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Spring break travel is back, and so are high prices: ‘Like bears coming out of hibernation’

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As COVID-19 circumstances drop, masks protocols ease and extra Individuals enterprise out to seashores, theme parks and different vacationer locations, journey is bouncing again to ranges not seen because the pandemic took maintain, business specialists say.

The unhealthy information: Airfares and gasoline costs are additionally reaching highs not seen in years.

Eric Oh, a contract author from Thousand Oaks, is already feeling the pinch. He’s paying about $600 for a round-trip flight to Orlando, Fla., to go to Common Orlando, SeaWorld and different theme parks — about $200 greater than he paid a couple of months in the past for the same flight.

“It each shocked me and made me slightly upset,” Oh stated of the rise.

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Jay Johnson, president of Shoreline Journey Group in Backyard Grove, referred to as costs “stunning.”

“I’m seeing lodge charges at over $1,000 an evening for rooms that have been lower than $300 in 2019, and persons are paying it,” he stated.

“Spring break is certainly again,” Johnson stated, including that he suspects vacationers are prepared to pay a premium as a result of they’re so determined to trip once more.

Almost 40% of Individuals are planning to journey throughout spring break, up from the 29% who stated they have been touring for spring break 2021, in keeping with a survey commissioned by the holiday rental firm Vacasa. The house rental enterprise Vrbo has additionally reported a virtually 50% enhance in demand for trip houses this spring, in contrast with spring of 2021.

Spring break journey, usually beginning in mid-March, kicks off simply weeks after the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention stated that it’ll not longer advocate masking in counties the place 72% of Individuals dwell. In California, indoor masking will not be obligatory at colleges and child-care amenities after March 11.

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“Folks planning spring journey are like bears popping out of hibernation,” stated Melanie Fish, a spokesperson for the journey website Expedia. “We’re awake and planning to journey however not able to go too far.”

The rekindled demand is partially responsible for the upper costs. An evaluation by the journey web site Hopper says home airfares for spring break have jumped 21% in contrast with a yr earlier, with lodge charges climbing about 30% from final yr to close what costs have been earlier than the pandemic. However when you wait till the final minute to e-book a flight, you most likely can pay as a lot as 45% extra, in keeping with Hopper.

The common round-trip home airline ticket for the March 7 to March 21 interval is promoting for $290, in contrast with $240 for a similar interval final yr, in keeping with Hopper. Vacationers who attempt to e-book on the final minute will face a mean round-trip ticket value of $365.

The common lodge price for this spring break is $165 per evening, in contrast with $129 final yr and $148 in 2020, in keeping with Hopper.

Highway trippers usually are not catching a break both. Already-high gasoline costs have been pushed to near-record ranges as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has despatched shockwaves by way of the oil market. Nationwide, the value of a gallon of fuel rose to a mean of $3.61, about 90 cents larger than a yr earlier, with costs in California climbing to $4.82 per gallon, in keeping with AAA.

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The explanation for the upper costs is straightforward provide and demand: pent-up demand amongst vacationers who really feel protected to journey after staying near house throughout a lot of the pandemic. However airways have but so as to add again all of the routes and seats that have been out there earlier than the pandemic took maintain in March 2020, when many airways started parking idled planes at distant desert airports.

The variety of home flights within the U.S. remains to be 12% beneath what it was in 2019, with worldwide flights down 21%, in keeping with Airways for America, the commerce group for the nation’s airways.

Accommodations, too, haven’t but staffed again up.

In Los Angeles County, lodge occupancy charges are anticipated to vary from 68% in March to 78% in July, in contrast with charges that ranged from 50% in March of 2021 to 76% in July of final yr, in keeping with Uncover Los Angeles, the county’s tourism board.

Vacationers who want a rental automobile throughout spring break are anticipated to pay about $70 a day, about the identical as 2021, in keeping with Hopper.

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Essentially the most booked home locations are Miami; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; in addition to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in keeping with the journey web site.

At Shoreline Journey Group, the most popular ticket is to Hawaii, Johnson stated. Hawaii has ended its coronavirus testing requirement for home vacationers who’re absolutely vaccinated, so U.S. vacationers desire the Aloha State over bookings to Europe, the place testing is required, he stated.

“We’ve finished extra enterprise in Hawaii than earlier than the pandemic,” Johnson added.

The U.S. has additionally began to see a rise in guests from Europe regardless of the testing necessities for worldwide guests flying to the U.S., stated Jeff Karnes, government vp at New World Journey in Los Angeles.

