Already when you’re planning a trip, you quickly lose sight of the big picture: Flights, hotels, and rental cars. All of that has to be found and booked. I use TripIt – an online service – that I send my confirmations and it keeps them all organized.
This advertisement sums the idea up pretty well:
Simply Forward the Confirmation
One of the best features is that the bookings can be automatically entered. You simply need to forward the confirmation of your travel agency or airline to plans@tripit.com, and shortly afterward you can see the details on TripIt.
The list of supported booking sites, from which the information can be automatically extracted, is really long. Still, it sadly doesn’t always work (5-10%). Some small travel portals are not supported or not the entire data of the forwarded email is recognized. You should definitely always double-check the TripIt entry.
Never Again Forget to Book a Hotel
How quickly it happens, especially on more complex trips, that you forget to book a hotel. Booking a hotel on the day of arrival is usually much more expensive. On TripIt, you can see straight away if you have a hotel for all your nights, or if there’s a flight missing, or if you already reserved a rental car.
Quickly Find the Booking Code
As all the important information regarding your trip is all saved in TripIt, you always know where to find what you’re looking for, e.g. the booking code for the check-in or your hotel’s address. That way, you don’t have to tediously search your emails to find the confirmation.
Organize Together
You can share your travel plan with other fellow travelers. You can grant them planning-rights, or simply let them take a look (for mom/dad…). That way, everyone always has a good idea of what’s planned, and everything can be found in one place.
Apps
TripIt has a free app for Android and iOS smartphones:
You can comfortably see your trips, manage them, and also add or change entries. If you open the app before embarking on the trip, the information will also be available offline. You only need to remember to update it before leaving.
Free Version and Pro Version
TripIt is completely free in its normal version and is financed by advertisement. If you, e.g. book a flight, you’ll get recommendations for hotels at your destination. If you don’t want to receive them, you can simply turn them off in the email settings.
For those who want more, there’s a Pro Version. It offers additional features, such as international travel tools and flight alerts. TripIt also tracks your points and seats. You can test TripIt Pro for 30 days for free.
Conclusion
Travel-Dealz founder Johannes has been using TripIt since 2009, planned over 100 trips, and is still very satisfied with the service. It’s a big help for keeping your things together, and you instantly know what is still missing and when the flight on the next morning will depart, simply by taking a glance a TripIt, instead of doing a complicated search for the booking mail.
I personally don’t use the Pro-version, as I don’t need the additional features, or already have them covered by other apps/services, e.g. AwardWallet.
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