Everyone seems to have different ideas about how best to book travel online. Some people use Expedia, others Travelocity or Orbitz. Some even still swear by airline websites. That so many methods exist means there are a lot of choices, but also a lot of chaos.
TripIt has figured out that you will run into more of the latter than the former as a businessperson who travels frequently and works closely with other frequent travelers. Instead of being just another booking tool, the free TripIt app looks to make sense of the chaos by being like a travel organizer. It collects your confirmation e-mails from booking sites to create electronic master itineraries that can be viewed on any device and shared with co-workers. A TripIt Pro version ($69 a year after a free 30-day trial) tracks frequent flyer points and flight delays and sends text alerts to you and your inner circle.
All this sharing makes TripIt sound like a social media application and that's exactly where it's heading. Its newest feature, TripIt Groups, lets you build and view travel maps with itineraries and status updates for everyone in your group, even your entire company.
So much organization--but still no word on when the app will be able to pack for you.
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This article was originally published in the July 2010 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: A Method for Travel Madness.
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