Career
While serving in Germany, he wrote and self-published a guidebook called The GI's Guide to Traveling In Europe in 1955. It sold well, and in 1957 Frommer followed up with a civilian version called Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, which covered major European urban destinations. During his vacations while a litigation associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, he continued his travel writing and publishing. The first guide books included Europe, New York, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Los Angeles-San Francisco-Las Vegas, expanding through the years to more than 350 titles. In 1961, Frommer founded wholesale tour operator $5-a-Day Tours, Inc.
He left law practice in 1962 to pursue his travel business Arthur Frommer International, Inc., of which he was chairman and president until 1981. In 1969, Frommer built his first hotel in Amsterdam on the premises of the Weaver's Guild (in the Noorderstreet). This hotel is now known as the Hotel Mercure Amsterdam Arthur Frommer (part of the Accor group).
Frommer sold the travel guide book business to the publishing house Simon & Schuster in 1977. After several subsequent sales, the Frommer’s series was purchased by John Wiley & Sons in 2001. In August 2012, Google announced that it was purchasing Frommer's Travel Guides from John Wiley in a bid to acquire more online content.
He preserves a consultant role in the Frommer's line of travel guides, leaving time to pursue other projects. Frommer kept a strong commitment to low-budget and alternative travel and to consumer advocacy in travel. In the 1980s, he published Frommer's New World of Travel, which advocated alternative vacation styles, and founded Budget Travel magazine, which was sold first to Newsweek, and then to a private investment firm. He briefly ventured into general bargain shopping in 2005-2006 with the quarterly magazine Arthur Frommer's Smart Shopping. He writes a travel column with his daughter Pauline Frommer syndicated through King Features. He has a weekly syndicated radio show, "The Travel Show with Arthur & Pauline Frommer", also hosted with his daughter.
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