ANDY STEVES LAUNCHES TRAVEL COMPANY GEARED AT STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD

Son of famed industry guru Rick Steves follows his passion to design

unique weekend travel packages for students abroad

Andy Steves, 24, during a recent WSA trip to Paris, France.

Rome—When Andy Steves ventured to Rome to study abroad in spring 2008, he was equipped with years of European travel experience and had a passion for exploring new cultures. But Steves soon came to discover that his fellow John Cabot University classmates were just as travel-hungry as he was.

In January 2008, Steves organized a trip for himself and five friends to Venice for the world-renowned Carnevale festival. His semester ended in May, but not before organizing a weekend trip to the Cinque Terre in the Italian Riviera for 32 JCU student.

 Steves, 24, spotted a market he could not walk away from and an opportunity he simply could not pass up. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in May 2010, Steves put his entrepreneurial vision into action and founded his own company, Weekend Student Adventures LLC (WSA), to offer authentic weekend traveling packages to students studying abroad.

“I witnessed an incredible demand for a deeper type of student tourism," said Steves. "The idea for a business grew organically. I enjoyed organizing the trips, but by the time you’re coordinating weekends for 30-plus students, it turns into more of a job."

Leveraging Experience

Today, Steves is focused on differentiating his brand from its competitors and capitalizing on a market he says he knows exists, even against the backdrop of a weak economy. An increasingly popular trend among college students, USA Today reported that some 300,000 students would study abroad in 2011.

Steves' grass roots marketing tour began this summer when he visited 26 different campuses, from Galway to Prague and London to Sevilla. “It’s a win-win in that I can speak to the real concerns and questions that students have because I was just in their shoes three years ago, but I can also speak from a lifetime of European travel experience,” said Steves of his “Cultural Integration Workshops.”

Steves’ father Rick, an ever-present force in the travel industry, would spend three months each year in Europe, researching and updating his guide books, as well as producing his European Travel TV shows for PBS. Each summer, Steves, his mother Anne and younger sister Jackie, 21, would jet off from their hometown of Seattle to reunite with father Rick in cities such as Edinburgh and Nice.

Applying 18 years of family travel, two years of independent travel, two summers as a guide for his father’s tour company, and a semester abroad wherein he spent 13 of 17 weekends traveling, Steves developed student-specific recommended weekend itineraries for 20 (nine of which are currently available as organized tour packages) of the top destinations across Europe. Over time, he said, the itineraries were refined into the core of what is now his professional tour business.

For an average price of $350 per package, a student can join a tour group of up to 30 other students for a four-day, three-night stay in cities such as Barcelona, Paris and Prague. Either Steves or one of five other WSA tour guides—all of whom he hand picked— greet students upon arrival and kick off the tour from there. In addition to a full-service tour guide, accommodation, most meals, transportation around the city and museum entrances are included in the package fee.

The Market’s Reaction

Students who have used the services have enjoyed the packages. “I thought the Venice tour was well-organized, and it was small and personal. Andy is passionate about traveling and it shows,” said Lauren Budorick, a 21-year-old Duke University student studying abroad in Rome. Budorick, who is headed to Gimmelwald (Swiss Alps) this December with WSA, said she would highly recommend the tours to other students.

Of the 550 students who have participated in WSA tours since its launch last summer, Steves says that he has received overwhelmingly positive reviews of his tours. But despite an abundance of encouraging feedback, a carefully selected staff and meticulously refined itineraries, Steves says WSA is yet to turn profitable. The company is struggling to fill up its tour groups— due in part to the economic slump around the world.

Emily Reckinger, a 21-year-old California native studying abroad this semester, signed up for WSA’s Barcelona adventure, but had to cancel her trip. “I didn’t end up going because I’m a student on a budget and the trip was just more than I was willing to spend,” said Reckinger.

Parents are struggling to make ends meet and students are having a harder time landing summer jobs, which can effect their disposable incomes, said Steves. The weak dollar is also a factor. This semester, the average WSA trip cost 250 Euros, which is about $350. “The U.S. dollar lost 15 percent of its value last semester, which is essentially equal to my margin for profit,” said Steves.

