Articles tagged “sharing”

You can really like Airbnb and the effect it has had on how we travel while not supporting the rule breaking that happens in cities like New York. But it's very hard to appreciate a deep-pocketed astroturfing campaign that tries to pretend it is grassroots-driven.

As we noted yesterday, if Uber is going to be the on-demand solution to all our transportation needs, it will need to take a few lessons from Amazon on how to do customer service.

Hotels and the sharing economy don't compete as much as they complement one another. Understanding what makes the innovators work, though, can improve the operations of hotel chains and properties.

Bloomberg is planning to take the lessons learned from significantly changing New York City's physical landscape over the past 12 years to other cities in the U.S. and abroad. This means other cities might look more like the NYC of today than the city itself after a term under new leadership.

This Travelport agreement with FlightCar is a shocker given the regulatory and reputational risks. It's a shocker because we didn't know Travelport had it in them to make such a brash move -- and it is a multi-year agreement, too.

Regulations by city governments are tough enough, but the threat of eviction from co-op and condo boards or a landlord eager to make more money on a higher-paying tenant may be the bigger threat to apartment rental companies.

Biggest lesson to be learned: Give travelers the experience they are looking for: value, service, a great user interface, personal global connections, and social sharing. Mix these together, and you have a success story called Airbnb.

Jeffery Boyd doesn't want to meddle in Priceline's business on a day to day basis, which may provide angst to some investors. Still, incoming CEO Darren Huston has capably led Priceline's prized asset, Booking.com, over the last two years, so he's got the pedigree in what promises to be a fascinating new era in online travel.

The city is an urban playground for visitors and locals alike and we'd like to see its new leader take inspiration from his sometimes dictatorial and always opinionated predecessor.