Uber Adds Expedia Hotel Bookings to App

Uber announced Wednesday that customers can now book hotel rooms directly through its app, marking a significant expansion into the travel sector through a partnership with Expedia Group.

The feature provides access to more than 700,000 hotels and other properties worldwide. Uber plans to add over 1 million vacation rentals from Vrbo, an Expedia-owned service, later this year. The rollout comes amid Uber's push to evolve into an "everything app" that consolidates rides, deliveries and travel services. Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal described the move as a key step toward addressing consumers' fragmented app usage. "Consumers are spending too much time coordinating their life, using multiple apps," Kansal told The Associated Press. "Our goal with these announcements is to bring everything into one app, to help them save time, and to also help them save money."

All Uber app users can make reservations, but Uber One subscribers, who pay $9.99 monthly for benefits like zero delivery fees, receive added perks: a 20 percent discount on a rotating selection of 10,000 hotels and 10 percent back in Uber credits for rides or other services. Uber evaluated several partners before...