Your Property Management System (PMS) or RediStay holds a lot of information and most of it is important information: guest names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit cards. To be PCI compliant, we need to make sure no one compromises your PMS.
Changing Passwords
One way to protect you and your PMS is changing your password every 90 days. RediStay does not automatically make you change your password, but there is away. At the bottom of the RediStay, double click on your name and a pop-up window will appear allowing you to change your password. It’s important to change your password frequently so that others don’t try logging in under your credentials.
Logging Out of RediStay
RediStay dates and time stamps everything you do. To keep others from working in Redistay
under your credentials, make sure you log out of RediStay whenever you step away from the computer. Select Action Button F11 Logout. This way you can protect yourself from others making a mistake under your credentials. If your username is on a mistake, then that mistake will fall on you.
Credit Card Readers
It is all our jobs to make our guest feel safe when they stay at our properties. This is not only security of the room and their belongings but of their data (personal and credit card).
One area of concern for us is the credit card reader. These devices are reading the guest credit card and asking them to supply information, so they have value to a criminal. There are many ways the credit card reader can be compromised, while devices such as ours are less frequently compromised than say gas pumps or ATM machines it does happen. Some examples of credit card reader compromises are, skimmers installed on the device, keyboard replacement, replacement of the complete device, tampering with the connections or installation of malicious software.
We have policies and procedures in place to catch this type of tampering’s and audits that the GM performs. Working at the front desk gives our employees a better chance than many to catch any of these types of issues before they can be a problem. Some items to watch for are:
If the readers look different – the keyboard looks different, the device seems to be a different size, or there is a seam as if something was put on top of the device. This could be an indication that a skimmer has been installed on the device or a keyboard overlay has been placed on it.
If someone is playing a lot with the reader or reaching behind it for some reason.
Someone shows up at the property saying they are there to fix the reader or do some work on the reader – IT will never send out a tech to the property to work on the device. All work is done by sending the device back to the corporate office or to the vendor.
If you are experiencing issues with credit card readers or a computer (mouse, keyboard, browser, specific sites, spyware/virus, account issues), or if you have a problem and you are unsure who to contact, reach out to Westmont IT Support.
Email: IT.Support@whg.com
Support Line: 713-933-0990
Use the RRI West POS Device Inspection Log to check the devices monthly. This log can be found on WEST Edge. These records must be retained for at least 2 years. For example, records kept for calendar 2021, would be disposed of at the end of 2023.
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