Car Rental Deals tips

While its success is based principally on attractive pricing and ease of use, Uber’s business model critically depends on a ready supply of available and motivated workers. While there’s no sign that the supply of potential drivers is drying up, yet, the enthusiasm of Uber drivers seems to be eroding.

Today’s announcement that Southwest has a new marketing relationship with a rideshare company was no surprise. As rideshare services have become an ever-larger part of the travel landscape, such tie-ups have proliferated. It won’t be long before every airline and hotel loyalty program has a rideshare company on its roster of points-earning partners.

Uber’s policy on tipping is simple and clear: “You don’t need cash when you ride with Uber. Once you arrive at your destination, your fare is automatically charged to your credit card on file – there’s no need to tip.”

A key selling point of rideshare services like Uber and Lyft is their transparency. Users know where their ride is, how soon it will arrive to pick them up, and how much the fare will be to their destination.

Everyone’s had their GPS signal drop out in a tunnel, and the community-based traffic and navigation app, Waze, is finally doing something about it. Tunnels exist in almost every major city, but they also serve as a signal blocker for GPS and radio waves.

What’s better than an Uber ride? A cheaper Uber ride, naturally!

Perhaps because it’s a new and novel business model, drivers for rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have come in for considerable scrutiny. Who are these people? Are they safe, responsible, reliable? Am I putting my life at risk when I punch up an Uber ride?

Uber is known, and mostly loved, for its on-demand ridesharing service. Need a lift? Launch the Uber app on your smartphone, and within minutes a car and driver will be idling at the curb, at your service.

You order everything else on Amazon, so why not add a rental car into your shopping cart? If you use your Amazon log-in to rent a car with Avis, you’ll save up to 30 percent off of base rates, plus get up to 20 percent of the rental price back in the form of an Amazon gift card.

I just returned from a holiday-weekend stay at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. Predictably, there was nickel-and-diming aplenty, beginning with the hotel’s nasty, indefensible resort fee of $29 a night, for rooms that featured neither a mini-fridge (better to drive guests to eat at one of the hotel’s 13 restaurants) nor a coffee maker (better to drive guests to caffeinate at one of the hotel’s three Starbucks).

Rapid Rewards members normally earn 600 points for qualifying car rentals. That’s 600 points no matter how long the rental, or how much the rental costs—not a very compelling proposition, especially for longer rentals.

Beginning today at 8:00 a.m., travelers arriving at Los Angeles International Airport will be able to book Uber rides to their homes or hotels.