Business travelers are all about going mobile -- nearly 75% of business travelers own smartphones, and they use them for researching direction, local activities and destination information.
But most business uses are similar to personal travel uses -- Google Maps is great for directions, Yelp has your back for local recommendations and Foursquare is perfect for finding nearby digs when you arrive.
So when do you need a true business app for travel? We'd recommend sticking to the basics. Here are the three we recommend for the busiest road warriors out there.
1. TripIt for Business
TripIt for Business is an all-around helpful tool for frequent business travelers and their bosses alike.
The TripIt app lets traveler access their travel plans, including flight itineraries, car rental details and hotel reservations, all in one place. Those details are available via smartphone, tablet, a calendar or online.
TripIt for Business, though, adds functionality that make coordinating with teammates a breeze.
Travel coordinators, for example, can send a traveler's details to [email protected] with the employees email address in the subject line. Those details or updates will be sent directly to the traveler's account.
For the traveler's teammates, different schedules can be easily viewed on a company travel calendar -- which means no more wondering when your coworkers are coming back.
And for the number crunchers at the office, TripIt for Business organizes business travel expenses, so that past and upcoming flight, hotel and car spends can be viewed. Even more interesting is the list of a businesses' most frequent and efficient travelers.
TripIt for Business is directly based off of the TripIt app, so techies who travel for business and pleasure don't have to sacrifice workflow on an enterprise app. Thomas Marks, director of product marketing for TripIt for Business, comments:
"Consumer travel apps continue to grow and dominate. With nearly 20,000 travel apps in the marketplace, business travelers will continue to favor consumer-friendly choices like Yelp, Google Maps and TripAdvisor. With TripIt for Business, small businesses are using the same technology developed for individual travelers to organize office travel and keep track of who’s in or out of the office."
TripIt for Business pricing plans start at $29 per month for up to 10 users and scale to $159 per month for up to 100 users.
2. GateGuru
GateGuru started as an app for making your way around airports. It's still great for that, but it's grown since its humble beginnings -- it now offers real-time flight status updates, for example.
This free app excels in its classic use, though: finding where the heck your gate is and figuring out where to grab some eats before taking off.
The app features maps of 86 airports that detail where shops, restaurants and services are located in each terminal. Backed by 30,000 reviews and tips and 5,000 photos from fellow travelers, you're sure to find what you're looking for -- if it exists.
If you're trying to consolidate your travel life into one app, this one may be the winning choice, as it lets users see their TripIt and Kayak itineraries. With a little bit of everything, it's hard to go wrong with GateGuru.
3. TurboScan
The worst part of business travel is calculating expense reports. Oh, the dreaded expense report.
Yes, there are tons of apps out there that can help you put together expense reports, but the big problem is that most accounting departments are still horribly inefficient, relying on paper or email expense reports.
If your business uses a particular expense report product, there may be an accompanying expense report app that will suit your fancy. But even then, getting those apps up and running can be a huge pain.
For the minimalists, we recommend TurboScan. At $1.99, this app does exactly what you'd expect: It lets users scan documents, receipts, notes and whiteboards.
The beauty is that users can create multi-page PDFs or good ol' JPEGs. The app auto-detects a document's edges, straightens the document to give it the right perspective (crinkles, begone!), corrects any shadows and sets the correct contrast. After taking an image, the user can even make brightness, orientation, color or cropping corrections that may have been missed.
Cloud lovers will be happy to know that this app can open PDFs in Dropbox, for example, so you can save documents in the cloud. Documents can be saved or emailed, as well.
Your Picks
These three apps top our business travel list. Which apps can't you travel without? We're not talking fancy nice-to-have apps; we're talking cannot-board-my-flight-without-it apps. Let us know in the comments below.
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