Welcome to RemoteHotelier!
Before we start, you should know that this week's edition is going to be a bit different. Instead of covering multiple stories, I'm doing a full breakdown of the biggest story of the week: Uber adding hotels to its app.
In today's newsletter:
🚗 Who's really driving this deal (no pun intended)
📖 The real story isn't Uber adding hotels
🎬 We've seen this movie before
😱 Big brands are already reacting
💸 Uber loses money on every hotel booking, and that's the whole point
🔮 This isn't the Uber version that hotels should fear…
💣 … but it could become one
🚀 + 5 new product updates
💼 + 4 new jobs in hotel tech
MAIN NEWS
#1 Who's really driving this deal (no pun intended)
Uber is launching hotel bookings inside its app, and they'll use Expedia's inventory of over 700,000 properties.
The feature is live for US users right now, with plans to expand internationally.
Uber One members get 10% back in Uber credits on every booking, plus at least 20% off a rotating list of more than 10,000 hotels.
Vacation rentals from Vrbo (also owned by Expedia) will be added later in 2026.
Uber also announced AI voice bookings powered by OpenAI, a personal shopping feature, room service delivery, and travel mode with curated destination guides.
Uber rides will be integrated into the Expedia app starting in June, so the partnership goes both ways.
We could say the announcement was huge on noise, but light on what's actually new for hotels. Uber isn't building its own travel infrastructure. It's plugging into Expedia's existing system. This means another app showing your rooms to people who were already going to find them through a different outlet anyway.
#2 The real story isn't Uber adding hotels
Lots of industry experts are writing about Uber, but the company making the real strategic move here is Expedia. They're slowly becoming the engine behind other people's travel products. They provide the inventory, the API, and the fulfillment.
If this rings any bells it's because is a similar model to what Amazon did with Amazon Web Services.
#3 We've seen this movie before
Here's the thing about Uber adding hotels via Expedia: others have tried before, and they failed. Out of all the reactions I could read, I liked this one from Benjamin Verot on LinkedIn:
Sure, Uber certainly has more resources than Revolut to keep this going. But more money doesn't mean more value. If you ask me, with the current structure, this is just one more door into the same house.
#4 Big brands are already reacting
Accor announced a global loyalty partnership with Uber that lets ALL Accor members earn points on Uber rides and Uber Eats orders across seven markets.
The partnership launches in the second half of 2026 in France, Germany, Poland, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Morocco.
ALL Accor members will link their accounts with Uber and earn hotel loyalty points on rides and food deliveries.
Uber One members get ALL Accor status upgrades, and eligible Accor members get extended free trials of Uber One.
Although this is separate from the Expedia hotel booking deal, it's hard to believe that this is just a coincidence. This looks more like the classic “just in case” move.
#5 Uber loses money on every hotel booking, and that's the whole point
Now let's talk about the math: According to Skift's analysis, Uber One members earn 10% back in credits on every hotel booking, plus a potential 20% off selected properties. As a result, Uber likely loses money on each hotel booking made by its top-tier members.
That pretty much tells you everything about what this feature really is: It's not a new distribution channel, it's more of a subscription retention tool. Uber needs reasons for people to stay on Uber One, and hotels are just one more perk to justify that monthly fee.
#6 This isn't the Uber version that hotels should fear…
Let's be clear about what this is and what it isn't. Uber adding hotels isn't a distribution novelty. The customer relationship still flows through Expedia. It's another sub-channel inside an app that wasn't really built for travel.
Uber has deeper pockets than most, but deeper pockets don't solve the fundamental problem: booking a hotel in a ride-hailing app is a solution looking for a problem that most people don't have.
When a platform outsources bookings, the goal is engagement, not profit. That means Uber has very little incentive to fight for your best rate or even build deep relationships with properties.
They just need enough inventory to keep Uber One attractive.
#7 … but it could become one
So when should hotels worry? There's one scenario where things could get spicy: if Uber ever stops borrowing Expedia's inventory and starts building direct hotel relationships.
They already know where people go, when they land, and what they eat. Add a direct booking engine and a loyalty program that actually competes with hotel chains (we all know this isn't hard to do), and suddenly they're not just another sub-channel. They're an OTA with 150 million monthly users and your travel data. That's the version of Uber that hotels should worry about, not this one.
RESOURCES
📍 Next Event: Hotec Operations (8–10 June).
📅 See the full hotel tech event calendar.
💼 Check which hotel tech companies offer remote jobs.
💻 Get your cloud PMS comparison list.
PRODUCT UPDATES
💰 Wyndham launches a native ChatGPT app that lets travelers explore its 8,400 hotels through conversational search, map navigation, and amenity filters directly inside the chatbot.
💰 Inn-Flow acquires Lilo, an AI procurement platform, to create what it calls the first unified system connecting hotel accounting, labor, and purchasing operations.
💰 Journey acquires Epicurate to offer boutique hotels and STR the possibility of packaging and selling experiences like private dining and excursions.
💰 Amadeus will buy IDEMIA Public Security for €1.2 billion to add biometric security infrastructure to its travel platform. This is an interesting move because combined with their existing technology, the deal covers the full passenger journey from booking to border control.
🆕 DirectBooker announces supply agreements with five hotel chains including BWH Hotels and Radisson Hotel Group, connecting those properties to AI assistants. The company also launched an app in ChatGPT and a connector in Claude to deliver availability and rates to AI platforms.
JOB BOARD
💼 Account Executive | Remote (based in the UK) | Lighthouse.
💼 Business Development Representative - EMEA | Remote (based in Spain or the UK) | Duetto.
💼 Group Product Manager - Integrations | Remote (based in Spain) | RoomPriceGenie.
💼 Customer Success Manager, Global Strategic Brands | Remote (based in the US) | Canary Technologies.
That's all for today, thank you for reading. If this was helpful, share it with someone who'd find it useful too.
See you next week!
Jose