Steves, however, isn’t letting the state of the economy slow him down. “The up-side is that this is forcing me to make a lean and refined business model from the get-go,” said Steves.

Ambitious Adventurer

As a junior at Notre Dame, Steves participated in the University’s annual business plan competition and finished in the semi-finals. While he initially entered to win a copy of the business plan-writing software awarded to all teams who made it past the first round of the competition, the WSA concept did well enough with the judges that Steves decided to re-enter the competition the following year, recruiting a small team to help him take the concept to the next level. This time he succeeded, taking first place and beating out more than 100 initial entries in the process to score a $17,000 cash-prize.

In addition to five tour guides and two interns, WSA’s staff includes Bill Martin, 42, VP of Sales and Business Development (U.S.), Stephen McPhilemy, 34, VP of Sales and Business Development (Europe) and Marco Zuccarello, 25, Midwestern U.S. Regional Development Representative.

The WSA Team (from left): McPhilemy, Steves, father Rick, and Martin.

McPhilemy, a Dublin native who has gained global recognition in the industry and is regarded as Rick Steves’ most esteemed tour guide, has known Andy Steves for over a decade. McPhilemy believes that Steves’ entrepreneurial motivation, work ethic and many other “travel and techie skills” are WSA’s keys to success.

“Very simply, WSA is Andy, from its slick design, image, and fun vibe to its ethical and pro-experiential learning philosophy,” said McPhilemy.

But Steves and his team are learning that gaining quick ground in an already established market can be more complicated than it seems. Steves, who says he deliberately does not involve transportation so friends studying abroad in other cities can meet up, faces steep competition in the market— most notably from the more commercialized rival company Bus2Alps. 

Sizing Up the Supply  

Founded in 2003, Bus2Alps has positioned itself as the easily accessible, party heavy, go-to travel company for students seeking affordable weekend adventures abroad. Though the average price for a weekend trip matches WSA’s, every Bus2Alps trip also includes the option for transportation to and from the city via bus.

"The main reason I go on trips with Bus2Alps is because they provide transportation,” said Sarah Moore, a 21-year old Cleveland, Ohio native studying at JCU this semester. Moore said she would consider purchasing a WSA package if the company either lowered its prices or offered an option for transportation to and from the city.

Derek Sweet, a 21-year-old Lynchburg college student from Duxbury, Mass. whom was a part of Steves’ WSA Amsterdam escapade said that the trip was well worth the price, citing an expedited entrance into Anne Frank’s house and an adventurous night stroll through the infamous Red Light District.

“Andy is able to give interesting and informative tours, but at the same time he's laid back in the sense that he encourages kids to venture off on their own,” said Sweet.

Steves said he recognizes that students may initially be turned off by the price of the tour, but says that at the end of the day, its worth it. WSA, he says, guarantees students a smaller, more personal and cultured experience. “I believe I’m providing a stark alternative to the quintessential ‘ugly-American’ stereotype of pub crawls and toga parties,” said Steves.

Facing the Competition

If WSA doesn't become profitable. Steves admits that, although he’s “not a ladder type of guy,” he may have to think about putting his Industrial Design degree back to use at Sparkman & Stephens, the internationally revered yacht design firm on 5^th Avenue in NYC, with whom he interned for during the summer of 2009.

Steves said he acknowledges that there is a tendency for students to assume that he is simply chipping off of his father Rick’s fame and fortune in pursuit of his own business goals, but describes this as a common misconception. “Very quickly, the novelty wears off,” he said. “This is the real world, and I’m blazing my own trail.”

And though he has received offers for funding from venture capital firms and other investors, Steves remains firm in his decision to own and operate 100 percent of WSA, even if it means having to forgo some initial profits.

"I've both invested and lost a lot so far,” said Steves. “I’ve never been told no so many time’s in my life than in the last 18 months. But when it comes to starting a business, it comes down to sheer passion, perseverance and the inability to take no for an answer,” said Steves, who spent $10,000 speaking to lawyers last summer alone.

Steves’ tireless determination and deep dedication to offering enhanced weekend adventures to students studying abroad is both evident and admirable. “I’m always thinking about it — even when I sleep. It’s a blessing and a curse, but you know what? I just wouldn’t have it any other way.”