InterContinental is the hotel company with the largest number of rooms in the world. They have increased the number of rooms available by 49% since 1995 to a total of 532,701. Cendant is a close second followed by Marriott, Accor, and Choice Hotels. Hilton International was the leader in growth since 1995 by nearly tripling the rooms that they offer.

• InterContinental, 532,701 rooms, up 49 percent
• Cendant, 520,860 rooms, up 26 percent;
• Marriott, 469,218 rooms, up 154 percent;
• Accor, 463,427 rooms, up 81 percent;
• Choice, 403,806 rooms, up 37 percent.

Via the NY Times.

The email scam of phishing has a new target. Members of Frequent Flyer Programs. Phishing is the act of sending out an email in the name of a company you have an account with. The emails typically inform you of a supposed problem with your account, and then redirect you to a fake site. There they try to extract information out of you so they can steal from either your account or steal you identity.

These attacks previously had targeted banks and paypal accounts. Now these thieves have set their sites on frequent traveler accounts.

Anywhere [consumers]strong> might have a stored profile might present the same risk,” said Eric Olson, a vice president at Cyveillance, an Arlington, Va., company that specializes in tracking Internet risk and fraud.

It may be especially risky for the Internet-savvy frequent traveler.

“Super-platinum members of hotel chains spend a great deal of money on travel. That is a perfect target for a scammer.”

Two of the largest hotel frequent-guest programs appear to have been targeted by phishers, the hotels’ websites suggest: the Hilton HHonors program and the Starwood Preferred Guest program. Neither Starwood nor Hilton returned phone calls asking for comment about phishing.