Before leaving
Sooner or later we’ll start traveling again, I’m so sure of it that I update an article originally published in Travel for Business to point out the best business travel apps to keep on your tablet or cell phone to organize and manage business travel.
Mobile devices are now part of our lives and everyday, and if there is one area where they are truly indispensable, it is during a trip. Primarily they are the tool for keeping in touch with family and office, but the various apps also serve a concrete function before, during, and after travel (all the more so if business).
Airline Flights
There are a lot of services on the market, I just use them to look at the various possible options and then generally purchase the ticket directly on the company’s website or app. To explore the various possibilities I find myself very comfortable, for ease of use with Google Flights; alternatively I point you to Skyscanner and Momondo; if you are traveling to the Far East to point to the Chinese site C-Trip.
Of course, it is essential to have the apps of all the airlines you plan to use, for boarding passes and flight updates.
Be sure to do the information search with the browser in “private browsing” mode because the companies track the browsing and at the next step you will find the increased price; once you have identified the solution switch to normal mode to purchase the flight of your choice.
Ground transportation
For car rentals I do very well with Rentalcars, simple and well done.
For European travel I recommend omio (formerly GoEuro), which sets out for each route the Air/Train/Bus alternatives. Flixbus can also be useful for underserved routes.
For urban transfers the arcane Uber, which, however, requires a local cell phone number.
In some places in China, e.g., Shanghai, it has become almost impossible to get a cab on the fly; all the supply goes through online services.
Overnight stays
Booking
is the best choice, not only because of the large number of participating establishments but also because of the possibility of activating a business profile (managing possible collaborators), saving recurring and/or preferred solutions and, after a certain “seniority” benefiting from extra discounts on rates. Opinions on facilities are also much more reliable than
TripAdvisor
, being possible only to those who have actually stayed there.
Booking
e
C-Trip
, more widespread for secondary Asian destinations, are largely sufficient to resolve the accommodation aspects of the trip. Alternatively, you can try
HRS
.
During the Journey
Tripit
is a booking management app that I find extremely useful, perhaps the most important of the travel apps, because I start using it in the preparation phase and then continue throughout the trip.
After you open an account on the site (the free version is more than sufficient), you forward your reservation emails for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc.; the program automatically (almost always) recognizes the reservations and puts them in chronological order; I also add appointments and commitments (with meeting place references, contact names and contact information, notes), and you end up with, in one place, a complete travel diary to consult on the fly or to print out.
The travel plan created in this way, can be added to your calendar or viewed by others-I share it with my wife who, should the need arise, will always be able to know exactly where I am and have all the directions to contact me at her fingertips (fortunately, it has never been needed). Most comfortable.
Alternatively Tripcase .
Flio
is used instead to “explore” airports and locate the various services within them.
Finally, among the tools at hand you cannot miss an app that acts as a converter for currency, measurements, weights etc. The free Converter Plus is excellent; alternatively.
XE Currency
(currency only).
After the trip
Upon return, every business traveler needs to make an expense report and/or expense report, whether it is for his or her company or to charge the client for expenses incurred, and so the selection of the best business travel apps could not miss this last tip.
I recommend two applications, to fulfill this tedious task neatly and as quickly as possible:
Expensify
e
Zoho Expense
.
I have used both, and they are valid (I currently use Zoho); receipts are photographed with the smartphone and captured in the cloud for “smart scan” (recognition must be reviewed, however, currency-related errors are possible). Both have a free version, and are customizable: you can categorize expenses by type, or assign tags to them; flag them as “reimbursable” or “billable” (or both); print or export expense notes/summary reports with statistical and graphical functions, and many other features.
