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Uber on Owning More of the Travel Journey and Negotiating With Agents

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at Skift Global Forum that Uber is in active discussions with basically every agentic company, but on the right terms, using its 10.5 million drivers and couriers across more than 70 countries as leverage. He said no agentic company is going to replicate that content. Khosrowshahi also said 80% of Uber's hotel bookings come from UberOne members, reducing dependence on discovery channels like Google. He noted that Uber's early approach of making AI follow human-agent scripts was limiting, and giving AI a goal and a budget produced better outcomes at lower cost.

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Impact and considerations

For hotels, airlines and mobility suppliers with owned inventory, Uber's negotiating logic shows that when agents cannot assemble inventory on their own, suppliers can set terms on commercial terms, data access and revenue share.

Key points

  • Khosrowshahi said Uber is in active discussions with basically every agentic company, but on the right terms.
  • He said Uber has 10.5 million drivers and couriers across more than 70 countries, and no agentic company is going to replicate that content.
  • He said when agents cannot assemble inventory such as hotel rooms, airline seats, fleet or routes on their own, the supplier has leverage at the negotiating table.
  • Khosrowshahi said 80% of Uber's hotel bookings come from UberOne members, and he is no longer a prisoner to Google for traffic.
  • He said Uber's early approach of making AI follow human-agent scripts was limiting, and giving AI a goal and a budget produced better outcomes at lower cost.
  • He noted commercial terms between platforms and AI agents are still undefined, and revenue share, data access and quality standards will determine who pays whom.

Sources and time

Primary source
Skift
Other sources
0
First source publication
24 Sept 2026, 05:06
Page published
24 Sept 2026, 05:40
Last updated
24 Sept 2026, 05:06
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