Even company journey — journeys to enterprise conferences and commerce exhibits — has began to bounce again, which is nice information for airways and lodges as a result of enterprise vacationers are likely to e-book costlier airline seats and lodge rooms than leisure vacationers.

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Oh, the freelance author, is an ardent theme park fanatic whose journey to Florida will embrace rides on a number of high-thrill curler coasters at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, plus Mardi Gras festivities at Common Orlando.

The additional $200 he needed to pay for his airline tickets stung, he stated, however will probably be price it when he will get on these adrenaline-pumping sights.

“I’ve seen nothing however rave evaluations from the brand new coasters,” Oh stated.

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Las Vegas' Mirage Resort to close after 34-year run. Volcano to go dormant

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Las Vegas' Mirage Resort to close after 34-year run. Volcano to go dormant

Once hailed as “Las Vegas’ first 21 Century resort,” The Mirage Hotel & Casino confirmed Wednesday that its iconic volcano outside of its front entrance is going dormant less than a quarter of a century into the new millennium.

Owner Hard Rock International announced the hotel will cease operations on July 17, with bookings being accepted until July 14. The iconic resort — sporting a jungle-fantasy theme —was perhaps best known for its exploding 54-foot man-made volcano, magicians Siegfried and Roy, and its white tigers and dolphins.

“We’d like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after enjoying 34 years at The Mirage,” said Jim Allen, Chairman of Hard Rock International in a statement.

The resort is expected to be redeveloped into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas, with the volcano giving way to a nearly 700-foot guitar-shaped hotel. The project is expected to open in spring 2027. A similar 638-room hotel stands in Hollywood, Fla.

The Associated Press reported that more than 3,000 employees will be laid off. Hard Rock acknowledged it would pay roughly $80 million in severance packages for union and nonunion labor.

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The Culinary and Bartenders Union accounts for about 1,700 Mirage workers. It announced Wednesday that its workers have two options.

The first was a severance package of $2,000 for every year of service plus six months of pension and health benefits. The second option gives employees a lesser, undisclosed amount while maintaining seniority rights for the duration of the property’s closure along with 36 months of recall rights for jobs at the new hotel.

“Culinary Union members at The Mirage have a strong union contract, ensuring that workers are protected, even as the property closes its doors entirely for three years from July 2024 – May 2027,” said Ted Pappageorge, Culinary Union secretary-treasurer, in a statement Wednesday.

The new hotel is projected to employ nearly 7,000 employees, according to Hard Rock management, while 2,500 construction jobs are expected during the rebuilding process.

Hard Rock said that all reservations beyond July 14 would be canceled and that guests should contact the guest services department or booking agency for a refund.

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The Mirage’s closure is the second on the strip this year.

In April, the 66-year-old Tropicana closed its doors to make way for a 30,000-seat stadium that is expected to serve as the home of the Oakland A’s.

The Mirage’s opening by casino tycoon Stephen A. Wynn in 1989 was hailed as the ushering of a new era of resorts. It was the first strip hotel to open since the MGM Grand in 1973.

Wynn shelled out $600 million, then the most expensive casino project, for the sprawling 103-acre property.

The Mirage was the first fully integrated hotel, according to Alan Feldman, a Distinguished Fellow at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute.

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Integration meant operating and treating all facets of the resort, including casino, food and beverage, retail, entertainment and convention space, with equal importance, according to Feldman, who rose to become an executive with the Mirage and stayed from 1989 to 2019.

Feldman said hotel owners previously cared first about the casino and “everything else was last.”

“They gave away entertainment, food and rooms as long as someone came and played,” said Feldman. “The Mirage was the first to believe you could actually make money in these areas if you invested enough.”

Its glistening 30-story white-and-gold towers were said to make neighboring Caesars Palace look “retiring by comparison.” Traffic occasionally backed up on the strip as engineers tested gas-flared flames 40 feet into the air every few minutes.

“People just got out of the cars and went over to see what was going on,” one limousine driver said at the time.

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The hotel included a 20,000-gallon fish tank at its reception desk and 3,049 rooms.

Its animals — and its white tiger habitat — brought the resort fame and infamy, including in 2003 when a tiger critically injured magician Roy Horn.

The Mirage’s opening kicked off a resort building and remodeling spree that included the debut of the Circus Circus’ Excalibur in June 1990, the $250-million renovation of Caesars Palace and the opening of Treasure Island in 1994.

