(Reuters) - Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (N:HOT) Inc said payment systems at 54 of its hotels in North America had been infected with a malware designed to collect payment card data.
A third-party investigation showed that no customer data had been compromised and the malware "no longer presents a threat", the company said in a statement.
Starwood Hotels, which has agreed to be bought by Marriott International Inc, said the payment systems at the 54 hotels had been affected for varying periods between November 2014 and October.
Starwood Hotels owned or managed 1,222 properties, including hotels and vacation rentals, globally as of 2014. Of them, about 600 properties were in North America.
The affected hotels include the Sheraton New York Times Square (N:SQ) hotel, the Westin New York Grand Central New York and The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort in Florida. (http://sta.rw/1QSRA8H)
The company said the affected payment systems were at the restaurants, gift shops and other places in the hotels.
The hotel chain said it has implemented additional security measures to prevent a reoccurrence.
Starwood Hotels and Marriott's shares were unchanged in morning trading on Friday.