AutoNation is reportedly exploring a bid to buy the U.K. operations of Inchcape, an automotive retail, distribution and services company with a presence in more than 40 markets globally.
Leading vacation rental company Airbnb is updating its Extenuating Circumstances Policy, including renaming it the Major Disruptive Events Policy “to better reflect its purpose.” This will provide greater flexibility for travelers who may need to cancel their reservations when unforeseen circumstances, such as natural disasters, extreme weather events and government-imposed travel restrictions, affect their ability to complete their stay.
Under this updated cancellation policy, guests can cancel reservations and receive refunds in cases of “foreseeable weather events,” such as hurricanes, that would result in another covered event occurring, such as large-scale utility outages. According to Travel + Leisure, the policy already applies to other “unexpected major events,” such as declared public health emergencies, including epidemics, but excluding COVID-19. This revised policy, which will go into effect on June 6, overrides individual hosts’ own cancellation policies.
The “Swifties” are coming! And they’re already booking hotel rooms.
How do we know?
The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau caught on to the trend recently when it found advance bookings at a sampling of 112 hotels have been spiking for Oct. 18-20 — a good six months away.
It’s the weekend superstar singer-musician Taylor Swift is scheduled to bring her worldwide Eras tour to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, attracting some 76,100 nightly at a football stadium that can command capacity crowds of about 65,000 for Miami Dolphins games.
Roughly one in every five hotels surveyed by the Miami-Dade tourism promotion agency is already booked for the concert-filled weekend, the visitors bureau disclosed at a gathering of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International in Fort Lauderdale.
Neither Visit Lauderdale nor Discover the Palm Beaches had any advance booking information available for Broward and Palm Beach counties.
But Peter Ricci, director of the hospitality and tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University, says regional lodging that weekend is unlikely to be cheap, and maybe less available than usual in some spots.
The first battery cells were shipped March 21 from the Ultium Cells plant in Spring Hill, Tenn.
Employees at the Mercedes SUV plant in Vance, Ala., plan to file paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a formal election to join the UAW, Reuters reported.