Few people involved in the sharing economy know what taxes they’re supposed to pay, nor how to pay them. Because the rules are unclear, enforcement is almost nonexistent, and the feeling that “sharing” shouldn’t be taxed at all, very few people do pay them.
hotels
Sharing Is Hard: Legal Trouble for Airbnb, RelayRides, FlightCar
As more consumers turn to services like peer-to-peer rental-car outfits rather than Hertz, local authorities are penalizing participants with fines and ordering the companies to cease operations. Is it still safe to share?
Why Hotels Aren’t Making a Killing on Fees Like the Airlines
Love it or hate it, the fee-based business model appears to be here to stay for airlines. But the hotel business is a different story.
Theme Park Inflation: Universal Orlando Becomes First to Cross $90 Admission Mark
Each year around Memorial Day, some theme park—likely in central Florida—jacks up ticket prices by a few bucks, prompting the competition to follow suit with their own price hikes. This year, like last, it’s Universal Studios Orlando leading the charge.
Strange Bedfellows: 4 Companies Surprisingly Getting into the Hotel Business
What do a toy company, a supermarket, a low-cost furniture chain, and a movie studio have in common? They’re all trying to extend their brands—perhaps in embarrassingly awkward fashion—into the hotel business.
Marriott & IKEA Launch a Hotel Brand for Millennials: What Does That Even Mean?
Most hotels are marketed to a specific group: travelers. Not Baby Boomer travelers or Gen X travelers or millennial travelers—but all travelers. But a new hotel brand called Moxy has been specifically “designed to capture the …
9 Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Next Vacation
In travel, cheap doesn’t have to mean bad. No matter where you’re going, there are plenty of simple ways to cut expenses and still enjoy the quality vacation you desire.
PayPal Ups Ante in Holiday Season Price-Matching Wars
The battle for holiday shopper dollars continues with the launch of the most impressive-sounding price-matching policy offered yet. As it turns out, the policy isn’t being offered by a retailer, but the payment processor PayPal.
What’s New in Spoiled Children, and Spoiled Pets
Time and again, consumer trends point out that people are increasingly pampering their pets as if they were children. Or is it the other way around? In any event, they’re both pretty spoiled.
It’s Not Just Airlines: Hotel Fees on Pace to Reach Record High in 2012
In the travel world, fees charged by airlines get the most attention, and for good reason: Fliers forked out $22.6 billion in airlines fees last year, on top of flight prices that seem to be hiked higher every other month. …
Bonus Season: Plenty of Freebies Awarded With Fall Hotel Deals
To boost bookings during what’s normally a slow season for travel, major hotel companies routinely roll out special promotions at about the time that kids are heading back to school. This autumn, hotel guests are being wooed with …
Why You Shouldn’t Trust Positive Online Reviews—Or Negative Ones, For That Matter
Researchers and online review sites alike are trying to root out efforts to manipulate the system. By outing dubious, planted, solicited, and otherwise inauthentic reviews, consumers will have more reason to trust the reviews …
