Many business travelers appreciate the ability to plan, organize, and manage their travel with their mobile phone. No more printed boarding passes, maps, and scribbled directions to your next meeting. Everything can be managed on your phone, saving you all kinds of headaches and hassles.
We’ve seen several new travel apps released just in time for the 2017 business travel calendar, and have a few favorites you might want to try before your next trip.
Google Trips uses your browsing history to suggest places you might want to visit. It might feel a little Big Brother-ish, but a helpful brother nonetheless. The free app allows you to use your Gmail accounts offline to plan and organize your travel through one site, and lets you make hotel reservations, book flights, and arrange car rental.
Lonely Planet’s Guides not only offers visually stunning photographs of over 100 cities, it provides an overview of that city, its language, and different budget options. It also provides insights from on-the-ground experts and maps that help you decide what to see, where to eat, and where to sleep. If you like to “travel like you live there,” something we recommend business travelers do to make their trips more interesting, the Lonely Planet guides are a great place to start.
You don’t have to chart a course for some exotic location in order to enjoy the features of Sidekix. Available for Apple and Android, this app caters to pedestrians who want to find interesting activities, restaurants, and sites as they get around a city on foot. It’s a great way to find a hidden gem when you’re at a conference or trade show in a new city.
While My TSA is not a new app, it does provide you with information on flight delays and security wait times, as well as weather conditions at your originating airport. This can be helpful if you’re trying to navigate an airport during a busy travel season. That makes it a must-have business travel app every year.
Lastly, the newly updated FlightAware Flight Tracker app allows you to track any commercial flight worldwide in real time. Tracking data includes complete flight and full-screen maps with NEXRAD radar overlay. It offers push notifications to alert you of cancellations, gate changes, delays and diversions. It’s free and available in 16 languages.
What are some of your favorite business travel apps you’re looking forward to using this year? Share your ideas with us in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or in our Twitter stream.
Photo credit: Massimo Catarinella (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons)