Uber's rider loyalty program crushes Lyft's

In the wake of a similar announcement from its chief rival Lyft, Uber announced a rider rewards program Wednesday to give loyal users perks for spending money in the app.

The program is almost exactly like the new Lyft Rewards program in that both track points you've accumulated in the app and give you rewards once you hit a certain milestone -- and both are similarly named. But the two diverge from there.

Uber Rewards are here to give you perks.Credit: Uber

Uber's new rewards program gives one point for every dollar spent on Uber Pool rides and Uber Eats orders. It also gives two points for ordering an UberX, UberXL, Select, or WAV ride, and three points for ordering Black and Black SUV rides.

SEE ALSO:Lyft's rewards program will offer perks for choosing Lyft over Uber

Uber has also set up different status levels for its customers: Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. An individual's Uber points are tallied and at 500, 2,500, 7,500 points, respectively, they jump to the next tier for the next six months. Whenever you hit the next point level you've unlocked that status.

The points mean something beyond having status with the ride service. For your first 500 points, you get $5 to spend at Uber. Gold (or 2,500 points) unlocks free cancellations within a 15-minute window and priority customer support.

Platinum builds on Gold benefits with price locking between two set places (say the office and your home) on UberX rides and priority pick-ups at the airport.

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Finally the big doozy: Diamond. In addition to everything else, you get dedicated phone support, free upgrades to Uber Black for a more luxurious ride, and access to highly rated drivers. On the Uber Eats side, Diamond status gets you no delivery fees on three orders every six months.

The rider rewards program feels similar to Uber Pro, the driver reward program Uber launched earlier this month that also has Gold, Platinum, and Diamond levels. But Uber Rewards is a bit more streamlined for the passenger side of the business.

The Uber rewards program is available today for users in Miami, New Jersey, Denver, Tampa, New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Diego, and Uber promises it will roll out to all U.S. riders in the next few months.

Since the program looks at your ride history from the past six months, all users are incentivized to use Uber as much as possible to stock up on points. By the time you're enrolled in the program you might be Gold, Platinum, or Diamond status to start.

A waitlist is available here for anyone outside those nine areas.

Once Lyft's program arrives next month, it'll be a lot of mental math to figure out which car service to order. Choose wisely!

UPDATE: Nov. 14, 2018, 4:16 p.m. PSTInformation about points and the timing of unlocking levels was clarified. At any time you can jump to the next level if you've earned enough points.

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TopicsUberlyft

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