I hope you enjoyed Jackie’s blog of her and her brother’s South American adventure. Jackie’s back in school, and Andy’s in Prague today. I just got off the phone with him, and he’s in the middle of a different kind of adventure…an entrepreneurial one. Fresh out of college, he is starting up his own tour business, and I’m proud as a Dad can be.
Andy’s business niche: to help American students on their European study-abroad programs enjoy efficient, fun, meaningful, and economic three-day weekends in his favorite seven destinations. He’s organizing €150 student tours of Prague, Rome, London, Paris, and more. Each tour includes meals, two nights in hostels, major museum admissions, and local guided tours.
Andy conceived this exciting business plan while taking a Notre Dame semester abroad in Rome and seeing how the students had to scramble to put together their weekend adventures. His company name describes the niche he’s filling: Andy Steves’ Weekend Student Adventures (WSA). While in Rome, Andy found himself helping friends organize their plans for three-day side-trips (biking in Sicily, chartering a sailboat from Athens, and jetting off to the Alps, Paris, Prague, and Dublin on dirt-cheap discount flights). And he saw the frustration, and mistakes, and lost opportunities fellow students with less experience endured as they fumbled around the Continent, eager to come home with lots of great experiences.
I’m enjoying tracking Andy’s business evolution and remembering what it was like when I started my business. While there are clear parallels, he’s light years ahead of me when I was 23. While I was a cash business without a hint of Internet, insurance, or even a plan, Andy is going through all the business hoops in a much more solid and formal way. He’s had to get insurance and negotiate with a bank to accept credit cards. And he’s built a website enabling students to click over to wsaeurope.com and book a tour as easily as they might book a theater ticket online.
While Andy has competition, other companies seem to cater to students’ interest in just partying. Andy hopes to distinguish WSA by appealing to the interests of parents and school administrators, as well as those of the students. Parents and foreign-study program coordinators want to economically and safely enhance their students’ study abroad experience with educational and meaningful weekends. And students want to party with other students in exciting foreign capitals. It’s Andy’s challenge to come up with a good mix, satisfying students, teachers, and parents at a great price.
While Andy has traveled solo nearly each summer since he graduated from high school and has experience assistant-guiding our tours, his real tour company experience is being gathered this fall as he’s spending two months in his target cities, fine-tuning his three-day tour plans, making contacts, and becoming the necessary expert in student travel there. He’s offering one shake-down tour (which he’ll personally lead) of each of his destinations this November at a no-profit intro price of €150. Prague sold out practically overnight, Paris and London are nearly full, and other destinations have plenty of seats open. When Andy gave talks directly to students in Rome, he sold piles of tours. But he doesn’t have the web traffic yet to sell well without personal appearances.
Check out his website, wsaeurope.com. Any feedback or constructive suggestions to make it better would be appreciated. And if you know any students in Europe this semester (or next) looking for lots of fun, Andy’s Weekend Student Adventures promises to offer a great experience.
Excellent website and business idea. I`ve enjoyed watching your children grow into responsible adults and following through blogs. Good luck Andy!
Excellent Idea Andy and you have learned from the best business model out there. I agree with BK above- with the treat to tourist going up yesterday how will you handle security concerns of parents. Apparently Obama stopped just short of issuing a no visit Europe at this time warning. Parents of teens will be concerned how security is handled. Great job!!
I wish you and Andy best of lucks. I will be traveling to Prague next year (not as a student though) and I hope to be able to use Andy`s website and tour in addition to your Best of Europe book. Cheers, arash from Los Angeles
Go Andy, what an exciting idea. Way to see a need and fill it.
As a teacher of business, and an avid traveller, I love this idea. I intend to use this as an example for my young entrepreneurs. Best of luck and keep us posted!
Well done, sir. The site looks professional, no doubt this should be a success.
Andy, I`m impressed. The site looks good, and I think it`s great you`re providing your clientele the opportunity to really experience the great cities of Europe. I just left Prague, and I came across too many promotions in my hostel that was just about drinking and partying. Nice to see you seek to provide some balance. How novel, a tour group for young people where you not only enjoy evening activity but experience local culture as well.
I work with exchange (incoming and outgoing) students at a large university and have already posted his website on our social media sites. I will strongly encourage our students to look into Andy`s trips as they offer great learning potential and will focus on more than just partying (although I`m sure the students will have a great time – it`ll still be Europe).
Best wishes to you Andy on your new venture! Rick, you should be a very proud papa! It`s amazing how quick our children grow up, and then do such amazing things! Andy & Jackie are blessed to have wonderful parents who have done an amazing job of raising them well. Congrats! Terri :)
Congratulations, Andy! Wishing you much success with your new venture.
Hey All- Thanks for the encouraging comments, and I`m so excited to embark on this new adventure. I`m in Dublin now sipping in the beautiful Irish culture, and excited to kick off our first round of WSA tours next week in London! Keep checking out our website for adventurous new offerings. I can`t wait to see where this will lead, and I`ll be a happy backpacker the first time I see our tour members` eyes light up with wonder about these awesome cities throughout Europe.
Would a young postgrad who is backpacking with her friends have to be in a study abroad program, or could she take a couple of your 3 day tours as she gets to areas where they are offered. Of course she`ll have her eurail pass and her hostel card already…..thanks
Hi Rick, great to hear about Andy`s new adventure! It sounds like a service I would love to use. The school administrator angle will very much act as word of mouth for him – a great idea! Andy may have already considered this but driving web traffic with a few, well-selected google ad words purchases can increase site traffic. Additionally, while the website looks well-designed and very useful – it never hurts to track web site efficacy with a little A/B testing (see for example optimizely.com). Good luck!
Rick… The apple isn`t falling very far from the tree. He learned from one of the best and is continuing the family tradition his way. Good luck Andy! Terrific website.