There's a call to the front desk. A guest returned to her room and noticed personal items missing. What do you do?

Destination uncovered a malicious software program inserted into its credit card processing system from a remote source, and guests at 21 of its hotels may be victims.

Guests' personal data is passed throughout a hotel's network on a daily basis and can be found anywhere from the point-of-sale system to the property-management system to the financial records and guest-profile databases. It is often collected via the swipe of a credit card and transmitted electronically, but even encrypted technology won't stop it from getting in the wrong hands.

PCI DSS requirements are extensive, but there are some concise things that can be said about areas that, if well-understood, will help businesses get through the compliance process.

Credit card security is everyone's responsibility. If you're accepting credit-card payments over the phone, on site or via the Web, you have an obligation to protect your customers--and yourself--from data theft.

It's critically important for hotel owners, management companies, technology vendors and property-level staff to do all they can to keep guests' data secure.

A week-long series on PCI compliance culminates at 2 p.m. ET Friday, May 7, with a free Live Chat, featuring data security experts to answer your questions on preparing for Visa's July 1 compliance deadline. Each part of the series—articles, blogs and guest commentary—is housed here.

The TrueHybrid provides the hospitality industry with an affordable, seamless upgrade to the latest surveillance technology.

Hotech Edge has developed and implemented a range of ZigBee-based building security and energy conservation applications for the hospitality industry based on Ember's technology.

National Report-Some call it a cost of doing business, while others ring it up as a cost to the customer. From bathrobes and flat-panel televisions to nightlights and batteries from the remote control, it seems nothing is sacred from the sticky fingers of some hotel guests. And while some hotel operators insist the issue is nearly nonexistent, estimates place theft of guestroom products by guests at about $100 million per year.