TripIt

5 Billion Miles Traveled with TripIt in 2011

There's no place like home for the holidays, but it sure took a long time to get here. Collectively, TripIt users have logged more than 5 billion miles with TripIt in 2011. That's the equivalent of a round trip to Pluto! See the infographic below for more fun facts.

Have you checked to see how many miles you've traveled this year? When you log into TripIt, scroll down to the bottom of the page where it says "full stats" and tweet @TripIt to tell us how far away you've roamed.

Speaking of fives, we're offering $5 off the gift of TripIt Pro for the holidays, to bring peace to the next billions of miles traveled. Grab it before it melts away and let it Pro, let it Pro, let it Pro. Cheers!

Grab the embed code here.

Itineraries on Fire: Download TripIt in the Amazon Appstore

For those of you asking when TripIt would be available on the Kindle Fire, your wish is our command! TripIt is now available for download from the Amazon Appstore for Android.

Have tablet fever? So do we... 

“The compact size of Kindle Fire and its growing ecosystem of apps make it a solid match for travelers,” said Gregg Brockway, Executive Vice President and General Manager of TripIt. “Tablets are becoming a popular choice for life on the road, and we’re excited to take part.”

Stay tuned, there's much more to come. Happy downloading!

"Inner Circle" Demystified

With the holidays on the brain, here are some ways to make the most of TripIt Pro’s “Inner Circle” feature, which allows you to automatically share trip plans with significant others, family members, or other VIPs - making it easier to coordinate airport pick-ups and holiday activities seamlessly.

Choose wisely. Members of the “Inner Circle” will be notified immediately by email when you create a new itinerary in TripIt, and they'll have access to your trip details from their smartphone or online. 

TripIt Pro’s “Inner Circle” makes it easy for the VIPs in your life to:

• Be notified every time you create a new itinerary
• Access shared trip itineraries on their smartphone or on the web
• Download a calendar file to keep trip plans organized

As always, to learn more about TripIt Pro, visit http://tripit.com/pro. 

4 Easy Ways to Put Your Itinerary Data to Work

Today at PhoCusWright, we announced four exciting new innovations built on TripIt's open platform, which is now a vibrant community of more than 1,200 developers.

Put your itinerary data to work, and get personalized reservations, travel guides, and deals in return:

1. Personalized Reservations in Fewer Clicks on Avis.com

Booking a rental car is now easier and faster if you connect your TripIt account with Avis.com. Itineraries auto-populate new reservations and help Avis anticipate any changes in your travel schedule.

2. DIY Travel Guides with Frommer’s® Remix by HP

To get a personalized travel guide from Frommer’s Travel powered by HP custom publishing technology, import your TripIt itineraries at www.frommersremix.com, and you can get expert recommendations on activities, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, as well as money saving coupons for your trip. 

 

3. Trip Recommendations from Friends by FlyMuch

By sharing trip itineraries automatically on FlyMuch.com, you can get recommendations from friends and social networking connections, and build an online travel profile.

4. Destination-Based Dining Deals from FoodieBytes

Get personalized restaurant deals in the cities you’re traveling to by connecting your TripIt account with Foodiebytes.com.

To date, TripIt’s open platform has welcomed hundreds of apps and services to improve life for travelers before, during and after the journey; some of which include USA TODAY Auto Pilot, GateGuru and MemoLane.

To see more examples, go to http://www.tripit.com/uhp/tools. 

5 Ways to Get Peace of Mind & Money Back Over the Holidays

If you're traveling this month, there's a good chance TripIt can help put money back in your pocket. To date, we've identified more than $300,000 in airfare refunds for TripIt Pro users traveling in the month of November. (Not a Pro member yet? See tip #2!)

Without further ado, here are 5 ways to get peace of mind - and money back - this holiday travel season. Less time waiting in line at the airport, or the mall, means more unwinding and unwrapping with loved ones:

1. Skip the Mall: New this year, you can purchase, print and wrap the gift of TripIt Pro without leaving the house.
2. Gift Yourself, No Strings Attached –TripIt Pro acts like a personal travel assistant, sending helpful reminders and alerts. Give it a test drive during the holidays with a free 30-day trial.
3. Put Money Back in Your Pocket – TripIt Pro monitors airfare after booking, and notifies the traveler of a potential refund or credit - as well as how to claim it – by text or email.
4. Hit the Snooze Button, One More Time – Have TripIt Pro notify you if there’s a flight delay by text or email, and catch a few extra zzz's, or get alternate flight options right from the app.
5. Ditch the Manila Folder – No need to carry around extra baggage to keep trip plans organized. Access TripIt itineraries for free on any smartphone, including iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.

