Travelling abroad can be both exciting and exhausting.
On the plus side, you get to see new places, meet interesting people, try new food, and visit inspiring conferences and events.
But when you are abroad, even the little things can make your life difficult.
Language barriers. Buying coffee. Keeping all your travel documents together. Different currencies. Keeping track of all your expenses.
You find yourself asking questions like these:
- How much does that coffee cost?
- Where is my hotel?
- How much is ¥1,000?
- Where is my flight reservation?
- What does “thank you” mean in Portuguese?
- Where can I store all my receipts without losing them?
Apps for Business Travelers
As a global business person, I’m sure you have many trips ahead of you this year.
Thankfully, technology is making business travel simpler for us. Apps are great helpers because you can take them anywhere.
Here are the most useful business travel apps that can make your next business trip more successful and enjoyable.
1) TripIt
It can be annoying to find the flight confirmation email in your inbox when you need it. This app lets you keep all your travel plans in one place. You can access the details you need on your phone: reservations, maps, and more.
Features include:
- Organize your complete travel plan in one place
- Share your travel plans
- Sync plan with your calendar
- Works offline
Devices:
Price:
Free, Pro subscription ($ 49/year)
2) Expensify
Keeping your receipts and calculating all costs is time consuming. If you work for a company, you need to make expense reports. But you might forget or lose receipts. And you certainly can’t waste too much time on preparing and submitting the expense report. That’s why an expense tracker can make your trip so much easier. The app keeps all the details of your expenses, so you can focus on the important things.
Expensify is useful for both employees and managers. If you have employees, this app will be a great help, too. There are a number of convenient integrations that make it very easy to reimburse your employees.
Features include:
- Automatic expense reporting & submitting
- Receipt upload
- Tax tracking
- Travel and accounting integrations
Devices:
Price:
Free for limited individual use, $5-9/month for team members
3) TripLingo
How do you say ‘thank you’ in the local language? We know that language barriers make business trips quite a challenge. TripLingo is a language tool with many useful features especially for international travelers.
The app gives you important phrases that will make many situations easier during your trip. You can learn some useful language skills with this app. In addition, the app features a lot of travel tools for safety, culture tips, and international calls.
I love the app’s focus on language and the additional features for business travelers!
Features include:
- Interactive phrasebook
- Voice translator
- Language learning tools
- Culture notes
- Safety tools: emergency information, medical phrases
- Travel tools: currency converter, tip calculator
- Free international calls through Wi-Fi
Devices:
Price:
Free, premium subscription ($19.99/month), corporate subscription
4) OANDA Currency Converter
How much is ¥1,000? When you are abroad, dealing with prices and a different currency can be difficult. OANDA is one of the leading currency converter apps. With this app you can easily see how much your money is worth in other currencies. So, there is no need to calculate in your head anymore.
Features include:
-
Access daily exchange rates from your mobile device with this app.
- Add a percentage to better approximate the actual rate charged by your bank or credit card company.
Devices:
Price: Free
5) TripCase
This app lets you manage and organize the details of your trip. TripCase handles your itinerary and all the information you need, so you don’t have to look for any of your reservations in your inbox anymore.
The best feature is probably the auto-import function when you book a trip. It stores your travel documents automatically. But even while you are traveling, the app has several useful and unique features to make the most of your trip.
Features include:
- Auto-import or manually add trip details and documents
- Share your trip details
- Find helpful information via Tripfeed
- Remember places on your trip
- Notifications for changes
- iMessage extension
Devices:
Price:
Free, Receipts function for $5.99 for 12 months
6) Deem Business Travel & Expense
This app is useful for managers and travelers. It mostly offers features that make expense tracking simpler during a business trip, but also many other functions.
If you only have space for one more app, this app might be the one for you. It’s great if you don’t want to have 5 different business travel apps on your phone, but a simple, all-in-one tool.
A great feature is the possibility of integrations with other travel apps, such as Expensify (see above). Another pro is the app’s availability in several languages.
Features include:
- Expense reporting: Capture expenses and process receipts automatically
- Flight alerts
- Calendar sync
- Travel reservations
- Maps and weather
- Direct reimbursements for expenses
- Currency conversion
- Integration with other travel apps
Devices:
Price:
Free app
What are your favorite business travel apps?
Now I would like to hear from you: What is your favorite app for business trips? Tell us in the comments below!
I wish you a safe and successful trip!
See also: Business Travel Tips
