Careem introduces subscription model on its Super App

The 'Careem Plus' paid loyalty programme will cost Dh39 per month and offer a range of benefits across its services

Careem launched a new paid loyalty programme for users with benefits across all its services. Courtest Careem. 

Uber-owned Careem introduced a new paid loyalty programme on April 5 that offers users benefits across services from ride-hailing to food delivery.

The new subscription programme will cost Dh39 per month in return for a range of benefits, providing monthly savings of more than double the price of the subscription, Careem said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We wanted to create a programme that's simple to use and unlocks value across all of our services," Clemence Dutertre, Careem’s vice president of customer, said in an interview. "It's a discovery programme for users to explore services that they did not try in the past."

The Careem Plus subscription will be available on the company's Super App that combines different offers – such as ride hailing, food and grocery delivery, digital payments, bike sharing and inter-city travel – on a single platform. About 48 million users have registered for the Super App since its launch in April 2020, Careem said in December.

Subscribers to the programme will benefit from 10 per cent instant cashback on all Careem rides and 5 per cent on all Hala rides using RTA taxis, the statement said.

Other benefits include free food delivery from a variety of restaurants and shops, unlimited access to Careem Bike services at launch and priority care support, the Dubai-based tech company said.

Careem Plus will initially be available to users in Dubai and those who sign up will get the first 30 days for free, the company said.

It will gradually introduce the subscription model to all 100 cities where it operates. Riyadh will be the next city to get the Careem Plus option in the summer followed by Amman, Ms Dutertre said.

Careem will also add more features to the programme as it spreads to more cities, she said, noting that these will depend on customer feedback.

A potential new feature will be a savings tracker that allows users to monitor how much they saved by using the paid loyalty programme.

Another possibility is the auto-reimbursement feature that allows customers who saved less than the monthly value of the programme to be compensated for that.

Careem began developing the programme in December before introducing it to Dubai users this week on its Super App.

"We have a strategy to move to a multi-service app and the subscription programme is a pillar to that," Ms Dutertre said.