The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) reports that the average US company loses 6% of gross revenue to internal fraud every year. When you add frauds committed by outsiders-dishonest hotel guests, vendors, restaurant patrons, etc- the loss figures become even more startling. For hospitality security personnel, auditors and controllers, the biggest anti-fraud challenge is the seemingly limitless variety of ways that employees and outsiders find to steal from the organization. READ MORE

The news headlines are chock full of accounts of massive volumes of confidential corporate information being stolen, including customer credit card data, medical records, Social Security numbers, corporate trade secrets, trademarked and copyrighted intellectual property and more. The results of these attacks, though hard to accurately measure in dollars and cents, are nonetheless devastating for both the victimized company and the customers, employees and contractors whose personal identifying data is stolen. In the largest theft of confidential information ever, the apparel retailer, TJX Inc., had its databases attacked by outside hackers to the tune of over 45 million retail transaction records, involving countless numbers of credit and debit card files. READ MORE

The problem for hospitality companies, among others, is that thieves have found more and more ways to steal customer credit card and other personal information in order to create counterfeit credit cards in the victim's name.,..or to use the credit card information to fraudulently purchase goods over the Internet with the victim's identity. In addition, restaurant and front desk point-of-sale locations are common "hang-outs" for dishonest employees armed with credit card "skimmers" that record guest credit card data for later use in identity fraud. READ MORE

Industry experts estimate that up to five cents of every dollar of revenue in a restaurant or bar is stolen. Of the five cents, it is estimated that four cents is stolen by employees. Pretax net income for successful restaurants and bars is generally between four and ten percent. Therefore, by merely preventing one-half of a business's fraud, pretax income would be significantly improved. For a hotel food and beverage operation generating, say, $1 million a year in revenue, that 5% or $50,000 represents a significant loss. For large chains, the math can easily produce some fairly staggering loss figures. In this article we'll explore the major reasons for this high rate of fraud loss including scams in hotel bars, and Front and Back of the House. READ MORE

This summer, gays and lesbians will spend on average $2,300 on business and leisure travel, almost $1,000 more than heterosexuals, according to the "Gay and Lesbian Travel Snapshot" by Witeck Combs Communications and Harris Interactive. Are gays and lesbians magically immune from this global financial crisis? No, but there are reasons why they are a coveted, treasured segment in this down economy. Read this article for additional facts about this segment and learn which hotel chain earns more than $5 million in revenue annually from "out" gay and lesbian travelers. READ MORE