Uber Ride Adds Expedia Hotel Bookings in App Expansion
Uber ride is moving beyond pickups and food orders. On Wednesday, Uber unveiled several new tools at its annual Go-Get Conference in New York City, including hotel booking, travel planning, shopping and voice-based ride requests.
Dara Khosrowshahi said the goal is to save users time, calling it "your most precious asset" and saying, "We should have more time to spend on the things that we really care about, our family, our hobbies, our experiences, our passions, our lives,". For riders, the change means the app is no longer just about moving from one place to another; it is being built to handle more of the trip itself.
Expedia hotels inside Uber ride
Uber will let users book US hotels in the app through a partnership with Expedia. Later this year, that travel booking will expand to properties listed on Expedia's vacation-rental site Vrbo, and Uber plans to add ride booking to and from where users are staying.
The company said the new travel mode will give suggestions on what to see, where to eat and where to order food or essentials while a user is staying somewhere. Uber said, "Users can now think of the Uber app as a personal travel concierge," a step that pushes the service toward a super app with multiple functions in one place.
Uber Black and snack requests
Uber Black and Uber Black SUV riders can soon request a drink or snack be ready for them when they get in the vehicle through a feature called Eats for the Way. Amit Fulay said, "Saving those 10 minutes standing in line at the coffee shop is 10 extra minutes with your kids," putting a time value on a service that begins before the ride even starts.
10 minutes is also the unit Uber is using to sell the new suite of features: small time savings that add up when a booking, a coffee stop and a ride all happen in one app. That is the friction point in the company’s pitch. The more Uber folds into one screen, the more it asks users to trust it with planning, ordering and transportation at the same time.
Shop for Me and voice rides
Uber is adding a Shop for Me feature that lets customers place orders at stores not listed in the app, including local grocers and mom-and-pop shops. Customers can give instructions to a gig worker about what they want and where to get it, widening the app beyond restaurants and into errands.
Sachin Kansal said the original ride-share model told customers to "press a button and get a ride," and added that the goal of the new features is to "make life easier for you." He said, "That's how you should think about the future of Uber," as the company rolls out the option to book rides by voice instead of tapping through screens.
