At the end of this week, Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as president. Washington is expected to fill up with supporters and protesters alike — and some tech companies are set to do brisk business.
Airbnb, an online room rental service, has said it has a high number of bookings in Washington for inauguration weekend. Uber, a ride-hailing service, is also preparing for more business than usual in the city this week.
Some smaller tech start-ups are benefiting, too. Katie Benner, a technology reporter for The New York Times, found that Skedaddle, a 19-person start-up with an app that lets people collectively commission private bus rides, has had its largest surge in bookings since it was introduced about a year and a half ago.
The reason: Many women are using the app to reserve bus rides to the capital for the Women’s March on Washington, an event the day after the inauguration to rally around civil rights. Skedaddle said people were booking bus trips from places where it has done relatively little business, including Wichita, Kan., and Madison, Wis.
“The march has opened doors for us in new places,” said Lindsay Dougherty, Skedaddle’s marketing director.
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