Our 5 Most Used Travel Apps from 2017

This past year held a lot of new travel experiences for us. We traveled to new cities and countries, and planning these trips came with a lot of researching for the best things to do, the best restaurants to try, and more. Along with our list of “bests”, we decided to share with you a short list of the best travel apps that we used to make the most out of our trips in the short amount of time that we had. Without further ado: Our 5 Most Used Travel Apps of 2017!

Trivago:

trivago

“It’s just a hotel booking site you guys, what’s the big deal?” is probably what you thought when you saw that it made this list. And you’re right, we aren’t trying to deny that. But, with that being said, we love using this app for finding the best hotel deals when traveling within Canada and the States. We’ve saved ourselves hundreds of dollars by using this app over booking direct from the hotel’s website, or using another hotel-booking site. Trivago not only searches hotels, but searches other hotel-booking websites and then gives you a list to compare between prices. You can customize your searching (hello, free wifi and King sized bed?) and search for hotels based on landmark locations. Next time you’re looking for a good deal on hotels in Canada/USA, consider Trivago (if you haven’t already).

Trip Advisor:

tripadvisor

We are Trip Advisor obsessed. We are constantly using it before booking anything from hotels, tours, restaurant reservations, and anything else that you could think of. We also value reading the reviews from other guests of such places, both positive and negative, so that we will be prepared for anything that we may encounter in person. We also like to share our own reviews of things we’ve tried and places we’ve visited in order to help others with their own trip planning. It is definitely a multi-purpose app that we find incredibly helpful when traveling!

ParkWhiz

parkwhiz

One of the most annoying things is trying to find parking in an unfamiliar city. Or, finding that hotel parking is going to cost you an obscene amount of money in addition to your room rate, and you’re stuck paying it because you can’t be bothered to drive around a look for another parking space because driving around can be exhausting as it is.
Luckily for us, we managed to find a fantastic little app before our trip to Chicago this past April that saved us over $100 for our long weekend escapade. The app is called Park Whiz and it essentially scans all parking areas near your destination of choice, and shows you the best prices available. So, instead of paying $120(USD) per night, we used Park Whiz to find a parking garage that was covered, with valet services, for a fraction of the cost it would have been to park at our hotel. Not to mention is was less than a block away from hotel. Definitely worth the 5-minute walk down the street. With ParkWhiz, you can also pay for your parking ahead of time before you arrive, hassle-free! This app essentially only work in the States, but it definitely made parking a breeze.

Go City Card

GoCityCard

We had only heard of this app when Alicia’s co-worker had suggested it, but wow, did it ever save us time and money. We did make mention of all of what it can do in our post about “How to Visit Chicago on a Budget“, so be sure to check it out! There is also a similar option available for visiting select Canadian cities from City Passports.

Hilton Honors

When traveling locally within Canada and the USA, we typically book our stay at a Hilton Hotel. We’ve always had great service with them, and they are often conveniently centrally located. One thing that we do enjoy is being a part of the Hilton Honors program. With their app, we automatically get little perks, including free wifi, which is essential for travel bloggers like us! If you’ve stayed at a Hilton, you know just how nice it can be to receive these extra perks. Be sure to enroll in their honors program for your next stay and get yourself some free wifi! (And, you know, other stuff too!)

That’s all from us for now. But we want to hear from you…

What are some of your favourite apps that you use for traveling? Why are they your favourite? Leave us a comment below!

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