Step by step, Uber is expanding the foundations of its empire. While we know the American company well in the field of taxi and home deliveries, it wants to extend its influence in the field of travel. The company intends to become an indispensable tool by allowing restaurant and leisure activity reservations to be made directly via its application, thus becoming a tourism giant.
To achieve this, the platform has partnered with OpenTable, a U.S. site that specializes in online restaurant reservations, and Viator, a Tripadvisor company that helps book tours and other attractions. These two companies have been integrated into the Uber Explore feature, unveiled in March. The latter - operational in several cities in the United States, Mexico City and Madrid - allows users to discover recommended places, according to several categories, such as nightlife, shows and restaurants. These new services should soon be extended to other territories.
With Uber Explore, the American company wants to "take [its] customers beyond the ride," as it revealed in a press release. It is thus closer to the experiences promoted by Airbnb, which offers - in addition to a plethora of accommodations - to book local activities.
This isn't Uber's first foray into tourism. In May, it unveiled Uber Travel, which proposes to import information related to travel (hotel reservations, flights, etc.), and then plan its itineraries.
So many features, which could make Uber one of the leading leisure and tourism applications in the world. The company highlighted its one-stop-shop concept where the user can access a maximum of offers via the Uber application.
And Uber doesn't intend to stop even there. Still, under the banner of Uber Travel, the company launched in August a test phase in the United Kingdom on a new function, which allows users to buy train or bus tickets directly via the application. To do this, the company has partnered with the booking site Omio. This will make Uber a major competitor on the booking application scene.
