The Post SHTF Short Term Rental Threat

Raise your hand if you’ve ever stayed in a short term rental (AirBnB or VRBO).  I’ve stayed in a few myself and they are literally everywhere, including out here in the mountains or the country where others live.  People cycle through these rentals trying to get a little taste of the outdoors and I’d suspect many times the owners of these do not even live in the same state.  Now consider this:

• As of this writing the US alone has over 660,000 Airbnb listings.
• As of this writing the US alone has over 745,000 VRBO listings.

In a post SHTF environment what’s to say that folks who will have cycled through won’t consider going back to that cabin / home in the woods to occupy it because…what the heck nobody will be there regardless.

Owners vs Renters

I could imagine a scenario where the owners of these short term rentals might have them set up as a bugout location, somewhere isolated from a major town where they could go for refuge.  Now imagine the hundreds of people who have also stayed there in the last few years, maybe 20 of them have the same idea.  Maybe because of logistics or traffic jams or whatever else it takes weeks for the actual owners to get to the property only to find it’s occupied by a band of 20 folks who are all armed to the teeth.  Going to wave a deed in their face?  Going to pull that AR out of the trunk?  Eh, probably not a great course of action and in a post SHTF world there is great potential for possession to be 9/10 of the law.

Your Community

What about the rentals in your community?  How many are there and where are they?  I personally know of 3 that are heavily used within a mile or so of my location and as such would definitely keep an eye out should the worst case happen.  We know everyone that lives up here, their vehicles and when folks typically come and go.  Those who are staying in those rentals are easily identified as they walk around the dirt roads for exercise or maybe flaunting out of state license plates.  It would definitely pay off to know where your short term rentals are in your community so that should the worst case happen, squatters could be deterred until the actual owners arrived (if at all, as in the case of an EMP strike or totally clogged highways and side roads).

The Bottom Line

Short term rentals are not often considered in a post SHTF scenario but they should be.  What would seem like a free place to stay isolated from society in a world where rule of law is halfway gone should not be taken lightly.  Folks with reasonably good intentions of getting away from the city or folks with totally nefarious intentions of simply taking what they believe they deserve will be a real consideration.  Shelter is high up on the list especially for those with families, know the short term rental situation in your area even if it’s only for situational awareness.