If you thought Uber’s move into food delivery back in 2016 was interesting, wait until you see what they’ve been up to during the Paris Olympics. We’ll give you a hint: it involves boat rides on the Seine and chauffeured tours of some of France’s most illustrious champagne houses.
None of this is technically “new” — Uber has been creating travel experiences for a little over two years now under its Go Anywhere banner. Previous iterations have included Uber Sleigh in Lapland, Finland, where users could book a ride on a reindeer-drawn sleigh; Uber Boat in Mykonos, Greece; and Uber Balloon hot-air balloon rides in the Cappadocian Valley in Turkey. For Paris’s Olympic summer there is Uber Bubbles and Uber Cruise.
Whether in Finland, Turkey or France, the goal of these limited-time offerings is the same — “to illustrate how the Uber app can do more than just help you get around, it can also be your travel partner wherever you go,” explained Laureline Serieys, General Manager of Uber France in an interview with Retail TouchPoints.
“With millions of visitors looking to move around [Paris] and with public transport expected to be very busy, transportation is deemed the number one concern for the Olympics,” said Serieys. “From their airport trip to getting to busy competition venues and evening celebrations, many will rely on Uber. We have developed a range of tech, products, accessibility and sustainability solutions to help tourists get from point A to B conveniently and safely. We’re also having a few fun stunts/activations that Parisians will love.”
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At the moment, these are only temporary activations during major travel moments (like the Paris Olympics), but we can’t help but wonder if there’s not a little more to it, especially given the company’s ongoing expansion into tangential services which began of course, with the debut of Uber Eats.
Uber Hosts Champagne, Seine Tours During Paris Olympics
There’s a reason Uber is focusing on France this summer. More than 16 million visitors are expected to flood Paris for the Olympics, 30% more than during a traditional summer in what is already the world’s No. 1 tourist destination.
To celebrate (and support) the surge, Uber created Uber Bubbles, a champagne tour bookable directly in the Uber app, and Uber Cruise, free boat tours on the Seine aboard an all-electric boat.
Both offerings sound fittingly delectable (especially given France’s gastronomic reputation). Uber Bubbles participants were picked up at a location of their choosing in Paris and then shuttled (in an Uber-branded Tesla) to two different champagne “maisons” in the towns of Epernay and Reims — Perrier-Jouët and G.H. Mumm, both owned by wine and spirits conglomerate Pernod Ricard.
Throughout the full-day trip, participants were treated to tastings at both houses and a cellar visit at G.H. Mumm, broken up by lunch, then were brought back to Paris. The whole experience cost only €200 ($218 U.S.), a flat fee for up to four guests (that’s a bargain folks, especially considering that the drive is at least two hours).
Not surprisingly, Serieys said that the limited tours filled up fast: “All the slots were booked within just a few days, so we decided to add more dates, and all those new dates were booked instantly as well,” she said.
Uber Cruise participants were also treated to champagne. Boats departed every 20 minutes from a quay on the Seine river in Paris from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the one-hour private cruises, which took in views of Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.
Uber Boat will Take Riders More Places than Just Paris
Paris isn’t the only European locale getting a vehicle upgrade from Uber. In conjunction with the Uber Cruise offering in Paris, the company also has expanded its Uber Boat offerings across Europe. “The series of magical nautical experiences setting sail with Uber this summer will include the most luxurious product on our app,” according to a company blog post, that being the opportunity to book an eight-hour trip on a private yacht, complete with personal skipper, in Ibiza, Spain. Available for groups of up to eight people, the experience costs €1600 ($1,744 U.S.) and includes a complimentary bottle of champagne and “locally sourced artisan snacks.”
On the other end of the spectrum, albeit still enticing, is the new “Limo Boat” service in Venice. Users can book at ride for up to six people on that city’s famous canals, on-demand, beginning at €120 ($131 U.S.) per trip. And Uber Boat in Greece has expanded from Mykonos to a number of other cities, including Athens, Corfu and Santorini, allowing visitors to book boat transportation to beach clubs as well as “scenic coves and remote locales,” all through the familiar Uber app.
Could this be the Beginnings of Uber Travel?
There’s no doubt that these offerings are a great marketing vehicle, although it’s not as if Uber needs help convincing riders to use its service when they need to get somewhere, especially in a city like Paris where traditional taxi drivers are notoriously sparse and selective.
Uber said in its announcement that “these new travel products are launching in response to rising demand for Uber’s services in tourist hotspots around Europe,” citing data from summer 2023, when demand from international customers for Uber’s mobility services increased by up to 55% in places like Greece and Spain. In fact, Uber said that more than 6.5 million international customers used the Uber app in Europe’s most popular tourist destinations last summer — 800,000 people in Ibiza alone in the past 12 months.
Clearly the demand is there, and while at the moment these offerings only take place during peak periods, Uber Eats also got its start that way as well. Back when Uber Eats launched (under its original name UberFresh), it was a limited offering during lunchtime only in select locations, available within the classic Uber app. So we know that historically, Uber has used its core platform to test out new business expansions that could very well become their own standalone offerings. Which raises the question — are we witnessing the origins of Uber Travel or something of the like?
When asked, Serieys said only that “you can be sure there will be plenty of others coming pretty soon,” referring to event- or season-focused limited-time services under the Go Anywhere banner. And to be sure, travel services are whole a different ballgame than ridesharing.
“Uber Bubbles is quite different from our standard offering since this is not an on-demand product where riders are matched with drivers instantly,” Serieys explained. “We selected four drivers who made themselves available for the Uber Bubbles experience for two-and-a-half months. They received dedicated training for Uber Bubbles — what the concept is, how long it lasts, etc. And we are in daily contact with the drivers if they have any questions or the customers do, as [the drivers] are Uber Bubbles ambassadors.”
And yet, Uber Eats required very different technology and staffing than Uber’s core ride-sharing business when it launched as well. And services are clearly of interest to the company, given other recent expansions into package returns, store pickup for the holidays and, last but certainly not least, advertising.
Only time will tell whether these European travel excursions mark the beginning of a new chapter for Uber. However, if they do, we’ll be among the first to partake, having been desperately disappointed about missing Uber Bubbles the first time around.
