As the Omni online systems were out, the company resorted to an offline mode of running critical business operations, including manual check-ins. “Checking in on paper, no card machines work, even room keys do not work,” said another hotel guest who was staying at the Louisville Omni. “Everyone has to be escorted to their room by an employee and the phones and Wi-Fi are down.”
Omni took to social media channels on Monday to apologize for the outage and requested customers for patience. “Dear valued guests, our technology teams are continuing to work on restoring our systems that are currently down,” Omni said on X and Facebook. “Your business is very important to us; we appreciate your patience and apologize for the disruption.”
Omni had reportedly blocked comments on these social media posts, allowing users to only like and share.
Omni’s phone helplines were also affected by the outage, with functions limited under a recorded message that said, “Thank you for calling Omni Hotels and Resorts. We are sorry we are currently experiencing technical difficulties and are unable to answer your call. Please try your call again at a later time.”
No information on the attack
Omni has refrained from sharing additional details on the attack, offering zero clarity on whether it’s a ransomware attempt, a denial-of-service attack, or any other form of cyber-extortion.
Hospitality chains are popular ransomware targets as operational disruptions are more damaging to their daily businesses and attackers can usually extort huge payouts.
