The proceedings do not say that Marriott caused the original entry simply by buying Starwood.
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- One Gift Card. Endless Possibilities.
- A day at the spa, a culinary experience or a weekend away - each gift card can be used for hotel stays and so much more.
- Marriott GiftCards may be used throughout the Marriott portfolio of brands, including participating retail, spa, golf, food and beverage outlets.
- Visit gifts.marriott.com/terms.html for participating Marriott brands.
- Redeem at participating physical Marriott locations. Cannot be redeemed online to secure a reservation. When redeeming at a Marriott property, you much present the Gift Card to the front desk during your stay.
Do Marriott guests receive part of the $52 million?
The official settlement announcements do not describe the $52 million as a nationwide consumer payout or claims fund. The money is paid to the participating states. State attorneys general may direct proceeds to restitution where feasible, consumer education, enforcement or other public-welfare purposes, and the allocation can differ by state. For example, announced state shares include Colorado $822,434, Ohio more than $1.5 million, New York $2.29 million, Texas $3.5 million and Massachusetts $1.6 million; these are payments to those states, not promises of equal checks to every guest. See the Colorado announcement, Ohio announcement, New York announcement and Texas announcement.
Do not confuse this government resolution with a separate private class-action case. A message claiming you must pay a fee to collect “your share” of the Marriott government settlement is a warning sign.
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- Not redeemable at hotel locations or if you choose the Pay at Hotel option online
- Redemption: Online only
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
What Marriott must do under the resolutions
Security and oversight
- Maintain a comprehensive, risk-based information-security program.
- Use stronger access controls, encryption and other safeguards.
- Improve monitoring, logging and incident response.
- Conduct security assessments and obtain independent third-party reviews.
- Limit collection and retention of personal information and explain why information is collected or kept.
- Provide annual compliance certifications to the FTC for 20 years; the FTC’s order description also provides for independent assessment every two years.
Bonvoy and privacy remedies
- Use multi-factor authentication for loyalty accounts where provided.
- Review a Marriott Bonvoy account when a consumer requests an investigation of suspicious or unauthorized activity.
- Restore stolen loyalty points when Marriott determines that unauthorized activity caused the reduction, subject to the order’s conditions.
- Provide a clear deletion-request link on Marriott websites and mobile applications for covered U.S. consumer information associated with an email address or loyalty-account number.
The FTC order describes processing covered deletion requests within up to 60 days. Exceptions apply when Marriott must retain information for legal, regulatory, governmental, court, accounting, fraud-prevention or other permitted reasons. Deletion also cannot remove copies already obtained by attackers or held by independent third parties. See the order text and the FTC consumer guidance.
What Marriott customers can do now
- Inspect your Bonvoy account. Look for unfamiliar logins, profile or contact changes, reservations, point transfers and redemptions.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication. Use the security controls in your Marriott website or mobile-app account if available.
- Replace reused passwords. Change the Marriott password and every other account that used it; use unique passwords for each service.
- Request an account review. Contact Marriott through its official channels if you suspect unauthorized access, and ask about the investigation process.
- Ask about stolen-point restoration. Marriott’s obligation is conditional: restoration follows its determination that unauthorized activity caused the loss.
- Submit a deletion request if appropriate. Use Marriott’s official privacy/deletion link, understanding that legal and operational exceptions can apply.
- Watch financial accounts and credit reports. If your payment-card information may have been involved, ask the card issuer whether replacement is appropriate. Free federally authorized credit reports are available at AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Use identity-theft guidance when needed. The FTC’s free recovery service is IdentityTheft.gov.
A guest without a Bonvoy account may still have reservation data in an affected system, but loyalty-account review and point-restoration remedies may not apply.
What the settlement does—and does not—establish
- Consent judgments generally resolve the state matters without a trial. The Massachusetts judgment says Marriott entered judgment without admitting the facts or liability.
- The FTC order resolves the agency’s allegations and imposes forward-looking obligations; it does not establish that every customer suffered identity theft or financial loss.
- The published figures do not determine whether a particular reader’s record was exposed.
- The remedies do not guarantee removal of information from the internet, attackers’ copies or third-party databases.
- Point restoration and deletion are conditional processes, not automatic benefits for everyone.
For personal-finance purposes, the key distinction is simple: the $52 million is a state-enforcement payment, while the FTC order supplies security and privacy remedies. Consumers should secure accounts and use the official Marriott and government channels rather than expect an automatic settlement check.
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