Gone are the days spent waiting endlessly at the luggage carousel for your belongings and lugging around your suitcase all day.

A new luggage transportation service will now bring your belongings to and from the airport for you — thanks to the ingenuity of Mechanical Engineering junior Benjamin Eu, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Luggage Teleport Inc.

Through their mobile platform, travelers can schedule to have their luggage picked up directly from the baggage claim area of the airport and delivered directly to a local hotel. Currently, the service is being piloted at the San Francisco and Las Vegas airports, with plans to expand along the west coast in cities like Los Angeles and Seattle next.

This past January, the company went to the 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada where they were not only featured in Forbes, but listed by Inc. as a “crazy new travel product you need to know about now”.

There is no need to stress about losing your luggage by using their services. Peace-of-mind is ensured throughout the process — customers can track if their luggage has been delivered, is in transit, or hasn’t been picked up via updates from the Luggage Teleport app. Even more so, once the bag has reached its final destination, a member of its team, who has gone through a thorough screening check will snap a picture of the luggage so users can easily locate their items.

Prices run cheaper than what most airlines charge to check-in bags. For 1-2 pieces of luggage, travellers will pay a flat fee of $35, with each additional piece of luggage running $10 each.

Eu’s journey to becoming a successful, young entrepreneur started long before he launched Luggage Teleport Inc. back in August 2017.

After he graduated from high school in Singapore, he was looking for an undergraduate education that catered to his innovative spirit. During his college search process, he knew he wanted to attend an institution that is well-rounded and had a lot to offer for students interested in the entrepreneurship community. Ultimately, he decided to attend the University of Michigan.

“Entrepreneurship had always been on my mind. It started from me wanting to do something to positively impact the lives of communities and I found the better way to do that is through entrepreneurship because you’re learning more about the problems that people face and trying to come up with ideas to solve it.”

Eu is no stranger to the process of transforming an idea into a company. While his courses in Mechanical Engineering helped him to develop his product design skills, he sought out the help of College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) to learn more about taking his products into the real world.

In August 2017, he sought out the help of Dr. Matt Gibson, Director of Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs and instructor of multiple courses at CFE for help with his previous venture Carrycott, which dealt with the evolving field of robotics in baby technology.

Last year, his team took home the titles of most successful business and engineering team along with the $5,000 Williamson Award at the 2016 Michigan Business Challenge, a highly competitive campus-wide business plan competition led by the Zell Lurie Institute of the Ross School of Business.

After going to Dr. Gibson’s open office hours for a semester, Eu was able to get the expertise he needed and decided it was best to continue pursuing their passions elsewhere—which eventually led him to develop his idea for Luggage Teleport Inc.

Eu is no stranger to the process of transforming an idea into a company. His previous startup Carrycott, which dealt with the evolving field of robotics in baby technology, competed last year in the Zell Lurie Institute’s Michigan Business Challenge where they took home $5,000 Williamson Award for the most successful business and engineering team.

Regardless, Eu’s endless success and prospect speak to the more than 4,000 students currently enrolled in courses through the Center for Entrepreneurship and its affiliated programs.

Eu will continue to work closely with CFE’s mentors, leaders and experts as he continues to develop as an entrepreneur during his time at the University.

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