Concerts, sports lure vacationers

Grand Canyon? The Caribbean? Europe? Americans are increasingly likely to build a vacation around a one-of-a-kind pop culture event rather than a more traditional destination.

Nearly a quarter of vacationers intend to travel to attend a concert or sporting event, according to a survey conducted for travel insurance provider Allianz Partners. The trend is highest among young adults 18-34, with 40% saying entertainment travel is on their vacation bucket list. Conversely, only 9% of people 55 and older expect to travel to an entertainment event.

Meanwhile, Labor Day, considered the traditional end of the summer season, may not mark the end of summer vacations. Consulting firm Deloitte, citing “continued workplace flexibility,” says the summer travel season has gotten longer, with 17% of Americans planning post-Labor Day summer getaways.

Bundle up

The Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. Discovery have teamed to launch a reduced-price bundle of three of their streaming services. The Disney+, Hulu and Max bundle costs $17 a month with ads, or $30 a month without ads. Buying the three services separately costs about 40% more. The bundle is a rare agreement between fierce competitors Disney, which owns Disney+ and Hulu, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Max.

Can’t ‘pay later’ with Chase card

JPMorgan Chase will no longer allow customers to use a Chase credit card to pay off debt incurred from popular buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans, according to payments industry news site PYMNTS. Chase told users payments to popular BNPL plans such as Klarna and AfterPay “will be declined,” PYMNTS says. BNPL plans are actually loans typically used to spread out payments for expensive items.

ChatGPT unveils Google rival

ChatGPT maker OpenAI showed off a new web search product, directly challenging search giant Google. The free tool, called SearchGPT, consists of a search box similar to that of a traditional search engine. Users can ask follow-up questions in a conversational tone to get more specific answers. SearchGPT will initially be available to a small group of users and publishers before eventually being integrated into ChatGPT. — THE WASHINGTON POST