The modern traveler doesn’t just carry a passport anymore. We carry a camera, translator, navigator, flight tracker, cruise planner and memory keeper all in one device. Long after you’ve built your case as their trusted travel advisor by helping with trip planning and securing details, clients set out on the journey but often struggle to keep all the details organized. Technology is the perfect travel assistant, and your recommendations of useful apps will keep travelers coming back for all of their future vacation needs.
TripIt: An App for Organizing Details Before Clients Leave
After booking flights, hotels and securing rental cars or dinner reservations, nobody wants to (or has time to) go on a scavenger hunt through their inbox during a trip. In my experience, no single app has made a bigger impact on trip organization than TripIt. It’s a simple-to-use itinerary-building app where users register for an account, forward email confirmations and sit back and relax as the app automatically builds itineraries, including flight details, hotel reservations, tours/excursions and restaurant reservations in chronological order.
How does it work? You, as the Travel Advisor (or the client directly), forward the email confirmations to a designated email address. TripIt builds the itinerary. The plans will land in an "Unfiled Items" folder, which you then separate out into the correct clients' trips, and then you share the completed itinerary with the client. You are even able to connect multiple booking sites to TripIt to help reduce the email forwarding required to build custom itineraries.
Favorite Feature: The itinerary stays visible in the app even if travelers are offline.
(Note: Flight changes are NOT automatically updated with the basic version. You simply need to forward the updated confirmation to the associated email address to update the itinerary.)
Flightradar24: An App for Making the Airport Experience More Enjoyable
Slightly more geeky than TripIt is Flightradar24, where users can track inbound aircraft in real time (and delays or cancellations are often posted BEFORE the airlines send notifications of the same information), but equally as entertaining is tracking the number of flights, most frequently used airports and seat assignments among other quirky travel details in a fun and easy-to-read chart that travelers can post on social media.
Favorite Feature: Ability to track inbound aircraft to verify whether they depart on time and help set realistic expectations before and during announced delays.
Google Maps: An App To Ensure They Never Get Lost (Even Without Cellphone Coverage)
Likely the most used app among these recommendations is Google Maps, and for good reason. When something works and is built by a brand like Google, this recommendation shouldn’t come as a surprise to most seasoned travel advisors, but reminding travelers to download those maps before they leave will help separate you from the others.
It’s also a great way for travelers to share their personal experiences with favorite restaurants or bars, must-see scenic lookout locations and art galleries. Users can build custom lists for each location, share those with the travel party and help them navigate while reducing international data usage simply by downloading an offline map and their favorites before they depart.
Favorite Feature: Navigation. While other apps claim to be equal or superior, most well-seasoned travelers know Google Maps often has the most detailed and up-to-date information regarding directions, hours of operation and functionality of any map app.
Google Translate: An App for Connecting Beyond Language
While not perfect in all situations, knowing a little in a local language can go a very long way in building trust and respect around the world. When it comes to language, Google Translate offers so many easy-to-use features, like translation between a mother tongue and the local language, translating menus or signs with a simple photo and even translating a live conversation between people.
At the core of travel and experiencing new cultures is language and food, and Google Translate simplifies users’ ability to navigate new, and often stressful, situations like a pro.
Want to separate yourself from your competition? Use Google Translate to help your travelers learn a few common sayings and greetings in a local language before they leave and allow them to practice using the app by copying and pasting text or typing it into the app directly. A quick video tutorial showing how to translate a menu or read a sign will give your clients the confidence to stretch their comfort zones or add new destinations that otherwise seemed out of reach.
Favorite Feature: Setting the phone down and choosing Conversation Mode brings a smile to everyone’s face. Again, the translations aren’t always perfect, but it’s a really fun way to connect with locals and enhance a holiday.
Shipmate: An App for Enhancing Cruise Vacations
Like Flightradar24 for flights, Shipmate helps cruise travelers track previous and upcoming sailings. The app also allows travelers to research ports of call, and it even provides a fun travel countdown calculator to embarkation. Clients can review ship deck plans to help familiarize themselves with key venues onboard before even setting foot on the ship.
Moving into social connections, Shipmate allows clients to build a “friend list” of fellow frequent cruisers and see which upcoming sailings they may run into them again on. Or maybe they see a ship or itinerary that their Shipmate friends are on, but they call you, as the travel advisor, to secure the booking.
Polarsteps: An App for Capturing the Journey Beyond a Simple Photo Gallery
This app automatically maps travelers’ route and helps organize photos by location so clients can create a digital travel diary. The most fun part of Polarsteps is how easy it is to share the memories with friends and family after returning home. The winner of multiple "Best of 2026" categories, Polarsteps is quickly becoming a fan favorite, and for good reason.
Favorite Feature: Keeping photos organized by location and uploading during the trip instead of waiting to do it at home.
Pro Tip: Gift a Polarsteps gift card to clients and help turn their digital memories into a physical, hard-copy memory book of their trip. Purchase a gift card on the Polarsteps website and send clients a unique code directly to their email address for them to build a book and print it themselves using your gift card.
As a travel advisor, there’s no need to fear technology. Travel advisors who embrace technology, rather than run from it, have a key differentiator between themselves and their competition. Not only that, but you are adding value to the client's experience while simultaneously reducing frantic texts or phone calls by helping keep them organized in a way that’s comprehensive and user-friendly. A few simple app recommendations and demo videos help create repeat clients that rave about their experience to all of their friends, family and fellow travelers. Don’t be afraid of technology; embrace it!
Have other favorite apps? Drop them in the comments.
Cole Sjoholm
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