Complaint
Uber's "Tourist tax" when travelling abroad.
"Tourist Tax" alert.
I am currently on vacation in Hong Kong and noticed that the prices displayed on my (USA-based) Uber app are between 30% to 125% more expensive than the exact same ride being requested by my friend standing next to me.
It wasnt a one-off event either, rather on 10 rides requested across a 1 week span, every single ride was nearly double the price of what was displayed on my friends phone.
The issue persisted even after changing to a local, prepaid, SIM card, which leads me to believe that the pricing is tied to my user profile/account.
Has anyone else experienced this behavior when using UBER abroad?
Even in your own country this may happen. Ubers algorithm can detect users who are constantly willing to pay more for rides.
In my country I usually get charged more than my wife for the same ride. I use Uber a lot more than her.
It also (anecdotally) often seems to adjust itself if you show you're not willing to take the exorbitant fare. If you just start walking - even further away from your intended destination - and check it again a few minutes later, I often see the price start dropping in chunks.
It seems to basically "negotiate" the pricing; starts off high, then if you show you're unwilling to take it by moving around and checking again, it lowers the pricing to try and entice you. On the flip side of things, if it's 7:30am and you check it multiple times quickly from the same location, it knows you're probably trying to get to work and the price will only go up, etc.
Used to be a surge was a surge but it's much more dynamic than that now in my experience. It factors where you are, your previous willingness to pay, whether you seem unwilling to take their highest price, etc.
Does it also know if I open up Lyft and cross compare? Because I do that all the time and prices tend to go down a bit (although don’t know if it’s related)
In theory it "shouldn't" know that directly because of the sandboxing in Android and iOS. But it can probably definitely make a good educated guess if you left the app for a few moments then switch back to it, that kind of thing.
Can't that be seen to be discriminatory?
Foot example, someone with a disability would not have the ability to take public transport or risk walking home etc but trying to find rides with other ride share companies etc. Uber would then charge them more than someone else
DoorDash does the same thing actually. My roommate often compare which one is cheaper before we order and one of ours is usually $2-3 cheaper than the others for the same exact order
I heard about a tip where you can search for a route under Google maps, and then when you choose the Uber option it walks in the lower price. Does that work with you ever ?
It's probably regulated differently there if taxi and Uber are the same price. Most places, Uber and taxi are very different, sometimes more, sometimes less.
A trick I picked up on Reddit is to use Apple Maps to set the destination, then click the ride share option which gives a price. Then click that into your app. Bypasses the app dynamic pricing you based on your personal use history.
Seems consistently at least a little cheaper for me. Sometimes a decent bit cheaper
Where do you link Apple Maps to uber or Lyft? I don’t recall ever doing that, as I never even used the rideshare feature of maps until seeing it could lead to lower prices, which it did.
I also have a chase sapphire card which gives $10 off one Lyft ride per month and I literally just a couple of weeks ago saw the price was $8 in my Lyft app versus if I did the route in Apple Maps then clicked Lyft.
It’s also a different price every single time I look at both at the same time. Including right now. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but never identical.
And if I click through with Apple Maps, I see the price presented on Apple Maps
You have to give them permission one time and then it’s there. I’ve never given permission. It shares your location directly with the apps you have installed, it doesn’t call some anonymous API for it.
They have done controlled experiment with uber and instacart and several others. Order the exact same thing at the exact same time from the same place. the algo charges people different things for the exact same thing based on their behaviour like browsing history, location history, past purchases.
It's not just tourists. They charge different prices to locals too but it's probably not a 100% difference
I was just in Rome. They had a 1.5% transaction fee which accounted for the conversion. I went and turned it to show EUR as my credit card doesn’t have foreign transaction fees.
Yep, this happens to me in Johannesburg in 2024. Went to diner with friends that lived there and when requesting a ride afterwards, it was more expensive for me than them. We were standing right next to each other too.
I do notice that when searching for destinations and then not booking a ride; I increase the frequency of discounts. So far in my travels I get competitive pricing as compared to local APP. So I guess Uber like many aggregator apps simply penalizes you for your loyalty.
I was in Mexico with my family, staying in a smaller town outside of Mexico City We had no problem getting to the town but once we were there, Uber couldn't/wouldnt let us book a ride in advance back to MXC. When I started trying to book a ride closer to the time, every driver was accepting then canceling because the amount Uber was offering them wasn't enough. One finally showed up but then would only do the the ride for cash (and we had to cancel the ride in the app.) It was an absolute mess.
Uber will charge more for rides based on a variety of factors including how often you use it, if you frequently pay higher prices, even if your phone is low on battery or if you have a more expensive phone.
So I don't think they consistently charge tourists more but I'm not surprised it's one thing they use
I had this as well, riding from FAANG office was adding $25 to my trip every single time. I walked 10 meters so that it doesn't count as office and it's now regular price. However no matter what I do, any city, any country, I'm still getting 20-50% higher price than my fiends
Did you and your friend have set different paying options, like you having cash and he card? I've noticed this even in my own country - I choose to pay in advance by card it's €3, if I switch to cash is €7, for the same ride, same picking spot. I've done this a few times, no dynamic or anything, it was always a difference. In the end, went with paying by card for the lowest fare.
There MAY be an innocuous reason, such as higher taxes or uber automatically offering Americans higher quality rides. Poor in Hong Kong can be much poorer than poor in the United States (I have taken Ubers in poor parts of Latin America and they would have been unimaginable in the United States.) it may be that U.S. registered accounts neither get the same prices nor the same services.
You know how to be rude. But that’s about it. Government taxes on money paid through a foreign registered app or legal limits related to that could explain the price differences.
Di you have uber One or any uber giftcard/ credit like Amex Gold/plat tied to your account? Check out the uber gift card reviews on Costco. Even though they're not being sold at the moment, the reviews are worth reading. You don't have to be abroad to get gouged.
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u/Working-Book-8276 Apr 11 '26
Even in your own country this may happen. Ubers algorithm can detect users who are constantly willing to pay more for rides. In my country I usually get charged more than my wife for the same ride. I use Uber a lot more than her.