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Sony warns tech companies: Don't use our music to train your AI

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Sony warns tech companies: Don't use our music to train your AI

Sony Music Group is sending letters to 700 artificial intelligence developers and music streaming services warning them to not use its artists’ music to train generative AI tools without its permission.

The company — one of the three largest recorded music firms — said it is explicitly opting out of the use of its music for training or developing AI models through text or data mining or web scraping as it relates to lyrics, audio recordings, artwork, musical compositions and images. Sony Music Group artists include Celine Dion, Doja Cat and Harry Styles.

“We support artists and songwriters taking the lead in embracing new technologies in support of their art,” Sony Music Group said in a statement on its website Thursday. “Evolutions in technology have frequently shifted the course of creative industries. … However, that innovation must ensure that songwriters’ and recording artists’ rights, including copyrights, are respected.”

The letters were sent to companies including San Francisco-based ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Mountain View-based search giant Google, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. OpenAI and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move comes as the entertainment industry is grappling with rapid innovations in artificial intelligence technology. Writers and actors raised concerns last summer about whether leaving AI unchecked could threaten their livelihoods. Meanwhile, some creatives have marveled at the advancements that could allow them to pursue bold ideas with tight budgets.

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This year, OpenAI unveiled its text-to-video tool Sora, which was used to create a four-minute music video for music artist Washed Out. The director of the video told The Times that Sora helped him depict multiple locations and visual effects that he otherwise couldn’t have.

But AI can also create chaos. Celebrities have dealt with “deep fakes” — false videos or audio depicting a celebrity endorsing certain brands or activities. To help protect their clients against unauthorized use of their voice and likeness, Century City-based Creative Artists Agency is helping talent create their own digital doubles.

On Thursday, two New York voice-over actors sued Berkeley-based AI voice generator business Lovo for unauthorized use of their voices. Lovo did not immediately return a request for comment. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Some people in the entertainment industry have said they would like the AI companies to be more transparent about how they are training their tools and whether they have the appropriate copyright permissions.

OpenAI has said its large language models, including those that power ChatGPT, are developed through information available publicly on the internet, material acquired through licenses with third parties and information its users and “human trainers” provide.

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The company said in a blog post that it believes training AI models on publicly available materials on the internet is “fair use.”

But some media outlets, including the New York Times, have sued OpenAI. The newspaper raised alarms about how its stories are being used by the tech company.

In Sony Music Group’s letters to AI businesses, the company said it has reason to believe its content may have been used to train, develop or commercialize artificial intelligence systems without its permission, according to a copy obtained by the Times. Sony Music Group asked the tech companies to provide information regarding that use and why it was necessary.

Sony Music Group, owned by Tokyo-based electronics giant Sony Corp., also wants music streaming providers to add language in its terms of service saying that third parties are not allowed to mine and train using Sony Music Group content, the person familiar with the matter said.

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A woman was dragged by a self-driving Cruise taxi in San Francisco. The company is paying her millions

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A woman was dragged by a self-driving Cruise taxi in San Francisco. The company is paying her millions

General Motors’ autonomous car company, Cruise, has reportedly agreed to pay an $8-million to $12-million settlement to a woman who was hospitalized after getting dragged along the pavement by a self-driving taxi in San Francisco last year.

The woman, a pedestrian, was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle at 5th and Market streets and thrown into the path of Cruise’s self-driving car, which pinned her underneath, according to Cruise and authorities. The car dragged her about 20 feet as it tried to pull out of the roadway before coming to a stop.

She sustained “multiple traumatic injuries” and was treated at the scene before being hospitalized.

It’s unclear when the settlement was reached or the exact amount, sources familiar with the situation told Fortune and Bloomberg. The condition of the woman, whose name was not released by authorities, is unknown, but a representative of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital told Fortune that she had been discharged.

Cruise initially said that its self-driving car “braked aggressively to minimize impact” but later said the vehicle’s software made a mistake in registering where it hit the woman. The car tried to pull over but continued driving 7 mph for 20 feet with the woman still under the vehicle.

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“The hearts of all Cruise employees continue to be with the pedestrian, and we hope for her continued recovery,” Cruise said in a statement.

Cruise halted its driverless operations after its autonomous taxi license was suspended by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The company was also accused of lying to investigators and withholding footage of the car crash.

Cruise said this week that it would start testing robotaxis in Arizona with a “safety driver” behind the wheel in case a human needs to take control of the vehicle, according to a company news release.

“Safety is the defining principle for everything we do and continues to guide our progress towards resuming driverless operations,” according to the release.

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