In a recent survey, UK employees spend on average 84 minutes each month travelling for work, such as business trips, conferences, off-sites, and other types of work travel.
And while travelling for work can be hectic, the right apps can make this much easier.
From help with planning, managing bookings, and getting around new cities, these apps can keep work travellers organised and in control of their trips.
In this article, we will reveal our recommendations for the best apps to help with work travel, alongside Perk - the all-in-one platform for centralised travel and spend.
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Best apps for getting around
It’s very exciting to land in a new city, especially if you’ve spent the last eight hours travelling from London. Still, it can be overwhelming with a new language, new streets to navigate, and new ways to get around, especially as those travelling for work will have other things, like important meetings, to think about.
The following apps can help those travelling for work to acclimate easily.
CityMapper
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CityMapper’s mobile app is available in big cities across Europe, Asia, and North America. It provides reliable and accurate routes for business days filled with meetings, hotels, and restaurants across town. Get different options for getting from A to B based on time, the number of stops/changes you’re willing to make, and preferred means of transportation.
Download the CityMapper app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Google Maps
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Google Maps is #1 for allowing you to navigate online and offline, pin places in advance, share locations, and compare transportation options. Another benefit is how the app allows you to search for anything from vegan restaurants to pharmacies, or cafés with Wi-Fi that are open right now. It’s extremely reliable and helps you navigate everything from big cities to rural towns.
Download the Google Maps app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Busuu
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The ability to successfully navigate a new city doesn’t just come from using a map; speaking the language is also a big help.
Language barriers can often make certain situations difficult, so apps such as Busuu can help you learn some key phrases to soften that barrier.
The most engaging feature is the opportunities it creates to write or talk with native speakers and have them correct your translation.
Download the Busuu app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Best apps for managing travel spend
If you are travelling for work, alongside any meetings and planning, you’ll need to remember to log things like receipts and expenses.
The following apps are great at keeping this simple and easy to do, so work travellers can put all their focus into their work. (If you prefer an all-in-one solution that handles both bookings and expenses together, check out Perk in the 'Overall Business Travel' section below.)
Expensify
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With Expensify, there’s no need to worry about keeping physical receipts. Submitting them on the spot saves hours of sorting through old receipts and invoices!
Expensify is simple, free, and it’s designed for work travel. We love it so much that we partnered up with Expensify. You can easily track business trip expenses and integrate them with Perk for seamless expense management and reimbursements, all while ensuring you’re staying within company policy.
Download the Expensify app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Valuta+
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If you regularly travel outside of the UK, Valuta+ is worth looking into. This corporate travel management app is incredibly user-friendly and allows you to save your favourite currencies for later.
It also works offline, which is useful if you’re out without an internet connection.
Download the Valuta+ app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Best apps for virtual wallets
If you are travelling for work, you’ll likely have a wallet full of cards and then emails containing boarding passes and hotel bookings.
To take the stress out of having everything in multiple places, opt for digital wallets to keep them all together and organised.
Apple Wallet
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Turn your iPhone into a digital wallet to carry all your credit cards, tickets, and even hotel bookings!
The best thing about this iOS app is that it’s fully integrated into iOS and easy to access what you need when you need it. With a few simple taps, you can easily pay with your credit card without having the physical card with you, or retrieve your boarding pass directly from confirmation emails for faster boarding.
Pre-installed on all Apple iOS mobile phones. Not available on Android.
Google Pay
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You can use Google Pay for contactless credit card transactions, to check in, save reservations and boarding passes, and even save some ID cards.
Google Pay uses NFC technology (near-field communication, also known as “contactless”). Bonus: it works on both iOS and Android, perfect for work travellers using multiple systems for work and personal devices.Download the Google Pay app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Download the Google Pay app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Best apps for working remotely
If you are a frequent work traveller, then chances are you have worked remotely for a short time, either at a hotel or even in a cafe.
The following apps make this shift to frequent remote working easy and seamless, and importantly, stress-free.
Google Drive
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Google Drive is a must for businesses everywhere, which makes the mobile version a must-have app for work travel. Make live changes in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations while on the go and access any files.
Streamline collaboration with your colleagues, no matter where you are, or if you’re working on a laptop or your phone!
Download the Google Drive app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Croissant
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Looking for a place to work outside your hotel room? Croissant helps you find coworking spaces and meeting rooms worldwide, all of which can be accessed with one single membership.
Membership plans range from 10 to 120 hours per month and can be cancelled at any time.
Download the Croissant app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
ClassPass
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For some people, working remotely in a new place is no excuse to skip the gym or their weekly Pilates, and luckily, with ClassPass, you don’t have to.
You get access to fitness classes, gyms, and wellness venues in over 2,500 cities worldwide. Stretch out with a yoga class after a long flight, or squeeze in a quick cardio workout between meetings. Fitness enthusiasts will love this one!
Download the ClassPass app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Best for overall business travel
Whether you are the one heading across the pond for work or the travel manager organising all the details back at the office, these apps will help keep everything smooth and simple.
Perk
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Perk’s intelligent platform centralises travel and spend to provide users with a seamless, end-to-end experience. From booking tools to reporting, this platform (with a mobile app!) makes managing work travel and company spend easy.
Book flights, hotels, trains, and car rentals in line with your travel policy on Perk
Integrate and automate expense reporting and manage reimbursements in real-time
Receive real-time information on travel restrictions and disruptions worldwide
Change any aspect of your trip at any time and get 80% of your money back
Offset your carbon footprint for all trips
Gain full visibility over total trip costs (travel + expenses) in a single dashboard
Users can also enjoy stellar, 24/7 customer service, with the customer support team responding in 15 seconds or less, with no bots. Plus, businesses gain full visibility and control of their travel expenses.
Download the Perk app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Priority Pass
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Priority Pass is the perfect business trip app for exhausted work travellers. As 30% of UK work travellers prioritise comfort when travelling, using an airport lounge will certainly help with this, and this can help by finding and accessing airport lounges in the app’s network.
As well as nearby lounges, you can search for premium experiences, such as spas, sleeping pods, and dining options.
Download the TripAdvisor app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
Airbnb
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When great hotels are hard to find, Airbnb’s wide selection of homes and rooms can save your business trip. Airbnb Experiences also offers an interesting way of exploring the city or connecting with your team during a company offsite.
Let locals take you on city tours, photography tours, food tasting sessions, and even workshops, one of the best things to do if you want to explore the city and combine business with sightseeing!
Download the Airbnb app for iOS via the App Store or for Android via Google Play.
How the right apps can make travelling for work easy
If you are a frequent traveller for work, utilising a range of travel apps for accommodation, speaking the language and navigating the streets will make everything much easier.
And if you are a travel manager in charge of organising everything, utilising apps and platforms to speed up the entire travel management process is ideal. Perk can not only speed up the process, but also solve the administrative challenge that is travel booking for work.
This is because Perk doesn't just speed up booking; it removes shadow work, the invisible, administrative tasks like chasing receipts and fixing bookings that distract you from your real job. It consolidates the most time-consuming tasks into one simple dashboard to book and manage flights, hotels, trains, and rental cars. It also automatically manages traveller preferences, expenses, and company policies. You get the job done faster, and your travellers get a trip that works for them.
Make booking work travel trips easy with Perk. Sign up today for a free demo.
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