Uber customers in the United States can now book hotels directly through the app, one of several new features announced Wednesday that go beyond the company’s original purpose and even deeper into the lives of its users.
Uber announced the new hotel booking feature on Wednesday during its annual multi-product Go-Get event in New York. At launch, Uber customers will have access to more than 700,000 hotels worldwide through a partnership with Expedia Group, the travel company that Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi led for 12 years.
Uber said vacation rental inventory from startup Vrbo will be added to the app later this year.
And in an effort to sell more customers on its Uber One membership, Uber said members will get 20 percent off a rolling list of 10,000 hotels when they book through the app. Members will also receive 10% back in Uber credits on all bookings.
“We’re no longer just a ride-hailing app, or even two apps, or [a] family of apps for both rides and dining,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during the company’s event.
“Uber is now an app for everything, where you can go, you can get and now you can travel,” he said.
Hotel reservations, a new AI-powered voice booking feature and a widespread search tool are among a handful of new products unveiled Wednesday that went from concept to launch to app in months thanks to AI tools like Cursor, Uber chief technology officer Praveen Neppalli Naga told TechCrunch.
“What we’ve seen in the last few 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 artificial intelligence.
Naga said a feature like hotel reservations would take at least a year — a long process that includes initial development, building it, and then testing and debugging it before rolling it out to customers. This time frame has been cut in half. and expects now that more engineers have adopted these practical AI workflows, they will move even faster.
“Our problems in general at Uber, it’s not a problem of lack of ideas; there are so many things we want to build,” he said. “It’s always the problem, we don’t have enough time or resources to build these things.”
During its Go-Get event, Uber also launched its trip feature, which provides users with a guide covering tourist attractions, local favorites and other useful information directly related to where they are visiting. Uber has extended its ride functionality to its Uber Eats delivery product, adding a “room service” hub that lists commonly-forgotten items. This feature will eventually include curated dining suggestions 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 have booked an Uber Black to also order a drink or snack that will be in the vehicle when it arrives.
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