Whether you’re hitting the road or taking to the skies this travel season, you could do with a digital companion to help you plan your itinerary, make sure your tickets and connections are all lined up, and that you have plenty of time to do everything you want (or need) to do while you’re traveling. This week, we’re looking at five of the best travel planning apps or services, based on your nominations.
What’s the Best Travel Planning App?
The travel season is fast approaching, and juggling tickets, hotel reservations, rental cars, itineraries, and other plans can be maddening. Which… Read…
Earlier in the week we asked you which travel planning apps or services were the best. Keep in mind we’re talking about travelplanning, not travel booking, so the apps that can help you find a good deal and land a great price may not be the same apps as the ones that will show you all of your flight details, make sure you’ll make your connection, help you dig out your rental car confirmation number, and so on. Without further ado, here’s what you suggested, in no particular order:
The polls are closed and the votes are counted! To see which of these great travel planning apps took the top spot in our poll as the community favorite, head over to our hive five followup post! There you can read the results and discuss the winner!
Tripit
TripIt is the type of app that almost needs no introduction. When it comes to travel planning, it won’t suggest destinations for you, or help you plan the best possible way to spend your time in town wherever you go, but what TripIt does offer is a complete, hassle free way to combine all of your travel confirmations, itineraries, tickets, hotel bookings, rental car reservations, and the rest in one simple view. That view then becomes the central hub for all of your travel needs—no more fishing for a confirmation email to get your reservation number, or wondering what flight number you’re on before you check in; it’s all right there, and it’s all incredibly handy. It’ll even let you know if there’s a better seat on your flight so you can switch to it. As someone who uses TripIt when he travels, I wouldn’t leave home without it.
We covered TripIt when it launched, and we’ve mentioned it several times since then. Those of you who praised it in the call for contenders called out the fact that it’s also easy to share trip plans with people who may need to know where you are, like friends in town or loved ones picking you up from the airport, so they know what flight you’re on and when you’ll arrive, or where you’re staying and when. Sync it with your Google Calendar, set up a few mail rules to push your travel confirmations to TripIt, and you have a custom built itinerary, automatically, every time you travel. You can grab the TripIt mobile apps for iOS, Android, and other platforms here.
TouristEye
TouristEye is a little different; instead of helping you organize your trip or helping you find the best prices and options for your trip, it helps you build a “wishlist” of destinations where you’d like to travel and experiences you’d like to have. It doesn’t have to be as fancy as a once-in-a-lifetime trip, either: the app is great for planning your annual family vacation (if you get to take one, that is), or if you want to just take a few day trips here or there. Of course, you can build your bucket-list of places you want to see before you die, and you can share that list with friends or family and collaborate with them on them. They can add waypoints and things to check out in the area, specific things to do when you’re there, and together you can plan a trip together. Then, when you’re on the road, you can look back over those plans with detailed information, links, maps, and more.
Those of you who praised TouristEye highlighted the collaboration aspect of the service, and the fact that it’s easy to get ideas for trips of all sizes, find inspiration of places to go, or just read travel tips and suggestions from other users. The service was recently purchased by Lonely Planet, which ideally is a good thing, and while the service is coy about its features on its front page (it prompts you to just start planning trips), you can read more about its features here. Similarly, you can pick up the TouristEye iPhone app and Android app to give the service a whirl on the go.
TripCase
Much like TripIt and Worldmate, TripCase is another service that aims to centralize all of your travel documentation and planning in one handy interface that’s easy to refer to both before you leave for your trip, and on the go while you’re out and about. TripCase gives you an easy to use interface on your mobile devices to add your flight, train, hotel, rental car, and other information, or you can send all of your confirmations directly over to TripCase and have them automatically organized for you. From there, you have the option to view your trip in the timeline-based “itinerary” view, where you see each step of your trip laid out in front of you along with relevant times and places for each, or the “action” view, which adds more detail for each step of the way and shows you important information for each leg, like flight alerts and other notifications (flight alerts, which it should be noted, are free with TripCase.)
Those of you who highlighted TripCase noted the fact that it integrates nicely with corporate travel systems like Sabre, and while it’s a matter of opinion, said that it was easier to use than its alternatives. To its credit, TripCase does make getting things like driving directions, alternate flights, and other on-the-fly travel info that you may need in a pinch very easy at a time when it may be most frustrating to run down—when you’re on the go and using your phone. You can grab the TripCase mobile apps for iOS and Android here.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the quintessential travel planning service. It’s not going to collect your travel information and help you plan out each leg of your trip and when you need to get where you have to go, but it will help you plan your trip from the beginning, much like TouristEye (and unlike TripIt, WorldMate, and TripCase.) Plus, since TripAdvisor is arguably the web’s largest repository of hotel and destination reviews, ratings, photos, and other information, it’s difficult to use any of the other services without finding TripAdvisor data integrated somewhere. If you’re headed to a hotel you’ve never stayed at, TripAdvisor is your best bet to see if there are amenities you need, or if people who have stayed there before report horror stories in their wake. Similarly, it’s a great site to use to plan destination getaways, huge trips, or find resorts and other places you’d love to retreat to.
Those of you who praised TripAdvisor highlghted the fact that it’s a fantastic resource for travelers of all stripes, and the fact that it’s great for finding new and interesting destinations as well as figuring out what to do when you’re in a given place. Of course, if you know you want to go to a specific place but don’t know how to get there, where to stay, or what to do, TripAdvisor will help walk you through that process as well. Just tell it where you want to go and when, and it’ll help you find hotel rooms, flights, and so on. It’ll even keep all of those confirmations organzied in your account for easy reference later. It is, by and large, the default service to answer the question: “I’d like to go to X place, I wonder what I should do while I’m there.” Plus, it’s packed with travel tips and tricks from experts, business travelers, and enthusiasts. Grab the TripAdvisor mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone here.
WorldMate
WorldMate is aimed firmly at business and frequent travelers, but you don’t have to be one to use and make the most of the app. Like other robust travel planning and organization tools, you can use it to get all of your itineraries and reservations in one place, and then add other destinations, appointments, meetings, and events that you need to attend when you’re out and about. WorldMate has some very business-friendly service integrations too, like LinkedIn, for example. You can use WorldMate on the web or on your smartphone to organize your trips, and you can either use their TripCatch service to automatically pull in your travel info, or you can send it over piecemeal, whichever you prefer.
One useful feature that WorldMate offers above some of the other tools like it are its automatic travel briefings and alerts; or notifications when there’s something you should know about the place you’re going, your scheduled events for the day, connecting flight information (as soon as you land), and so on. Paying users get features like flight status alerts. Everyone gets some other useful features, like a real-time currency converter, weather forecasts for your destination (or each leg of your trip), world clocks, and more. You can grab WorldMate’s mobile apps for iOS and Android here.
9 Boutique Hotel 