Overview
Travel is fully digital these days. Like, when was the last time you saw someone carrying a paperback guidebook? Exactly. While Uber has been helping Australian travellers get to and from the airport for years now, the app is soon rolling out a host of new travel-focused features designed to make your trips more convenient.
At the forefront of these changes is Travel Mode, available from mid-May. Imagined as a personal concierge, this update brings multiple additions to the platform. For instance, you won't get lost finding the airport exit again — the app will now guide you to the doors so you can spend less time wandering the corridors and more exploring your destination.
What's more, the app will now feature curated travel recommendations, such as local favourites and popular tourist destinations. So, whether you land somewhere new with no plan at all or unexpectedly have some time to fill, this change will help you make the most of your visit on the fly.
Of course, food and dining are among many people's top priorities when they travel. With this in mind, the Uber app now lets you secure restaurant reservations via built-in OpenTable integration. Plus, Uber will also offer its own version of room service, where food and everyday essentials get delivered directly to your hotel.
This substantial update comes on the heels of Uber's annual GO-GET conference, which just took place in New York. While the event revealed more forthcoming features, including Uber One International and One Search — a single search bar for booking rides or ordering delivery — the overarching message is that Uber now sees itself as an all-in-one service.
"Uber is becoming an app for everything — helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place," says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. "We're all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living."
Uber's travel updates are expected to roll out from mid-May. Head to the website for more information.
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Images: Supplied.