TripIt Announces Mobile Access at Web 2.0 Summit Launch Pad

Last night we announced TripIt’s new mobile access service called TripIt To Me at the Web 2.0 Summit Launch Pad.

It was an honor to be a part of this event, as they had over 130 companies competing for the 6 finalist slots to present to the audience. In our six-minute presentation, I discussed our answer to the number one feature request over the past few weeks which is mobile access to trip information. TripIt To Me is a new approach, at least for the travel industry, and we can’t wait to hear what you all think.

TripIt To Me is an email interface to the trip information in TripIt.  (This is better known in the tech world as a "command line interface.")  When you email simple commands like “get flight tomorrow” or “get trip 10/15/07” to plans [at] tripit.com, TripIt will email you the information you need whenever you need it. For the absent minded like me, TripIt To Me will be a lifesaver as I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve dashed off to the airport without my itinerary and had to call someone to remember the airline I’m flying on, or the hotel I’m staying at. Also, it will be great when picking someone up at the airport to be able to email “get flight” and see which flight they’re on.

As usual, we are starting this feature off very simply, but you can imagine there are a lot of other fun things we can “get” for you with additional commands in the future. And yes, SMS/text messaging will be coming down the road too. Learn more about TripIt To Me.

There are several other features you’ve requested in this release as well:

•    To speed our trip page load times, we are suppressing the maps and directions until you need them. I expect you’ll notice the difference in application speed.

•    Also, many of you have asked us to make maps and directions easier by giving you the ability to take any address in a trip and with one click map it or use it for directions. In response, we’ve added a “select from trip addresses” button to the map and directions features.

•    And, of course, lots of bug fixes and small enhancements to make the site easier to use. 

As always, please keep your ideas coming. Your feedback means everything to us and is helping us make TripIt better with every release.

-    Gregg

Comments

[Simon]

These are great enhancements.
I mentioned this already to Andrea but for me the biggest obstacle to using this site is the lack of more sophisticated calendar support. Until there are discrete timed events in my calendar it's not very useful to me.
Thanks, Simon

[Brian]

Another great feature for a great site. Once SMS functionality is up and running that will be great.

FYI - The link to TripIt To Me is corrupt, it should be http://www.tripit.com/press

[Gregg]

Simon,
We agree that more granular calendar support would be helpful and we're working on it.

Brian,
Thanks for the catch.

[Graeme Williams]

It would be nice if I could email my itinerary while I was logged in to Tripit.