These 5 top travel apps for sales reps help with route planning, travel booking and more. Read on about TripIt, Mynd, Silvercar Hipmunk & Sales Navigator.
1. Post Link: 5 Top Travel Apps for Sales Reps
5 Top Travel Apps for Sales Reps
While traveling is second nature to many salespeople, the details that go into travel coordination
and logistics can be overwhelming and tedious. Luckily, there are some great apps that make
planning and scheduling business travel more efficient and fun. These apps help you do things
like book travel, organize your itineraries, secure rental cars, and to be well-prepared for the
inevitable hiccups that will arise while you're away.
For travel apps to be useful to sales reps, they should include features like:
Route-Planning - When you arrive in an unknown city - you need to learn your way around,
quickly. A great travel app lets you learn the lay of the land (and traffic) before you even start
your car.
Transportation Booking- Whether renting cars or booking or modifying a flight, travel apps
should simplify the booking process.
Scheduling - You're likely managing multiple appointments a day, so it's critical that your travel
app pulls in your calendar so you can view and modify appointments.
Great travel apps often include these nice-to-haves:
- Weather updates
2. - Parking recommendations
- Expense tracking (check out more options here)
- Traffic updates
- Team communication capabilities
With that in mind, here are some must-try travel apps for sales reps that will help you book and
organize travel and keep you on track when you're on the road.
5 Top Travel Apps for Sales Reps
1. TripIt (iOS, Android, Blackberry)
TripIt, the all-in-one travel organizer, aggregates all of your travel information into one, easy to
use, interface. Available both online and offline, TripIt has an simple system: you forward them
your travel email confirmations and they display it back to you as an itinerary in the app.
TripIt has a free and Pro (paid) version, as well as the newly launched Trip it for Teams for
travel coordination amongst multiple employees.
Pros:
TripIt wants to make the process of traveling as organized as possible. In order to do this its
top features include:
- Aggregated travel schedule
- Weather updates
- Confirmation numbers for all legs of a trip
- Itinerary sharing with others
Cons:
Although the free version is great for getting organized, a lot of the best features of TripIt come
at a cost ($49/year). TripIt's Pro version includes flight status and gate notifications,
rescheduling functionality, and trip recommendations. TripIt for teams build on top of the Pro
features and includes an Admin dashboard that gives visibility across your teams' travel
schedules.
Also, TripIt might not be as useful to you if you only travel by car.
2. Mynd (iOS)
Mynd is an adaptive calendar app that keeps you on top of your travel schedule. This “smart”
app is able to look at current traffic schedules and notify you when it’s time to leave for your
next meeting, opening your favorite navigation app to help you get there.
Pros:
3. Mynd is more than just a mobile calendar. It works to simplify each of the experiences in your
day. It includes:
- Driving times and recommended estimated departure times
- Easy access to Evernote files as you enter meetings
- Meeting scheduler that easily finds overlapping times across different contacts' schedules
- Contact aggregator using LinkedIn and your address book
- Auto-dialing to conference calls
Cons:
Mynd does not notify a user if a new event is added to your calendar, so, if you use Mynd to
keep you organized be sure to glance at a full day’s schedule - you don’t want to be surprised
by a meeting you didn’t plan on.
Also, Mynd relies on you to keep their schedule, contact list, and LinkedIn connections up to
date. It can’t pull information that you don’t have.
3. Silvercar (iOS & Android)
Silvercar simplifies what most business travelers consider an annoying part of travel: car rental.
Their tagline is "Car rental that doesn't suck."
For $89/day on weekdays and $59/day on weekends, Silvercar lets you reserve an Audi A4 that
is delivered to you via valet when you arrive in an airport. You use the app to unlock the car,
and then when you return the car there’s no waiting to be checked in - the in-car technology
checks in and records fuel usage.
Pros: Silvercar lets you check in and out without having to wait in line. You pick your own car,
and everything is the same regardless of location so your comfortable with your ride and can
depend on a consistent experience. And let's face it, an A4 is sexier than your average car
rental options.
Cons: Silvercar is only available in 6 cities (Austin, Dallas, Phoenix, Miami, San Francisco, Los
Angeles) but will be expanding soon. It's also obviously a pretty narrowly focused app - one
type of car, one service.
4. Hipmunk (iOS & Android)
Hipmunk is a flight and hotel booking app that strives to reduce aggravation associated
with travel planning. In order to make things easier on the traveler, the app lets users sort by
“agony” level which categorizes ease of use, including, for flights, things like the length of the
trip and the number of stops.
Adding a little flair to a travel experience, Hipmunk also features a “heat map” highlighting spots
close to restaurants, shopping, and other fun activities.
Pros: Hipmunk’s user interface is really dynamic. They aggregate information from many
different travel sources making sure they give you all of the best deals. The uses then see