Uber spent its yearly Go-Get product show pushing into spaces beyond ride-hailing. The big move is hotels.
Through a new deal with Expedia, the Uber app is now a place to book a place to stay. The firm is going right at Booking Holdings and Airbnb.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi used to run Expedia. Now he is plugging it into Uber.
Uber added a hotel icon to the app on Wednesday. Through the Expedia tie-up, riders can scroll through more than 700,000 U.S. hotel listings.
They can sort by price, ratings, and what each spot offers.
Vrbo home rentals are due to follow later this year.
Uber One members get a real reason to book through the app. The plan offers 20% off a rotating set of hotels. Plus 10% back in Uber One credits.
That puts Uber in the same lane as Booking Holdings, the world's largest online travel firm. It also puts Uber up against Airbnb on the home rental side.
Both rivals built their lead on the kind of one-stop trip planning Uber is now copying.
Uber is also leaning hard into voice AI. A new booking tool runs on OpenAI's models. It lets riders book a ride through a voice chat. They no longer have to tap through screens.
"At Uber, we use a whole range of AI tools from leading providers as well as our own AI stack - from core engineering to AI-powered products," the firm said in a note.
Voice booking is part of a wider AI rollout. Earlier this year Uber Eats added a cart helper for grocery delivery. It also added AI-built menu blurbs.
The travel pitch goes beyond hotels. Khosrowshahi is putting Uber as the front door to a trip, not just the airport ride.
A new "travel mode" for Uber One members earns ride credits. It also waives delivery fees while abroad. The rewards land in their account when they get back to the U.S.
The app will also surface tourist spots and points of interest.
Uber is even getting into hotel room service. A new feature delivers travel basics like a toothbrush right to the hotel door.
There is also a coffee-on-the-way feature. Uber Black and Black SUV riders can add Uber Eats pickups, like coffee, to their ride.
The pickup feature rolls out in the next few weeks. Cities on the list: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, and Austin.
"Uber is already the go-to platform for global travel," Khosrowshahi told the Go-Get crowd. "If we're the first app that you open when you get into your city, it's only natural for us to try to make the entire trip, the entire experience, simpler."
The real bet is whether Uber's user base actually books a hotel through the app. Travel apps have spent two decades building loyalty. They built it around hotels and flights.
Uber is starting from zero on that side.
But it has a much bigger built-in crowd of users. The first quarter of hotel booking data will tell investors if the plan is working.
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