Okay, so #5 is an obvious one by now, but don't be afraid to send this as a hint to that person in your life who still walks around with a printed itinerary...

'Tis the season of giving, after all!

Share Trips with Colleagues in Chatter and Yammer

By Edith Harbaugh, Senior Product Manager

Traveling can be lonely. And finding out later that a colleague or friend was in your city and you didn't know can be even more frustrating. In Barcelona for a conference several years ago, I thought my jet lag was causing a hallucination, as I stumbled on my coworker Tam in the lobby. 

Part of the power of TripIt is not just organizing your trips, but letting friends and coworkers know when and where you're traveling (and vice versa). That's why we've added two more ways to share trips today, in Salesforce Chatter and Yammer. If you choose to do so, we'll let your colleagues know when you're planning a trip, about to leave, and returning - just like you can share with friends in Facebook. 

To mark the occasion, we're featured today at Yammer on Tour in San Francisco, along with collaborative services like Box and ZenDesk that are making it easier for coworkers to keep each other in the loop. 

Beyond Yammer and Chatter, here are some other easy ways to find out when and where colleagues are traveling:

• TripIt Groups is a free service for companies that makes it easy to view and share travel plans with colleagues all in one place - in a company calendar or map view. More than 25,000 companies use TripIt Groups, ranging from those in the Fortune 500 to small businesses.
• TripIt for Business is a simple solution for companies who want to take the pain out of traveling, planning, and organizing office travel.  Plus, TripIt for Business customers get premium calendar and group features including: a quick view of who’s in/out today; historical and future month access; and company sub-groups. TripIt for Business pricing starts at $29/month.

So, let your coworkers know where you are, and be a little less lonely on your next trip!

Android Takes Flight in 2011: Version 1.9 Now Available

Time to get the charger out, your smartphone has been busy! Today we announced that overall mobile usage has doubled - and Android usage in particular has tripled - in one year among TripIt users. 

Also, Android 1.9 is now available for download in the Marketplace. The design changes will help you find important trip information quickly. Other highlights:

• Links and phone numbers in your notes are now fully clickable, so you can quickly make a call, right from the app. 
• You now have more options to preserve memory when you're not running the app.
• TripIt Pro users can customize reward point expiration alerts.

 

“It’s exciting to watch mobile adoption take off this year, as innovation in the industry heats up,” said Gregg Brockway, Executive Vice President and General Manager of TripIt. “Each generation of smartphone provides even more opportunities for us to improve life on the road for travelers. The idea of a personal assistant in the palm of your hand – one that organizes important trip details, or sends helpful reminders and alerts – is becoming a reality.”

What do you think of the Android app's new look?

TripIt Wins Across the Pond: Telegraph Travel Awards

By Lisa Hutt, VP of Marketing, Concur EMEA

Each year, the world’s most renowned travel brands flock to The Telegraph Travel Awards annual ceremony in the hope of winning one of the coveted awards. A new category of "Favourite Travel App" was introduced this year, and we were delighted to hear that TripIt had bubbled up top alongside Trainline.com and Skype in this category.  

This year, the ceremony was held at the newly opened Renaissance St. Pancras Hotel, originally built in 1873 and hailed as London’s most romantic building. The ceremony was filled with familiar faces, well known editors and presenters like Judith Chalmers OBE. 

Shortly into the proceedings the highly respected travel journalist Graham Boynton, comedian and impersonator, Rory Bremner and actress and founder of the children’s charity Starlight, Emma Samms took to the stage to present the awards.

TripIt was voted Favourite Travel App and we were thrilled and honoured to join other category winners like Virgin Holidays, Eurostar, Emirates and Tripadvisor on stage to accept the award. 

This is a tremendous accolade considering that the awards are in their ninth year and attract over 23,000 voters. 

We’d like to thank everyone that voted!

