Becky Stoehr, senior vice president, events at Blaskstone, relies on Uber for approximately 20 to 25 programs a year. Some are 100-person meetings for financial advisers, others are internal programs ranging from 20 to 150 attendees.
“It saves us money on airport transfers. Instead of every transfer being the same contracted rate (say $225.00 in New York City), we set a maximum voucher amount for each ride (typically $200). If the ride comes under that, we are only charged the actual amount, and there are no charges or attrition if we don’t use all the rides we set up for an event.”
She’s not alone in rethinking her overall transportation strategy. U4B, as it’s called, saw a 50% year-over-year growth from 2023 to 2024, and is poised to surpass 200,000 customer organizations in 2025. (No data was available from Lyft Business.)
This has also made things easier for the planning team. “We aren’t crosschecking manifests versus registration information,” she said. “We aren’t scrambling to get people last-minute rides, and we aren’t scrambling to adjust rides because someone decides they want to leave two hours earlier than they originally said.”
“Managed” Rideshares
While rideshares have been chipping away at the business of transportation providers for years, one company, miMeetings, helps planners incorporate rideshares into their sourcing, alongside limos and buses.
Its technology platform groups attendees by airlines, terminals, and flight schedule, taking changes into account in real time. Vouchers are provided by the planner to pay for the rides and consolidated onto one master bill. Planners can set the parameters to all levels of service offered by Uber, including black cars for a higher-end experience.
Meeting organizers are only charged for what is used, so if attendees are paired up and vouchers are not used, they are not charged.
MiMeetings’ rideshare service works just like a limo service, said Managing Partner Evan Michaels. “We’ll still have the staff in place with iPads, and we’ll give the attendees notification that they’re sharing an Uber, and they just come downstairs.”
Attendees appreciate the flexibility, he said. “They’ve told me, ‘I just got 45 minutes of my day back. I don’t have to get on a bus, and I don’t have to wait for the onboarding, the upload of luggage, waiting to leave.”
Cvent also offers a basic integration with Uber, where event organizers can customize pick-up and drop-off times, location, and costs.
On the down side, Stoehr admits there have been some challenges for older, less-tech-savvy attendees, “but even that has dropped off.” There are some more rural areas where Uber is not commonly used. And unlike a car service, there are instances where drivers will cancel.
Nonetheless, she said, “It’s very seldom that we hear anyone grumbling about using Uber.”
