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6 Reasons You Need a Better Travel Planning Tool

When it comes to planning trips, we all know the importance of staying organized. With the right travel planning tool, you could create an in-depth itinerary for your next adventure, from flights and hotels to activities and transportation. What’s more, once you’ve built your perfect trip, you could book your travel instantly, from start to finish, right in your itinerary. Not quite sure where to go next and need some inspiration? The perfect travel planning tool would have you covered: save hotels, activities, and more, so you can dream about your next adventure. Here are the top six features we think the perfect planning tool would have.

1. A Space to Plan Your Flights, Hotels, Activities, and More

The perfect travel planning tool should help you organize every detail of your next trip. Find a great flight? Save it right there in your itinerary. Browse around for an amazing hotel, and once you find it, add it to your itinerary. Have your heart set on something to do once you arrive? Add activities to your itinerary, from bungee-jumping to sightseeing tours at your destination. The perfect planning tool would allow you to organize the smaller details, too, like your transportation plans once you touch down at your destination. With an organized trip, you’ll have the time to compare prices, or jump right to the booking process.

2. An Option to Book Your Trip from Your Itinerary

We think an itinerary tool shouldn’t stop at organization. Instead, the perfect tool would have booking capabilities. Not only could you organize every detail of your next vacation, but you could book your next vacation directly from your itinerary. Book flights and hotels, activities and transport, all in one place.

3. Categories for Every Trip, Even Those You’re Just Dreaming About

A lot goes into the travel planning process. First, we dream of our next adventure: where we’ll go, where we’ll stay, what we’ll do. Then we begin to plan our trip, comparing flights, hotels, and more to make sure we get the best quality for the best price. When we’re finally ready to book, we want to make sure we’re organized. The perfect tool would be there to help us, regardless of what stage of the process you’re in.

Daydreaming about a bucket list destination? Create a dream itinerary and get inspired—you can save the details for later. Ready to start planning? Compare multiple flights and hotels, activities and more, so you can make sure you’re getting the best price. A great travel planning tool would be a space for all your trips, not just the ones you’re ready to book.

4. A Collaboration Feature That Lets You Plan Trips with Friends and Family 

When planning our next vacation, we want to make sure it’s going to be a trip that everyone we’re traveling with will enjoy. The perfect itinerary tool would have a collaboration feature, allowing you to share your itinerary with friends and family for feedback and suggestions. The option to share your itinerary with travel companions would be a life-saver for all those times when you need budgeting advice or you’re stuck on which hotel to book.

5. Price Drop Alerts

The ideal travel planning tool would make you feel absolutely certain that you’re getting the best price. A price drop alert system for the items in your itinerary would do just that. Here’s how it would work: If the price dropped on a flight or hotel in your itinerary, you’d receive an alert. If you liked the new price, you could book right away and lock in the best deal. If you weren’t quite ready to book and wanted continue monitoring prices, then you’d just sit back and wait for the next alert.

6. Photos, Traveler Reviews, and Pricing

We think the perfect travel itinerary would be complete with every detail we’d need to know about our upcoming adventure. When planning our next trip, we often want to read reviews, see photos, and, of course, compare prices. It’s important to have all of this information easily accessible, all in one place.

The ideal travel planning tool would neatly present photos, traveler reviews, and pricing breakdowns for each itinerary item. This way, you’d be able to see how the details of your trip look as whole, not just in individual parts. From flights and hotels to activities and transport, the perfect planner would allow you to read reviews and see photos and pricing, right in your itinerary.

We think these features make for the perfect travel planning tool. What are some additional features you’d love to see in a tool like this? Let us know in the comments below!

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

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