Updated on March 17, 2023
In the spring of 2018, Major Anthony Gantt Jr. made his 14th permanent change of station (PCS) move. For the Marine, these usually took a month to transition from permanent housing at one base to another. By this move, he and his wife, Novia, had six kids between 4 and 15 in tow. Cramming them into yet another hotel room was not going to work.
Instead, he booked a short-term rental where they could spread out, enjoy a private backyard with a pool, cook meals at home, and each have some privacy, all for far less than a hotel would cost them.
For a quick cost comparison, 30 days in two hotel rooms in the Washington, D.C., area at the 2016 average daily rate of $151 would have totaled $9,060 before taxes and fees – more than double what a whole-home short-term rental would have cost in D.C. the same year. And that’s just for accommodations, not taking into account the cost difference of dining out for every meal vs. cooking in an STR’s kitchen. (Source: STR Airbnb and Hotel Performance 2019 report.)
But when Anthony went to submit his expenses to the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), which reimburses military members and federal employees for their transitional accommodations and meals, he made a costly discovery: The Joint Travel Regulation did not accept short-term rentals as approved lodging.
The military arranges between 420,000 and 450,000 of these moves every year. According to Military Onesource’s 2018 demographics profile, about one-third of all military members are married with kids. Active-duty parents had two kids on average. However, Anthony said the prevalence of families like his with five or more kids is surprisingly high. These families often have to book two hotel rooms for their PCS moves. If military families could book short-term rentals instead, the savings to the government would be astronomical.
So, why couldn’t they? Anthony said a big reason STR booking platforms were not approved is because of the potential for scam listings. (He explained that government employees of all branches are more likely to be targets of scam and fraud attempts given the nature of their jobs.)
Even though he wasn’t reimbursed for that fateful stay, Anthony believes it was the best $1,200 he’s ever spent. “The money we saved from not eating out, not hearing the kids arguing because they are not on top of each other, and being able to barbecue in the backyard while the kids swam in the pool was priceless,” he wrote on his company website.
A big problem with a simple solution: Verified short-term rentals for military travelers
Recognizing that immense value to his family, he set out to make it possible for others like them to have a better moving experience without losing out on their due reimbursement. He realized that at the intersection of this massive need for military families and the astronomical savings potential for the Department of Defense sat a simple solution: verified properties. So, he launched At Ease, a short-term rental booking platform for military personnel approved for reimbursement by the DTMO.
At Ease Rentals inspects every property in person before approving them for a listing. They check first to make sure it simply exists. Inspectors also check for proper adherence to building codes; responsible and respectful landlords, hosts, or property managers, in addition to safety and security, not just of the home itself but of the surrounding community as well.
So far, 2,681 properties have gone through the process. The organization is working with channel managers, including Rentals United, DerbySoft, and Next Pax, to connect with property managers who could help increase At Ease’s inventory for military and government guests by more than 20,000 properties.
The company also has contracted with ID.me, an identity verification software company that allows At Ease to ensure only military and government employees can use the site.
Most of their existing operators are hosts and managers already set up to provide flexible stay lengths at affordable rates, particularly those who actively serve service providers, such as traveling medical personnel. At Ease also looks for property managers with a large inventory, ideally those in multiple markets around military bases. The platform currently lists accommodations in 22 cities across nine states, including Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego, and six cities in Texas.
Read next: At Ease: Hosting & Hiring for the Military [RR Summit Session Recording]
Entrepreneur at heart
Anthony is currently based in Austin, where he has spent the last three years leading the naval reserve at the University of Texas as an ROTC instructor. Austin happens to be the perfect incubator for At Ease with its burgeoning tech scene nicknamed Silicon Hills. Anthony works at the university from 6 a.m. to the early afternoon, then spends the rest of the day on At Ease and meeting with nearby startups, sometimes working until 2 a.m. “It is a sleep-when-I-die type of attitude,” he said, laughing. However, he recently received approval to retire from the military in July 2022.
Typically, starting a company while on active duty is difficult, he said, but a growing contingent within the armed forces is embracing entrepreneurship to help ensure members have a next step when they leave service. The Army and Air Force have also moved their innovation labs to Austin, which has helped create a center of entrepreneurship and innovation within the armed forces.
At Ease’s next big moves in vacation rentals for the military
Anthony recently raised over $300,000 from crowdfunding through Nextseed, which is similar to Go Fund Me but for businesses. He also has won over $75,000 from pitch competitions – events where startups pitch ideas to get non-dilutive capital from investors. The funds from both efforts are going toward the development of more sophisticated booking and automation software.
But a bigger goal for Anthony is to create jobs for military spouses and veterans. Often, spouses of military members struggle to find good jobs or careers as their resumes show a job change with every move. “They have skills and resources that you wouldn’t even believe, but it’s hard for them to find employment.” In 2018, civilian military spouses had an unemployment rate of about 24%.
What’s made even more pronounced by COVID-19 is the opportunity within remote work, a perfect arrangement for both At Ease and spouses who can – and need to – work from anywhere.
Anthony also wants to make the entire moving process itself easier, starting first with military families and federal employees but ultimately for everyone. Currently, the entire moving process is a notorious headache for military members, infamous for its plague of lost or damaged possessions. According to a 2018 Time article:
The United States Armed Forces orchestrates between 420,000 and 450,000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves for military families annually, Rear Admiral Peter Clarke, director of strategic plans, policy and logistics at United States Transportation Command, tells TIME. About 40% of them take place in the summer. During the season, the satisfaction rate dips to as low as 80%, Clarke said. That means, every summer, thousands — if not tens of thousands — of Permanent Change of Station moves don’t go as planned for military families.
The issue stems from the contracted packers and shippers not having the capacity to service the thousands of families that need to move in a relatively short time period, Clarke says.
For Anthony, the future of At Ease and the team that will get the company there comes back to one thing: merit. He brings the culture of the Marines – honor, courage, commitment, and integrity – and his drive as a former engineer to make the world better into every dimension of the company, from the hiring of veterans and military spouses to the properties they choose to list on the platform to the partners they work with. Merit should be the governing factor for all things related to business, he said.
And with that, he easily clears a path through the cutthroat, acquisition-driven world of startups to keep At Ease steady on its course to answer one single question: “How can we make this better for mankind?”
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