Surge in Airbnb for business trips as travellers prefer flat rentals to hotels July 17, 2015 Do business travellers prefer Airbnb? The flat rental site has become a popular lodging option for cheap getaways – but now it seems Airbnb is on the rise for business trips as well. Rather than using it to source wacky budget holidays – whether you fancy an Alaskan cabin in the woods or a Mongolian [...]
Sharing cities have come to the UK – and London will be next June 11, 2015 If you're a Londoner, it’s pretty likely that you will have used a sharing economy business. From driving a Zipcar or hiring a local Hassle.com cleaner, to staying in Love Home Swap apartments around the world, we are increasingly confident using sharing economy services. But there are cities around the world – Amsterdam, Seoul and [...]
Londoners can now rent out their spare rooms using AirBnB, thanks to a change in rules May 26, 2015 It is now completely legal for Londoners to let out spare rooms using sites such as AirBnB, thanks to a change in rules. Until now, you could be slapped with a £20,000 fine for renting part of your home out for fewer than 90 nights without getting planning permission first, but everyone is now [...]
London’s cabbies are taking on Uber, and TfL in high stakes fight for capital’s streets May 25, 2015 Transport for London’s (TfL) headquarters will be the scene of a protest by black cab drivers today. The action is a demonstration of the simmering tensions between traditional cabbies and modern firms like Uber, which show no sign of dying down. Black cab drivers are represented by the London Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), Unite [...]
Bring forward the EU referendum: The UK’s tech sector can’t wait two years May 11, 2015 As the dust settles on one of the most extraordinary General Election campaigns in generations, a new battle looms on the horizon for Tech City. The nation now faces a war over “Brexit”. David Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum by 2017 on the UK’s EU membership will have major repercussions for the economy and, [...]
Taxi ride-sharing app Maaxi launches to join a crowded cab rank April 14, 2015 Maaxi, the black cab ride-sharing app will be launched today, joining the line-up in an already-competitive London taxi market. But founder and chief executive Gabriel Campos, former boss of online gaming website Pokerstars, insists the new offering is not just another taxi scheme, but rather “door-to-door public transport”. Campos, whose main backer is Nat [...]
Maaxi road test: The ride-sharing app turning black cabs into public transport April 14, 2015 It's a balmy London day and I’m sitting comfortably in a black cab, but, for the purposes of demonstrating his new ride sharing app, Maaxi boss Gabriel Campos wants me to envisage a more typical travel scenario. “Just imagine you’re waiting at the bus stop in the freezing cold and the next one’s not coming [...]
Games of drones intensifies as Hailo founder Jay Bregman raises more funds for Verifly venture April 12, 2015 The man behind taxi hailing app Hailo has raised £1.4m from a clutch of investors to fund a new venture developing a system to register unmanned drone flights, making them safer to be in the air. Jay Bregman, who co-founded Hailo in 2011 in London before leaving the group late last year, has been backed [...]
London should embrace new technology to make car ownership pointless April 8, 2015 London could lead a revolution in car use and car ownership over the next decade, by divorcing the two. It may soon be unnecessary to own a car to secure the full benefits of car ownership, due to a combination of continued improvement in public transport, the surge in app-based car hire services, and the [...]
Airbnb Cuba: Now you can book a rental in Havana for the first time after lifting of 50-year trade embargo April 2, 2015 Airbnb is the latest company to benefit from the end of a 50-year trade embargo between Cuba and the US. The San Francisco rental startup, which is valued at $10bn, has added Cuban rental properties to its website for the first time. It will add more than 1,000 properties across the Caribbean island to its [...]