 

 

How TripIt Helped Me Relax on My Vacation

By Terrance Gaines, BrothaTech.com (Originally posted here)

The “Mrs.” and I recently joined several others on a weekend cruise to the Bahamas and beyond. A friend of ours decided to do a destination wedding on a cruise ship. The couple exchanged vows before the ship departed the mainland, that way, anybody who didn’t want to take the cruise could at least view the ceremony.

…But that’s not why I’m here.

Being the organized techie that I am, I made sure to study some maps on Google just so I know where i’m at just in case something happens, and compile all of my travel plans on TripIt. I did my normal routine of forwarding my airline, hotel, and shuttle confirmation emails to Plans@tripit.com and let the service automagically convert my emails into an easy to use itinerary that was viewable on my iPhone using the TripIt mobile app.

Any additional information about our trip like wedding times, port dock and departure times, and other cruise plans (Dinner @ 8:30 in the Titanic Lounge) that didn’t come as an email confirmation, I manually added into TripIt online and synced with the mobile app. So I was set – All of my travel information was loaded up on my phone for easy access. I didn’t bother to export all my TripIt info to my calendar because the data looks nicer on the app than on my Google Calendar that I sync with my phone.

That was all fine and dandy while we were stateside. The second the ship pulled away from the dock, I thought “Oh crap, I won’t have a data connection once we get out in the middle of nowhere, so the TripIt app…and more importantly my phone, was going to be useless.”

…Well, I could use my phone to take pictures and use the notes app to remember everybody’s cabin numbers, but all the wedding, cruise, and port information that I meticulously curated on the app is now useless – or so I thought. The TripIt app cached (created a placeholder) all my current travel information, so it was accessible offline!

Yeah, I could’ve carried around a cruise itinerary everywhere we went to make sure we weren’t left ashore, or asked somebody “When are we supposed to meet for dinner?” every couple of hours. You have to understand a little bit about me – I hate asking for help, and I live and die by technology, so the ability to pull out my phone to find out when the boat leaves or where we are meeting for dinner makes more sense for me…which means I was able to relax and enjoy our trip that much more.

Have your own travel tale to share? Send us a note.

TripIt and Avis: Making Travel About the Traveler, Again

In 2009 we started talking about the concept of a “traveler-centric future.” What we meant was that the needs of travelers would increasingly drive innovation because fundamental technology trends like mobility, social networking, and open data offered powerful new opportunities to make life easier for travelers. 

Well a lot has happened since then. Especially lately; we’ve witnessed a juxtaposition of nostalgia and innovation. Within the same week that Facebook broke new ground for the social web at F8, we were swept back to the Golden Age of travel with the premiere of “Pan Am.”

Today, I’m very excited to tell you that we’ve partnered with Avis to bring travelers the best of both worlds. The Jet Age meets the Information Age.

Together, TripIt and Avis are supercharging car rental reservations by putting your itineraries to work for you. By connecting your accounts, you’ll be able to make new car reservations in just a few simple clicks. And in the future, Avis will be able to anticipate your need for a car and present you with options without requiring any searching at all.  Surely this is how they would have rented spacecraft on the Jetsons.

Our goal is to make your journey go smoother. Using itinerary data, we’ll remind you when you haven’t booked a car yet, and Avis will know if you’re running late. 

Oh, and there are prizes involved. Check out Avis' and TripIt's “Supercharge Your Itinerary to Win” sweepstakes.

 NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.

Promotion open only to residents of the 50 United States and District of Columbia who are at least 18 (or the age of majority in entrant's state of residence). Promotion starts 12:01 AM PT on October 3, 2011 and ends 11:59 PM PT on November 27, 2011. Winner will be selected by random drawing on December 6, 2011 and notified by phone and/or e-mail by December 17, 2011. Prize: (1 winner): one 14 day Avis car rental (luxury, passenger van, or convertible) (approx. retail value: $2876 and one 12-month subscription to online TripIt Pro (approx. retail value: $49). Combined approx. retail value of all prizes: $9,054. To enter, follow the directions in Section 7 of the Official Rules at www.tripit.com/promotions/rules_avissweepstakes ("Rules") to enter online (via www.tripit.com/promotions/avissweepstakes) or by mail. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited. Promotion subject to Rules, see Rules at www.tripit.com/promotions/rules_avissweepstakes for full details. Sponsor: Concur Technologies, Inc., 500 Treat Ave., Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94110.