Uber rewards program: Earn points by spending money on rides, food delivery

In a new initiative, Uber has launched a rewards program that offer benefits based on your total spending on both the ride hailing service and Uber Eats, an online food ordering and delivery platform.

Uber Rewards include different categories: Blue, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. The main aim of the Uber loyalty program is to incentivise you to not take alternate ride hailing services. Riders earn points for the money they spend and get perks like no-fee cancellations, guaranteed prices between your two favourite spots and free car upgrades.

The Uber Rewards program is now available in around 25 cities in the United States and will roll out to  the entire country soon. The moment you sign up for free for Uber Rewards, the program retroactively counts your last six months of Uber activity to give you the benefits and rewards.

How to use Uber Rewards

This isn't complicated and most of the things happen automatically. Riders just need to click on the invite button at the bottom of the screen to join the Uber Rewards program. Post that, different levels would appear on the screen and the benefits associated with each one of them for the next six months.

Services like Uberpool, Uber Eats and Express Pool would avail the customers 1 point per dollar spend on it while UberX, Uber XL and Uber Select would help you earn 2 points. The rider also receives $5 credit for every 500 points.

Uber Rewards is only available in Boston, Dallas, Orange County, Houston, New Orleans, Kansas City, Indianapolis, LA, SF, Fort Collins, Rockies, Pittsburgh, Lehigh Valley, Gettysburg, Erie and Western Massachusetts. The other launch cities include Miami, Denver, Tampa, New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Diego and anywhere in New Jersey. Once Uber fine tunes its rewards program, it plans to roll it out to other international locations too.

Uber Rewards tiers

Blue: For every 500 points a rider earns in Uber Rewards, they'll receive $5 in Uber Cash. "Even as a semi-frequent Uber Rewards member you will get these instant benefits," says Uber's director of product for riders Nundu Janakiram.

Gold: At 500 points you get rewarded with the 'flexible cancellations'.  Here, riders also get a refund of the fee if they rebook within 15 minutes.

Platinum: At 2500 points, the rider joins the Uber Platinum level. Here the rider gets the Gold benefits plus price protection on a route between two of his favourite places regardless of traffic or surge. Platinum members get priority pickups at airports.

Diamond: At 7500 points, you get the Gold and Platinum benefits plus premium support from top customer service agents. Here riders also get complimentary upgrades and get paired with highest rated drivers.

Edited By: Udit Verma

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