Not sure if that cheap Airbnb deal is in a bad neighborhood? You don’t want to start your vacation off on the wrong foot by staying in an unsafe neighborhood. Now, the TripIt app lets you research neighborhood safety scores and country-specific international travel tools before you travel!
Read Neighborhood Safety Scores Before You Book a Room
Nearly every city has good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods. While you can research the most dangerous states to get an idea of where you might not travel, it’s harder to pinpoint which neighborhoods to avoid.
Unless you’ve visited that city before or have a friend that’s visited your travel destination, you might be “flying blind.” Instead of only relying on the property pictures on the hotel website, you should also research the neighborhood safety scores.
TripIt’s neighborhood safety scores monitor the following categories:
- Physical harm: muggings, drug activity, gang prevalence, law enforcement presence
- Women’s safety: verbal harassment, physical assault, female-focused violence, women’s support facilities
- Health and medical: environmental pollution and contamination, illnesses, access to medical care
- Political freedoms: political unrest, limited political rights, incidents of riots and unrest
- Theft: petty theft, pickpocketing, auto theft, burglaries, and grand theft
While bad things still happen in good neighborhoods, you can minimize the odds of staying in a less-than-desirable area. Having peace of mind while you travel is priceless, but you can access these scores for free!
All safety scores are assigned a number between 1 and 100. The safest neighborhoods have a safety score of 1. You will want to avoid staying in or visiting neighborhoods that have a score closer to 100.
Other Reasons to Use Neighborhood Safety Scores
There are multiple reasons to investigate the safety of a neighborhood. Besides having a safe place to sleep, you should also research safety scores for restaurants and activities too.
You only need the street address of your planned destination to access the safety score. If you’ve traveled enough, you can probably think back to at least once when you kept on driving and resorted to “Plan B” after seeing the neighborhood of the restaurant or museum in person. There are some things you can’t see on Google Maps, and now you can avoid these unexpected surprises before you leave home.
Access Handy International Travel Tools
TripIt Pro users can also take advantage of their brand-new international travel tools suite. Instead of sifting through a dozen Google searches or paging through a paper travel guide, you have all the country’s vital travel information at your fingerprints.
Some of the information you can immediately access on one screen include:
- Currency conversion
- Embassy information
- Required vaccinations
- Socket and plug information
- Tipping advice
All of this information is available for over 180 countries. No matter which end of the earth you go to, you don’t have to worry about packing the wrong plug adapter or undertipping a waiter at your daily breakfast spot.
You can access these tools within your itinerary on the TripIt app. Although TripIt is optimized for the English language, the app also supports French, German, and Japanese confirmation emails. This multi-language capability makes your travel stress-free in case you need to share your itinerary with your local colleagues.
Other Cool TripIt Features You Might Not Know About
In addition to helping you quickly prepare for international travel and avoid unsafe neighborhoods, TripIt has a few other nifty features you might enjoy.
Avoid Long Security Lines
One cool feature is the ability to monitor airport security wait times. Long security lines are the last thing you want to see when you’re running late for your flight. Instead of hoping for short lines, you can check the current wait times on the app to leave earlier than planned if necessary.
Find Alternate Flights
When an unexpected delay occurs or you need to rush home for a family emergency, TripIt helps you easily find an alternate flight. Time is crucial when you need to make a change and waiting to speak with the next airline representative can be too late. You can search for alternate flights on the same airline or multiple airlines to find the best option.
Digitally Store Important Travel Documents
There are several reasons why you should avoid dangerous neighborhoods. One reason is so you don’t get robbed on the street. But you also don’t want items in your hotel room to go missing. Using the hotel room safe is one way to protect your travel documents, but a more secure way might be digitally storing them on your phone.
Not only is this practice more convenient than wearing a waistbelt or hiding your valuables from the cleaning staff, it’s another way you can eliminate travel stress besides avoiding unsafe neighborhoods or overlooking important travel information for the country you’re visiting.
Have All Your Travel Itineraries in One Place
It doesn’t matter if you book a flight or hotel reservation, any travel reservation sent to your email account is automatically uploaded to your TripIt. You no longer have to fumble for travel confirmation codes, hotel addresses, or your important travel documents.
Share Travel Plans with Friends and Family
When you travel, you probably share your travel plan with a close friend or family member so they can track your flight. With a single click, you can instantly share your itinerary with those who need to know. If you’re not meeting them when you land, you should still send a message to let them know you arrive safely.
Track Travel Rewards Points
One of the key benefits of traveling is the experience of visiting someplace new and different. In addition to the “mental rewards” you reap, you also accumulate travel rewards points every time you fly or stay at a hotel. TripIt tracks your rewards point balances and point expiration dates so you can book an award trip to somewhere with an excellent neighborhood safety score.
Summary
Being able to instantly check neighborhood safety scores before you travel helps you avoid negative surprises that affect your travel plans. With these two new features, the planning process for domestic and international travel is easier than before.
