Airports back to pen and paper: supplier risk in travel
One software supplier was attacked, and passengers at several of Europe's busiest airports queued for hours. Hotels and travel businesses rely on suppliers just as heavily.
By the Xuru Technologies team · 23 September 2025
Key takeaways
- On 19–20 September 2025 a cyber attack on Collins Aerospace's passenger processing software disrupted check-in at airports including Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin.
- Airports switched to manual check-in, causing delays and cancellations.
- Many businesses depend on a single supplier for bookings, payments or check-in.
- Manual fallbacks and clear guest communication reduce the damage.
Hotels run on property management systems, booking engines and payment providers. If one goes down, can you still check guests in?
What happened
Bloomberg and TravelPulse reported the disruption, which continued into the following days at some airports.
What it means for travel and hospitality businesses
- Single points of failure — PMS, booking engine, payments — need fallbacks.
- Offline copies of arrivals lists and bookings save the day.
- Guest communication through your website, email and social keeps trust.
- Ask suppliers about resilience and incident processes.
Hotel continuity checklist
| Scenario | Fallback |
|---|---|
| PMS down | Daily printed or offline arrivals list; manual check-in forms |
| Booking engine down | Website banner with phone and email booking |
| Card terminal down | Alternative payment method or pay-later agreement |
| Communication | Pre-written guest messages |
Frequently asked questions
Can a small hotel do anything about supplier attacks?
You can't prevent them, but you can prepare fallbacks so guests are still served.
Should our website show service status?
A simple, editable banner for disruptions is quick to set up and very useful in an incident.
What should we ask suppliers?
How they back up data, how quickly they restore service, and how they will notify you of incidents.
Keep guests informed when systems fail.
Hotel websites with editable status banners, booking fallbacks and secure, monitored hosting.
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