As the business travel industry once again takes flight, more companies are keen to send their employees away - and there are plenty of benefits to doing so. While business travel was once considered necessary and somewhat tedious, it is today an effective tool for attracting new employees and expanding business.
In the Back to Blue Skies travel report, American Express and American Express Global Business Travel found that more than four in five decision-makers believe business travel leads to higher results in increased profit and revenue. The report also found that 84% of business travelers believe business travel increases productivity, and 88% believe business travel increases engagement.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise that business travel spend is expected to surge once again in 2022 and gradually recover over the next few years, following the pandemic.
Despite the crystal clear benefits, business travel and global mobility can be challenging for any company to manage. From varying logistics, such as employee accommodation and transportation, to travel budgets, reimbursement protocols and itineraries, there is much to consider.
Below, we’ve handpicked four apps to improve your employees’ business travel experience - from providing local safety data to automating business expense tracking:
1. TripIt - the ultimate companion for business travelers
While heading to a new city for business is exciting, it can feel daunting for some employees. Navigating a new destination while keeping on top of calls, meetings, emails and conferences can be difficult, particularly if it’s their first time stepping into the world of corporate travel in a big city like New York.
TripIt is a travel planning app developed to take the stress out of travel by giving users a single view of all their travel plans. Users simply forward their reservations to the app as they book; from there, TripIt creates one detailed master itinerary.
Whether it’s rental car reservations, flight itineraries, driving directions or booking information, users can set reservations to automatically send to the app. Travel plans are instantly accessible from their smartphone, so they always know where they need to be and when.
Having one easy-to-manage itinerary ensures employees always know what’s next on the agenda, and they’re never left scrolling through old emails to find flight details or reservation numbers.
2. GeoSure - safety statistics at their fingertips
The safety of employees should always be a priority. GeoSure is an award-winning platform that analyzes regional, national and local data to generate safety scores across vital categories, including women’s safety, theft, health and medical safety, and more.
By incorporating the most accurate safety and security data on the market with continuously updated ratings for major cities and individual neighborhoods across the globe, GeoSure allows employees to gauge their personal level of safety in over 65,000 locations.
The app works by displaying GeoSafeScores™ for each location. When determining a score, GeoSure considers factors such as political freedoms, physical freedoms, women’s safety and more. The lower the score, the safer the location.
With real-time safety alerts and detailed location reports, GeoSure allows employees to track and evaluate their own risk, providing a safer and more predictable travel experience.
3Sixty partners with Geosure to ensure safety and security are prioritized for guests, enabling them to make smart and informed decisions during their stay.
3. Expensify - the business travel money manager
Once clear budgets and travel guidelines have been established for employees, it’s important that all expenses are managed and tracked while they’re away on business.
Tracking travel expenses isn’t always straightforward; manually forwarding transactions and keeping track of old receipts can be time-consuming, let alone tricky while on the go.
Expensify automates expense management and receipt tracking, allowing employees to easily track business expenses quickly and on the move, in one simple app. Features include one-click receipt scanning, credit card import, multi-level approval workflows and accounting, HR and travel integrations - for seamless expense tracking.
Using an app such as Expensify not only saves employees time, but it can save businesses valuable time too.
4. Citymapper - travel to and from employee accommodations efficiently
Described as the ultimate transport app, Citymapper is a must-have for employees navigating a new city’s transport networks. The public transit app uses open transport data to provide users with different routes based on speed, cost and ease.
Whether employees are on their way to a business meeting or heading across the city to their employee housing, it’s important they have access to reliable travel options and routes.
Citymapper provides real-time transport updates and details the cost of different transport options, including ride-sharing services. This ensures employees can move around easily and quickly, without the added stress of waiting for delayed trains or hitting the main road at rush hour. Transport options include buses, trains, ferries and trams, as well as walking and cycling routes.
In addition, Citymapper allows users to stick to well-lit streets when it’s dark, using the “Main Roads” option, and allows them to save their journey offline if they are near a destination with no data.
Equipped with these apps, employees should have a smooth, enjoyable business travel experience.
3Sixty
3Sixty is a state-of-the-art marketplace that reduces the noise in extended-stay travel.
Our HomeMatch™ technology leverages machine learning and human expertise to curate quality, cost-effective housing where your employees feel safe, comfortable, and at peace.