Photo courtesy of TripCase
Travel apps, just like travel agents, are essential for travelers in today's world.
That's why it's only natural to highlight top apps for agents and their clients.
Being an agent is tough work. You have to constantly tap into the pulse of your clients to ensure they are being served excellently, while also dealing with making reservations and ensuring yours truly is accounted for, too.
But thanks to the work of companies like Sabre and other prominent technology providers for the travel industry, the complications of yesteryear are beginning to evaporate into thin air (literally, if you catch my drift).
If you are a tech-savvy agent looking for an app to make your life easier, you've come to the right place. And if you aren't a tech-savvy agent, it's time to make friends with technology (it will love you back).
Here are five top apps travel agents must check out.
refund.me (iPhone, Android, free)
You may have heard of refund.me already.
It ensures passengers are able to claim their rightful compensation for flight delays, cancellations, missed connections and overbooking.
Now, refund.me is able through Sabre's Red App Center for travel agents.
The app monitors thousands of bookings, detecting delays and cancellations that can net passengers up to $800 via EU law. And if you aren't flying from Europe, the app also covers flights from the United States to Europe.
Specifically designed by the international passenger rights specialist, the refund.me Red App will monitor flights booked by travel agents and flag those eligible for up to $800 in compensation
According to refund.me, only 2 percent of eligible passengers have successfully claimed eligible compensations in the last decade, leaving more than $5.5 billion in compensation on the table. Last year, an estimated $400 million was left unclaimed, which was actually an improvement from previous years.
This not only accounts for agents, but it also gives agents the information they need to take care of their clients.
Since its birth in 2012, refund.me has recorded a 94 percent success rate.
Good news for the more than 220,000 agents who work with Sabre.
TripCase (iPhone, Android, free)
TripCase, published by Sabre, promptly organizes travelers' plans and itineraries on their mobile device.
The app also provides real-time alerts to travelers and agents, including flight status updates, gate changes, delays and cancellations.
All users need to do is enter their trip into the app by sending an email to [email protected] and-presto-their reservations automatically sync with TripCase while gathering any relevant status updates.
The popular longstanding app (more than three million downloads so far) added an update on Aug. 9 that allows for Foursquare integration. TripCase will even send you an email if there is conflicting information from your carrier.
On top of that, TripCase integrated with Uber on Wednesday.
Considering Sabre's vast travel network, it's no wonder why TripCase has become so popular. Best of all, no in-app purchases or subscription fees are required. The app is completely free.
Travelport Mobile Agent (iPhone, Android, free)
Travelport Mobile Agent, developed by TTS, provides quick and fluid access to the GDS for agents.
The latest version (3.0), released on July 30, provides even more features to make life easy for agents, including an improved interface, better GDS data, faster GDS response, customizable keyboard quick keys, View Trip integration (to open the view trip page of a Passenger Name Record), a newsfeed highlighting the most relevant articles from TTS and travel magazines, more fluid functionality for synchronizing your mobile devices and the ability to view two terminal windows at the same time.
That's in addition to recent updates that allow for full integration with the Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan GDSs.
TTS has also introduced the new TTS Web Agent, bringing the full features of Travelport Mobile Agent 3.0 to desktops (a longstanding request from agents).
mTrip Travel Guides (iPhone, Android, free)
mTrip, which has been chosen as an Innovator for the PhoCusWright Conference in Los Angeles this November, has come up with the mTrip Travel Guides app specifically designed for travel agents.
The mobile solution is rebranded and tailored to each agent's particular brand, providing comprehensive offline-enabled travel guides, maps and navigation, detailed itineraries, and Trip Journal and Facebook integration. For organized group tours, it adds the ability to view itineraries in PDF format, include unlimited travelers and be alerted with pertinent information via push notifications.
The mTrip app has received numerous awards. It aims to win more for its dedication to accommodate both FIT and organized group tours.
The app will be presented at the PhoCusWright Conference in L.A. on Nov. 11.
BTSocial
If you work in the travel industry, you've probably realized by now that connecting with others is an essential part of your job.
BTSocial, courtesy of Chicago entrepreneur Tim Hines, allows traveling professionals to "check in" to a venue or city. In turn, other nearby professionals are alerted and you can meet up and network.
During your downtime, use the app's Trips feature. Unlike many other apps, it doesn't ask you to enter an itinerary. It simply asks for the venue or city you want to meet and then asks you when you will be free, whether you have a flight layover or some time between meetings.
Agents can go one step further, too. They can plan meetups with other travel professionals through the Socials feature, whether they want to hang out at a bar or the airport lounge.
To make it a little more fun, BTSocial even has a stat tracker for agents to see how active they have been networking lately.
Visit app.btsocial.com for more information.
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