Uber unveiled a major new push into the travel space on Wednesday, partnering with Expedia to offer hotel bookings via the Uber app. They also provided some pretty compelling reasons to consider booking hotels via Uber.
The Uber Travel news was just a small part of a slew of announcements from the ride-sharing and delivery company in downtown Manhattan at what Uber called their Go-Get 2026 event.
The Points Guy sat down with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to talk about what some of the news meant for travelers. Khosrowshahi recused himself from negotiating the deal because he worked at Expedia for 12 years before joining Uber, but he told TPG he was very excited about the new partnership. He called it a, “… full circle moment for me.”
Hotels on Uber
Not only will you now be able to book some 700,000 hotels via Uber, but you’ll even be able to book hotels in markets where Uber doesn’t offer ride-sharing. TPG was told that Vrbo vacation rental properties will be added to the app later this year.
The most intriguing aspect of the new partnership from a consumer perspective is the potential savings that could stack up for a savvy traveler. Normally, I might not recommend booking via an online travel agency like Expedia, but the saving here could really add up. Not only can you save up to 20% on many properties, but if you are an Uber One customer, you get 10% back of whatever you book as Uber One credits.
Related: Select cards now come with a complimentary Uber One membership
Here’s an example from a search I did today. I searched for a hotel in San Francisco for next weekend. I found several hotels that I like in the city for fairly reasonable amounts, including the Hyatt Regency and the Grand Hyatt.
Uber had prices at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco for $349 a night, and if I booked direct with Hyatt, there was a standard rate of $389 or a member rate of $354. Similar story at the Grand Hyatt, where rates were $186 a night on Uber and $207-$210 booked direct. So I’d be saving a bit by booking a two-night stay via Uber, but the real perk is the Uber One credit I could get: $53 for the Grand Hyatt or $91 for the Hyatt Regency.
Unfortunately, you won’t get Hyatt stay credit or World of Hyatt points with that booking, but that Uber One credit is compelling.
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It gets even better when you get up to 20% off a hotel booked via Uber on top of that. For example, Uber is offering the Hotel Riu in Fisherman’s Wharf for just $154 a night. The cheapest direct booking rate I could find was $173 a night. That’s 11% off. You’d also get $45 in Uber Cash as an Uber One member.
But the savings can go even higher at times. “There’s a rolling list of 10,000 hotels that you get an additional minimum of 20% off,” said Khosrowshahi.
Here are a few showing more than 20% off for a one-night stay in New York City tomorrow.
These bookings might make the most sense for me if I didn’t care about earning elite nights or hotel points. One other cautionary note. Remember that you’ll be booking via a third party, so if something goes wrong with the booking, you’ll need to reach out to Expedia for resolution, not the hotel directly.
That can make customer service issues a bigger headache. Still, I’d be willing to take that chance if the savings were good enough.
“It’s something that we’re going to be iterating on to make sure that we get that experience perfectly right,” Khosrowshahi told TPG. “We want to get that customer experience right every single time.”
Uber One International and Uber Travel Mode
There were other announcements that will be relevant for travelers, too. One of the biggest pieces of news is around Uber One, the premium membership that costs $9.99 per month. Uber One now works internationally. That means you can now get Uber One credits for Uber rides and Uber Eats when you are traveling out of the country.
Uber One members will see the credits hit their accounts as soon as they are back in the U.S.
Uber unveiled what it is calling “Travel Mode,” which will offer users tailored recommendations for local favorites while on the road.
“When you get to a city that’s unfamiliar, we know that … we want to make the unfamiliar familiar,” Khosrowshahi said. “[Whether] it’s the turn-by-turn directions, or might be, what are the cool sites to see if you’re landing in Paris?”
It will offer curated recommendations and access to OpenTable reservations as well. Of course, Uber Eats delivery is part of this, too, and Uber wants consumers to think of the app as a personal concierge. In fact, there is another new feature called “Shop for Me,” which lets you order items from virtually any store and have them delivered to your home or hotel.
Khosrowshahi was very excited about Uber Eats expanding into a one-stop shop for anything you need, anywhere. “I think you’re going to use it more in your home market as a personal shopper, too,” he said. “We’ve always talked about Uber Eats, get anything, but it’s kind of anything that’s available on Eats. Now you can actually have a shopper go anywhere, buy from a local store, and give them directions. It’s gonna be a very, very cool feature.”
Uber rides will soon be integrated into the Expedia app as well.
Bottom line
Some pretty compelling news from Uber today, with hotels now bookable in the Uber app. While I wouldn’t always recommend booking this way, if you can get up to 20% off regular room rates, it can make a lot of sense. If you are an Uber One member, it gets even better with 10% back as Uber One credits for free rides or Uber Eats.
I’m also a big fan of the new Uber One International rollout and the ability to now earn Uber One credits on my overseas trips.
Related: Frequent Uber or Lyft user? These are the best credit cards for you
Stacie Harris is a local resident and reporter of the Maple Grove area. Stacie reports on medicine and science for the Maple Grove Report.
