Hilton Partners With Uber To Help Guests Hail A Ride
On Tuesday, the companies said that Hilton guests will be able to set up automatic notifications to request Uber rides to and from the chain’s hotels worldwide. Members of the HHonors program also will be to use a digital guide of restaurants and nightlife spots most visited by Uber riders.
The companies plan to launch this option later this month in 20 U.S. cities as a feature within the Hilton HHonors mobile app.
As of yesterday, you can set ‘Ride Reminders’ through your Hilton reservation emails from your smartphone or online in advance of your stay. With ‘Ride Reminders, you will get an automated notification on the day of travel to seamlessly request an Uber ride to your hotel.
“Ground transportation is obviously a must in the travel experience and both companies think about being innovative,” Uber travel partnerships head Jonathan DiOrio told TechCrunch. “It’s really that dialogue and that vision of how can we connect our respective platforms and use technology to seamlessly and elegantly enhance that guest experience.”
The option to book an Uber is only part of Hilton’s app — the hotel chain also built a way for guests to book, check in and unlock which room they want. The integration with Uber’s API now allows guests the option to add-on a ride without ever leaving the app.
This is not the first time Uber has joined with a hotel chain or travel industry business. It announced its partnership with Starwood Hotels earlier this year, but the deal with Hilton is the first time Uber has created a new native app for the partnership.
Uber also integrates into Google Maps to prompt ride bookings. However, the ‘Local Scene’ integration is the first time Uber has allowed another company to use its rider location data.
“This is the next step in the standard evolution of our API,” DiOrio said. According to Uber, it does not plan to integrate its rider data with companies other than Hilton at this time.
