Uber has always wanted to be more than just rides. Now there’s a reason to hurry

For years, Uber has talked about becoming a super app. Then Waymo started picking up passengers in San Francisco and the conversation became more urgent. The company has tried to embed itself in the AV industry as a data provider, investor, and distribution platform, but its bets toward consumers could be just as important.

Two weeks ago, Uber held its annual GO-GET product event in New York and announced something executives had been talking about for a long time: U.S. users can now book hotels within the Uber app through a partnership with Expedia Group, giving them access to more than 700,000 hotels around the world. Uber One members (the company’s subscription tier for $9.99 per month) receive a 20% discount on a rotating list of 10,000 hotels and 10% back in credit. Vacation rentals through Vrbo will follow later this year along with restaurant reservations through OpenTable. Meanwhile, the ‘Shop for Me’ feature allows users to order from stores that are not on the platform as well.

Collectively, the announcement was the most concrete picture yet of what Uber has been envisioning since at least 2019: that an app with 199 million monthly active users could become a go-to app for just about anything.

Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga gave his clearest explanation of the company’s thinking yet at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco late last month. He pointed out that the super app concept has been around for years in India and Southeast Asia, but the U.S. version largely failed by adding services to the traffic rather than finding a reason to maintain it.

What is his answer to what is correct? member. Whether it’s food, groceries, or hotels, each new category offers another reason to use Uber One. “I take an Uber to the airport, get on a plane, take another Uber to the hotel, and then to the restaurant,” he said. “There’s a flow you can really build on.”

Flights are not yet available, but Naga did not rule it out. Uber tried booking flights in Europe a few years ago, but it wasn’t successful. “Let’s finish the hotel work first,” he said. Financial services also sound like a possibility. Uber already offers debit cards to drivers in Mexico. But it’s unclear what the scope will be. Naga said: “Never say never.”

Uber is not alone in this race. Airbnb, which is most directly threatened by Uber’s hotel policies, announced its own transportation ambitions in late March. Our partnership with Welcome Pickups offers airport transfers in 125 cities across Asia, Europe and Latin America. This is structured to keep users inside the Airbnb app instead of sending them to Uber. Elon Musk, meanwhile, has spent three years promising to transform X Money, a banking and payments platform built within the social network, is expected to launch publicly soon. X claims to have 500 million monthly active users.

The biggest question is how many super apps the U.S. market will actually support. One of the reasons WeChat works in China is because the alternatives were a combination of inferior options. In the US, people already have their favorite app to do most things Uber wants them to do. Integrating this within a single platform requires a compelling reason, like a discount from Uber One, or an experience that’s seamless enough that they feel it’s worth switching.

What Uber is betting on is that its installed base is a moat. User has already handed over their credit card. Persuading someone to book a hotel they could never find on Uber Eats or order from a store is easy compared to persuading them to download something new. Uber Eats may have the strongest argument for this claim, according to its most recent earnings reported a few days ago. First quarter delivery revenue increased 34% year-over-year to $5.07 billion. This has easily become the fastest growing part of the business and has almost driven the mobility of our gross bookings.

Uber’s stock price is still down about 8% from a year ago. This suggests Wall Street isn’t entirely convinced. But the company says 50 million people are currently paying for Uber One, and they account for roughly half of the company’s total bookings.