Something Is Rotten In The Amsterdam Hospitality Group

November 7, 2011 at 10:30 AM | by ASchechter | Comments (0)

The WSJ is reporting that an auditor for Amsterdam Hospitality Group has greedily helped himself to the credit card information of 237 guests, drawing from three of the group's eight Manhattan hotels. Luckily, NYC's Fashion Week mainstay, the Empire Hotel, which the company owns, wasn't affected.

Phew! Though we dote happily on the Empire's ritzy Lincoln Center location and rooftop drinking accommodations, we'd rather not take our chances when handing over our credit cards for a $450-a-night stay. We have enough "mystery charges" showing up on our monthly statements (as we mentioned earlier this morning, our love of hotels is exceeded only by our love of shopping) as it is, and have no need for disappearing funds.

Though the auditor, Lukask Kruk (sounds like 'crook!'), and his accused partner in crime, Barry Herndon, have both pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and identity theft, Amsterdam Hospitality Group has refrained from commenting on the unfolding story.

According to the article,

"Prosecutors say Kruk was an auditor for the Amsterdam Hospitality Group and had access to guests' credit card data. They say Herndon bought [$840,000 in airline] tickets for himself and other people with information Kruk took."

It would be wrong to now tie in the company's eight NYC hotels (which include the Ameritania, the Bentley and the Marcel, among others) with other brands that nickel and dime guests' credit cards to death (for more on those places, see here), as it wasn't the fault of any single hotel or management team. However, we know we'll be keeping an eye on those future hotel receipts from now on!

[Photo: NYC Go]

HotelChatter

Select a Destination:

Hotel Woes / Hotel Fees / Hotel Credit Cards / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Lawsuits / Hotel Fraud / → All Tags