Toyota Investing In Uber

Rideshare wars just got even more interesting. Uber has confirmed a strategic investment and auto leasing deal from Toyota.

Uber would not disclose terms of the deal or the financing program and there aren’t many details yet, but according to a release from the car manufacturer, Toyota is interested in exploring the future of transportation with Uber and the companies have “entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore collaboration, starting with trials, in the world of ridesharing in countries where ridesharing is expanding, taking various factors into account such as regulations, business conditions, and customer needs.”

The Toyota leasing deal helps Uber expand its financing program for Uber drivers, Uber Xchange, but will also bolster Uber’s moves into a self-driving vehicle future.

Tech Crunch article here

Keywords

autonomous vehicles   driverless cars   investment   self-driving vehicles   TNCs   Toyota   Uber   vehicle financing   

 

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Five Tips For Selling Luxury Travel

It’s not your father’s high-end market anymore.  

The very nature of the luxury market is changing, as an influx of new travelers from all walks of life seek luxury experiences—and head to travel professionals to provide them.

Here are five things to keep in mind when selling to the new breed of high-end customer. 

Travel Market Report article here

Keywords

business travel   industry trends   leisure travel   luxury market trends   research and trends   VIP service   wealthy clients   

 

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Does Anyone Really Want A Self-Driving Car?

Self-driving cars could change everything about transportation in America, if you believe the visionaries working on the technology. Commuting could become productive instead of wasteful. Trucks could move goods much faster, since there would be no breaks for drivers to eat or sleep. The motor-vehicle death toll would plummet.

The problem is, most drivers seem to have no interest in ever owning a car that pilots itself. A new study from the University of Michigan finds only 15.5% of drivers say they’d want to own a fully autonomous vehicle once the technology becomes available. That’s very low, given how much publicity self-driving cars have been getting. Google and Tesla, two highly admired companies, have been promoting their research into self-driving cars for several years now, while just about every automaker is working on autonomous technology and trumpeting their own advances.

Yahoo Finance article here

Keywords

autonomous vehicles   driverless cars   Google   mobile technology   research and trends   self-driving vehicles   Tesla   

 

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American Inbound Travel to Canada Growing

Best Western Hotels & Resorts alongside Destination Canada, TripAdvisor, Hotel Association Canada and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada spoke to the growth of inbound American travel to Canada as well as trends in the industry at Best Western’s 11th annual Leisure Travel Summit in Toronto.

This year, Canada has noted a 20% increase in inbound travelers from the U.S. to Canada, according to the national travel survey done by Destination Canada. In addition, the country is seeing an uptick in winter and shoulder season travel.

David Goldstein, president and CEO of Destination Canada, noted once visitors have been to Canada, they are four times more likely to come back and seven times more likely to recommend travel to the country to others. He also mentioned Destination Canada recently launched a new campaign targeting Americans called, “Keep Exploring,” focusing on what today’s traveler is seeking – experiences.

Hotel News Resource article here

Keywords

business travel   Canadian Operators   corporate travel   customer service   leisure travel   tourism   

 

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Everything To Know About Crazy TSA Lines

In the past two weeks, thousands of travelers have missed or come dangerously close to missing their flights due to long airport security lines. With waits of up to three hours—and little long-term relief in sight—airlines are spending their own money to solve the TSA problem. Here’s what you need to know about the situation.

Travel and Leisure article here

Keywords

airlines   airport rules   airports   business travel   client markets   customer service   leisure travel   

 

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Austin City Council Approves Resolution To Help TNCs

Austin City Council approved a resolution that calls on the city manager to do four things to help expand the TNCs that are still there and help the ones that want to come to the city.

City Manager Marc Ott was directed to expedite the application for the driver-owned taxi franchise ATX Coop Taxi, talk with TNCs and those wanting to come to Austin to determine what obstacles are impeding their ability to meet demand, look for city resources, processes and policies that would allow the smaller companies to expand quickly and let the TNCs know about economic development resources that can help them.

Council Member Ellen Troxclair from District 8 voted against the resolution, saying there are other issues the city needs to address with TNCs.

KVUE article here

Related: Austin Ballot Vote Stops Uber, Lyft

Keywords

Lyft   regulatory enforcement   state regulations   Texas operators   TNCs   Uber   

 

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