Uber adds hotels to its app for big travel

Open the Uber app and you’ll see options to hail a car, order some food, or go shopping. And starting today, you’ll see something new: hotels.

In a major expansion into the world of travel accommodations, Uber says it is adding the ability to book and pay for a hotel room to its app. The news was announced in The company’s annual Go/Get eventThe company also revealed several other travel-oriented features.

Hotel bookings will be one of the biggest swings in Uber’s recent history. But it’s also something that’s been on the company’s radar for a long time. Uber says it’s working in partnership with Expedia, the travel booking company The company has reportedly considered an acquisition in 2024Upon launch, it will include more than 700,000 hotel properties around the world. Also of note was Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi CEO of Expedia before accepting his current position.

Uber customers are already using the app for a variety of travel purposes, whether it’s getting a ride to the airport or ordering food through Uber Eats once they reach their destination, said Sachin Kansal, Uber’s chief product officer. Listing hotels should be a natural next step.

“I think there will continue to be multiple applications in this world, as there already are in the travel world and the hotel world,” Kansal said in an interview. “Our main goal is to be able to tie the experience together for our users.”

The feature works through the Expedia API, though Kansal explained that Uber engineers worked on designing the tool to integrate seamlessly with the company’s app.

“It’s not just about putting a web view out there based on their user interface,” he said. “We’ve really built it from the ground up with the very detailed APIs that we’ve acquired, so it’s a great partnership from a development perspective and a technical perspective.”

Uber envisions its customers using its app to book hotels, request rides to the hotel, and then service the rooms once they arrive. Uber One subscribers will receive additional discounts when booking rooms with select hotel chains, while also earning points that they can then apply to ride-hailing or food delivery services. Starting later this year, Uber will add home rentals from Vrbo, another Expedia-owned site, to its app.

In addition to Vrbo, Expedia Group also owns Hotels.com, Travelocity, Hotwire, and Orbitz. Its main competitor is Booking Holdings, which controls Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, and CheapFlights. Every company spends billions of dollars annually on marketing alone as they compete with each other. Booking is currently the market leader, although Expedia is hoping to move up the ranks thanks to its partnership with Uber.

Of course, Uber is taking a big risk by diving into the hotel booking business. The company is not immediately recognizable as a hotel broker, so it may take some time before customers associate its app with travel accommodations. And the company’s app seems to be getting more crowded by the minute. Now, with hotels listed, there is a risk that customers will get caught up in the additional offers and ignore them.

Kansal said Uber engineers address the clutter problem by customizing the home page for each user’s experience. The company is adding a “one search” function, where users can search for general topics, such as “ice cream,” and the app will show either destinations or dining out options, depending on the user’s preferences.

Additionally, Uber is adding a new travel mode to the app to help users navigate unfamiliar airports using indoor walking directions. The app will also offer city guides for visitors looking for local favorites and popular tourist destinations. Starting this summer, European customers will find the option to book boat trips directly in the app.

But not everything Uber announces today is related to travel. The company announced a new on-the-go snack option, where Uber Black or Uber SUV customers can order a snack or drink in a waiting car. Since many Uber drivers are also Uber Eats couriers, the ability to order a snack or drink during a ride is essentially merging the two experiences, Kansal said. “They will be paid appropriately for both jobs,” he added.

There’s another new feature called “Shop for Me,” where Uber customers can order items from stores not currently listed in Uber’s directory. Customers can indicate which items they would like to purchase, and Uber drivers and couriers can then purchase them from the desired store.

Finally, Uber is incorporating AI-powered search features into its app, allowing customers to use voice prompts to book a car. For example, a user could ask the Uber app to book a cheap car that holds five pieces of luggage for a trip to the airport, and the AI-powered feature would complete the booking for them.

This will join Uber’s other AI-powered features, e.g Create a grocery order based on an uploaded image of a list of items. The company is also racing to add hundreds of robotaxis through partnerships with developers like Waymo and Wayve, as well as fleets of curbside delivery robots.

The next logical step seems to be air travel, but Kansal did not clarify whether flights are on Uber’s roadmap. “Not at this time,” he said. “I just want to make sure we’re successful with this experience. There’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of the amount of opportunity we have to be able to create a seamless experience between flights, food and hotels.”