10 New Business Travel Apps for Busy Executives

In a last-second rush to travel on business? Before you head out the door, make sure you load up your smartphone or tablet with these 10 helpful apps. They’re designed to keep you on track with expenses, jot down reminders and tasks, book a hotel from the plane and even control your presentation from a mobile device over Wi-Fi.

Related: 3 Must-Have Android, iOS Apps for Travelers

John Brandon is a former IT manager at a Fortune 100 company who now writes about technology. He has written more than 2,500 articles in the past 10 years. You can follow him on Twitter @jmbrandonbb.

This new, free note-taking app for Android smartphones is ideal for executives on a busy schedule. The Google Keep interface is clean and uncluttered, so you can focus on jotting down thoughts. The basic idea: Type reminders, tasks lists and website links and save them for later use. On the plane, you can voice annotate a note and the app will convert what you say to text. You can snap a photo of a receipt, too. Using color-coded notes will keep everything organized on your PC once you’re back at the office.

Blog: Why Google’s New ‘Keep’ Service Might Not Be a Keeper

This indispensable app, which works with mobile projectors such as the Epson PowerLite 1776W, lets you control a presentation with a mobile device. Setup is simple: You run the app on your iOS or Android device, then choose the projector on a Wi-Fi network. You can then flip through slides and draw annotations on the screen. The Epson iProjection App is free, but works only with Epson’s Wi-Fi-enabled projectors.

Everyone needs an expense tracker when traveling, but not all apps are as powerful as Certify Mobile. After you snap a photo of a receipt, the app converts the text and automatically places it into fields such as name, amount and category. For enforcing company policies, this free app can monitor the expense amount and provide a warning about exceeding the limits for, say, a hotel or car rental.

Another Option: iPhone App Spotlight: Abukai Expense Reporting

Meant as a consumer app À la Priceline.com, HotelTonight is useful for executives as well. You can select a category such as basic, hip or luxury and book a last-minute hotel, even from the plane when you land. Only top international hotels are included (there are more than 2,000 in all, in more than 90 destinations), so you can easily avoid booking a low-end establishment. The free app for iOS devices and Android including both smartphones and tablets.

This powerful navigation app can help you find your way to a business meeting in a remote city. Unlike many of the navigation apps and gadgets available, Sygic GPS Navigation works in offline mode so you don’t have to depend on a good connection. (Maps are stored locally.) The app uses colorful maps, offers turn-by-turn voice directions and even lets you pick from three alternate routes. But the best feature is the price: It’s $25, which is about half the cost of more well-known apps.

Another Option: ‘CoPilot Live’ GPS App for iOS, Android is Worth a Test Drive

Tripit is an outstanding travel app that helps you plan an itinerary and stay on schedule during your trip. You can share your plans with fellow travelers, which helps you sync up with colleagues on your trip. Tripit for Teams is even more powerful, as it’s designed for business use. Once your travel plans are set, you can forward the travel agency, admin or itinerary e-mails to a Tripit inbox. The app then parses the itinerary for each person in your travel party automatically. Plans start at $29 per month and include a free 30-day trial.

If you frequently travel overseas, SayHi Translate is a smart mobile aid. When you speak, the app records what you say and then translates your spoken phrase in one of 40 different languages. There’s a wide assortment of languages, including the typical German and French but also Mandarin (Chinese), Arabic and Norwegian. Most importantly, the highly-rated app, available now for $0.99, works as promised.

How-to: 7 Tips to Help IT Leaders Make Their Business an International Success

Created by the airport food service company HMSHost, the B4 You Board app for iPhone and Android lets you order a meal from your phone. When you place the order, you can have the meal delivered directly to your gate. The free app works in many major airports, including those in Chicago, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.

Many mobile apps built for finding your way in a city are built for those who rent a car. If you’re going to a meeting by mass transit or by foot, on the other hand, HopStop is the app you want to install. It shows you directions to find a subway, bus stop, train or ferry and current schedules. Once you find the route you want, you’ll see an estimate on how long the trip will take and view a detailed map. This free app also includes a taxi fare estimator.

Another incredibly useful mobile app for business travel, Rev for iPhone lets you record audio notes for free. You can organize them to keep your annotations straight on the road, then share the audio note by e-mail or on Dropbox. If you want to convert your notes to text, Rev will convert the audio for $1 per minute, as part of the company’s transcription services. You can also voice-record entire documents to your phone for transcription.

Another Option: Dragon Speech-to-Text iOS App Makes Dictation a Dream