Recently, Fresh Jets was featured in a post on About.com in their travel section's Travel Tech and Gear blog as one of the 13 Great Time-Saving Apps for Business Travelers. Not only was this rather flattering for us as a company but it got me thinking about what apps are most useful for me when I travel. Especially considering the amount I've traveled the past few months and the travel I have scheduled through the rest of the summer, I figured it'd be appropriate for a seasoned traveler like myself to cover this topic.
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In this post that covered Fresh Jets, it broke down the different travel apps for business travelers in different categories including apps that manage your itinerary (Tripit Pro and TravelTracker Pro), car services (Uber, Lyft, Zipcar and Taxi Magic), waiting on hold (FastCustomer), tracking expenses (Expensify), faxing and scanning (Efax and CamScanner), reward programs (AwardWallet), making dinner reservations (OpenTable) and obviously the most important - flying in style (Fresh Jets).
For the most part, I've used these apps firsthand and some on a regular basis when traveling for business. I use Tripit Pro to manage my itineraries regularly and I use Uber whenever I don't rent cars (even sometimes when I do rent cars for dinner meetings). Expesnify is simply amazing because it allows you to keep track of everything on-the-go rather than having to keep receipts and spend time later putting together an expense report. CamScanner allows you to take photos of pretty much anything from your phone, create PDF documents immediately and then send, which allows me to save time and money (no more special trips to the Fedex store). OpenTable speaks for itself. I haven't used FastCustomer or AwardWallet but both seem like great concepts and beneficial when traveling so I'm sure I'll check them out at some point.
However, I think there are a few categories that they missed the beat on, such as airline and other flight booking apps, hotel/ accommodation apps and other useful productivity apps that will help you prepare for those big meetings. They also didn't get into some other cool car service apps such as Car2Go, RelayRides or SilverCar but I could go on all day about those so I'll leave it at that.
Even though I don't always have the best things to say about airlines in general, my United Airlines app is a savvy tool when traveling for business and saves me a lot of time. I can checkin, change my seats, upgrade, pay for bags, manage my MileagePlus account and keep my boarding passes all in one place. Most major airlines have similar apps too. Since time and money are both key factors when traveling for business, other travel arranging apps can't be overlooked either such as Hipmunk, which makes finding a flight based on price or time a lot easier than other sites or apps. One of my favorite aviation-related apps can be used to track both commercial and private flights, it is called FlightAware - a useful tool that allows you to track your aircraft by tail number or flight number to check for delays or cancellations.
When traveling for business overnight, finding the best hotel or accommodation can be very difficult and even overwhelming at times. I usually limit myself to checking a few apps or sites including Hotels.com, HotelTonight, Hotwire and Trivago and I've had incredible success and great experiences booking with each. Each app has its benefits, for example Hotels.com has a great rewards program, HotelTonight has great last minute deals you can't get anywhere else, Hotwire has great deals if you can sacrifice knowing where you will stay until the last minute and Trivago alike Hipmunk and Kayak for airline tickets makes it extremely easy to compare hotel options from hundreds of sites. Furthermore, you have more options than ever before because of apps like AirBnB which allows you to rent out someone's home or apartment. This is extremely beneficial for longer business trips.
One of my favorite apps to use while traveling for business, especially when I have a series of back-to-back sales meetings with our various partners is the Refresh app. This app "gives you the insights you need to make the most out of every conversation". By connecting the individuals you are meeting with and their social media accounts to this app, it helps you prepare for each meeting and gives you insights that are easy to understand and review prior to walking in. All-in-all it makes you look like a stud and show your potentials that you care.
I purposefully didn't get into the specifics of the Fresh Jets app because we talk about and highlight its' benefits all of the time and we know it is the best (haha). My top ten apps when traveling for business are as follows: (10) United Airlines (9) OpenTable (8) Tripit Pro (7) Expensify (6) AirBnB (5) Trivago (4) HotelTonight (3) Refresh (2) SilverCar; and (1) Uber.
What is your favorite app to use when traveling for business? Comment below...
By Timmy Wozniak
Timmy is the Co-founder and CEO of Fresh Jets, an app that aggregates private jet schedule and pricing information and matches inventory to the travel needs of businesses and individuals instantly. Become a member today by signing up here.