Uber customers in the US can now book hotels directly through the app. It’s one of several new features announced Wednesday that go far beyond the company’s original ride-hailing purpose and penetrate even deeper into users’ lives.
Uber announced a new hotel booking feature Wednesday at its annual product-focused GoGet event in New York City. At launch, Uber customers will have access to more than 700,000 hotels around the world through a partnership with Expedia Group, the travel company that Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi led for 12 years.
Uber said startup Vrbo’s vacation rental inventory will be added to its app later this year.
Also, in a pitch to sell more customers on Uber One subscriptions, Uber said members will receive a 20% discount from a rolling list of 10,000 hotels when they book through the app. Members also receive a 10% Uber credit back on all bookings.
“We are no longer just a vehicle app, or even two apps. [a] It’s a family of apps for both rides and meals,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at the company’s event.
“Uber is now the one-size-fits-all app that gets you anywhere and lets you travel,” he said.
Hotel reservations, a new AI-powered voice booking feature, and extensive search tools were among a handful of new products announced Wednesday that went from idea to implementation in the app within months thanks to agent AI tools like Cursor, Uber Chief Technology Officer Praveen Neppalli Naga told TechCrunch.
“What we’ve seen in recent months is a fundamental reset, a new way of building software,” Naga said, adding that this shift began late last year with the advent of agent AI.
Naga said it will take at least a year to implement features like hotel reservations. This involves a lengthy process that includes initial development, construction, testing and debugging before delivery to customers. That period was cut in half. And now, as more engineers adopt these agent AI workflows, he expects that to move even faster.
“The general problem at Uber is not that we don’t have any ideas. We have so many things we want to build,” he said. “The problem is always that we don’t have enough time or resources to build these things.”
During the Go-Get event, Uber also launched Travel Mode. This mode provides users with a guide covering popular tourist attractions, local hotspots, and other useful information directly related to the destination they are visiting. Uber has also extended Travel Mode to its Uber Eats delivery service by adding a “Room Service” hub that lists commonly forgotten items. The feature will eventually include curated restaurant recommendations and the option to reserve a table through OpenTable.
The company is also rolling out a feature called “Eats for the Way,” which allows customers who book an Uber Black to also order drinks and snacks to be loaded into their vehicle upon arrival.
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