Uber pushes further into travel to bolster super-app ambitions

At its GO-GET product event—Uber’s annual product event—held in New York two weeks ago, the company announced that users in the U.S. can now book hotels inside the Uber app. This feature is launched through a partnership with Expedia Group, giving users access to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. The consumer-facing bet may be just as important as Uber’s efforts to embed itself inside the AV industry.

This expansion is a component of Uber’s strategy to build a “super app”—defined as a platform offering diverse services within one interface—using its Uber One subscription tier to drive user retention. Uber One, which costs $9.99 a month, has 50 million people paying for the service. To incentivize these members to book travel, Uber is offering benefits:

• A 20% discount on a rotating list of 10,000 hotels.
• 10% back in credits on bookings.

While hotel bookings are live now, Uber plans to expand its offerings later this year. Vacation rentals through Vrbo will follow later this year, alongside restaurant reservations via OpenTable.

Uber’s CTO, Praveen Neppalli Naga, explained the strategy at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco late last month. Naga noted that while the super-app concept has existed in India and Southeast Asia, U.S. versions have mostly struggled by adding services to traffic rather than creating a reason for users to stay. For Uber, the key is building a travel flow. “There is a flow you can actually build into it,” Naga said.

However, Uber faces competition in this space. In late March, Airbnb announced its own transportation ambitions through a partnership with Welcome Pickups to offer airport transfers across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s X, which claims 500 million monthly active users, is building an “everything app” and is expected to launch its X Money banking and payments platform publicly soon.

Despite this competition and a stock decline of about 8% from a year ago, Uber points to its user base as a moat. The company has 199 million monthly active users. In its earnings reported a few days ago, Uber reported delivery revenue of $5.07 billion in the first quarter, representing a 34% growth year over year. This performance suggests that Uber Eats may be the strongest argument for the company’s super-app thesis.

Why it matters

Uber is aggressively expanding its app functionality beyond ride-hailing into travel and services to increase user retention and justify its Uber One subscription, aiming to become a ‘super app’ in the U.S. market.