Hotels Respond to CrowdStrike Computer Outage
When her hotel’s computer system failed on July 19, General Manager Yan Chung of the Fairfield New York Manhattan/Central Park knew she had to take swift action. The hotel’s point-of-sales and key systems went down for three days, making it impossible to issue guest-room keys.
The computers failed due to a faulty software update by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, a mishap that knocked out computers around the world.
Yan and her team sprang into action. In accordance with the hotel’s incident response plan, the team communicated with guests and staff about the outage, reassuring them of efforts to maintain security and addressing any concerns about their stay.
“We immediately added additional staffing to escort guests to their room with the master keys,” said Yan. “We also informed all departments of the outage so we could ensure guest compliance with security measures. Additionally, our front desk agents communicated the system outage and action plan to guests.”
The point-of-sales outage also impacted Bar 58’s register system at the hotel. The staff reviewed procedures for working offline and manually created receipt systems to record sales and transactions.
The outage also affected air travel, leading to hundreds of canceled flights and delays for many of the hotel’s guests. Yan said despite the disruption, “operations continued smoothly due to staff handling the situation with patience and preparation.”
The computer systems finally were restored, but the incident emphasizes the importance for hotels to have contingency plans and strategies in place in the event of a crisis.
![Rabeeka Azhar, left, guest service agent at the Fairfield New York Manhattan/Central Park, explains the temporary room access procedure necessitated by the CrowdStrike computer outage. Vivian De Lourdes, right, house attendant, uses a master key to admit guests to their room.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/62b32e97b6ce87acf7322931/66a6d06ada21c45e2ca86c36_66a6d00a83cfd742bf219178_Fairfield-CrowdStrike-A%252BB-topaz-enhance-2.4x-opt-2000px.jpeg)
![Bartender Alyssa Cabalitan prepares a manual receipt and sales log for Bar 58 at the Fairfield New York Manhattan/Central Park after the CrowdStrike computer mishap took down the hotel’s point-of-sales system.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/62b32e97b6ce87acf7322931/66a6d06ada21c45e2ca86c30_66a6d032fbfa77bac15c2349_Fairfield-Crowdstrike-C-topaz-enhance-2x-opt-2000px.jpeg)