Glamping resorts may market themselves as escapes to the great outdoors, but behind the safari tents, domes, treehouses, and luxury cabins is a digital ecosystem every bit as complex as a boutique hotel. The same is true with today’s adventure lodging in general. Booking apps sync with CRM systems, stored payment tokens move through cloud-based reservation platforms, smart-cabin locks authenticate identities, AI-powered personalization engines shape the guest experience, and guest profiles travel across Wi-Fi networks that stretch deep into the woods.
The scenery may be rustic, but the attack surface is modern.
As cybercriminals increasingly target hospitality environments—drawn by high-value payment data, credential theft, and complex webs of third-party platforms—outdoor lodging is becoming an unexpected but lucrative target. Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) found that stolen credentials and payment data remain two of the most frequently involved data types in breaches affecting Accommodation and Food Services.1 The average cost of a data breach in the hospitality sector has risen from $3.82 million in 2024 to $4.03 million in 2025, and properties take an average of 241 days to identify and contain an attack.2
With the camping and caravanning market growing from $60.02 billion in 2024 to $64.38 billion in 2025—with projections reaching $108.74 billion by 2032,3, operators are feeling pressure to modernize just as quickly as demand accelerates. As more properties digitize bookings, payments, and smart-cabin systems to meet guest expectations, their attack surface expands just as quickly.
Glamping sites don’t follow a single blueprint. Guests might stay in yurts, geodesic domes, treehouses, safari tents, A-frame cabins, or luxury pods—each with different layouts, materials, wiring, access points, and environmental constraints. That diversity makes it difficult to apply consistent security controls. Every structure needs its own mix of access technology, IoT placement, and connectivity, which expands the number of variables attackers can probe.
Here are five reasons “rustic luxury” now demands modern cyber vigilance—and how a security partner can strengthen identity controls, segment networks, and monitor systems to keep guest data protected miles from the nearest cell tower.
Glamping brands often require guests to upload IDs, verify identity for remote check-in, and store payment tokens for add-on experiences, creating a rich data set attackers covet: payment credentials, personal identifiers, reservation histories, and identity documents. Unlike many traditional hotels, glamping sites often lack on-site IT staff or centralized management, making identity data easier to target when access controls are weak. Misused credentials, phishing, and other identity-centric actions remain among the dominant initial access vectors in breaches—including in cloud environments—and often rank at or near the top compared with causes such as lost devices or physical intrusions.4
How to keep the glam in glamping: Enforce identity governance, require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all administrative access, and regularly audit permissions to limit credential misuse across staff, vendors, and guests.
Smart-cabin features—digital locks, app-based thermostats, lighting controls, and environmental sensors—elevate the glamping experience with convenience and personalization. Many of these devices also rely on AI-powered automation to tailor lighting, temperature, and comfort settings—adding to the guest experience but expanding the digital footprint operators must protect. In hospitality, guests who experience highly personalized stays rate satisfaction at 9.2 out of 10, compared with 6.1 when personalization is low,⁵ and glamping sites increasingly rely on connected devices to deliver that same elevated touch. But every device added to a tent, cabin, yurt, or tiny home also becomes another node in the attack surface…
How to keep the glam in glamping: Inventory every device, isolate IoT systems from guest and operational networks, and continuously monitor for unusual behavior before attackers can exploit smart-cabin technology.
Remote properties rely on wireless bridges, mesh networks, and long-range repeaters to extend connectivity across wooded or mountainous terrain. These networks are often stitched together over time and rarely monitored continuously. Slow backhaul or intermittent connectivity doesn’t just impact the guest experience—it delays patching, disrupts monitoring tools, and creates blind spots attackers can exploit.
How to keep the glam in glamping: Segment networks by function, deploy monitoring built for low-connectivity environments, and ensure security and networking equipment receive updates even when bandwidth is limited.
Glamping properties depend on third-party platforms for nearly everything—reservations, payment processing, event bookings, shuttle scheduling, retail purchases, and activity management. Each integration becomes an extension of the operator’s attack surface. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2024, incidents involving third-party vendors cost 19 percent more on average, driven by complex remediation and shared responsibility models.6
How to keep the glam in glamping: Map every vendor handling guest data, continuously evaluate their security posture, and monitor API behavior to detect unauthorized access before it spreads across your environment.
The quiet of the forest doesn’t translate to safety online. Cybercriminals don’t care how far a tent is from the nearest cell tower—only that the property holds payment information, identity data, and digital access keys worth stealing. Remote properties also face additional risks, including seasonal staff turnover, shared devices and credentials, inconsistent access-control hygiene, and limited on-site tech support. These gaps make “rustic luxury” an increasingly attractive target for attackers looking for soft-entry points.
How to keep the glam in glamping: Adopt a Zero Trust approach, validate every user and device interaction, and monitor activity across your digital footprint to reduce exposure in remote, lightly staffed locations.
The right technology partner can deliver the resilient infrastructure that keeps glamping sites and campgrounds running smoothly and securely—no matter how remote the terrain. With ESP, a NexusTek company, behind the scenes, operators gain access to:
Glamping may offer an escape from everyday life, but operators can’t escape the responsibility of protecting guest data. As “rustic luxury” becomes more digital, strong identity controls, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring aren’t optional—they’re foundational to trust.
If you’re ready to secure your outdoor lodging environment with the resilience today’s guests expect, NexusTek can help you build a safer, more reliable experience under the stars.
👉 Check in now to learn how ESP and NexusTek can support your outdoor hospitality operations
Founder, ESP, a NexusTek company
Jason Pullo is a seasoned technology entrepreneur with a passion for transforming the hospitality industry through innovative IT solutions. As Founder and CEO of Enterprise Solutions Providers, he leads the company’s vision and growth, helping hotels navigate everything from new builds and brand transitions to large-scale renovations. Since launching the firm in 2003, Jason has played a key role in the technology strategy behind more than 1,000 hotel acquisitions. His journey began at just 18 years old as an IT manager for a trade show company, and he’s since led major projects like a multimillion-dollar hotel renovation in New York City, delivering guest-centric technology with measurable business impact.