Rick Steves - Career

Career

Steves started his career by teaching travel classes at his alma mater, University of Washington, and working as a tour guide in the summer. At the time, he also worked as a piano teacher (his father had owned a piano store). In 1979, based on his travel classes, he wrote the first edition of Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), a general guide on how to travel in Europe. Steves self-published the first edition of his travel skills book ETBD in 1980. Unlike most guidebook entrepreneurs, he opened a storefront business, which at first was both travel center and piano teaching studio. He held travel classes and slide shows, did travel consulting, organized a few group tours per year, and updated his books. He did not provide ticket booking or other standard travel agency services. He incorporated his business as "Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door." The store was in Steves' hometown of Edmonds, Washington, north of Seattle. The company's headquarters are still in Edmonds.

During the 1980s, his business grew slowly but steadily. He brought out more guidebooks, published by the alternative publisher John Muir Press, under the label "2 to 22 Days in ..." His group tours competed more on sincerity, small group size, and service than on price. He sold railpasses and travel gear in his store and eventually by mail order, ran a trip consulting service, and held slideshows and lectures. Gene Openshaw, a childhood friend of Steves', wrote most of the history and art material in his books. Dave Hoerlein, an architect by training, drew maps for the guidebooks and became a popular tour guide.

In 1991, the company had approximately five employees. That year, Steves began producing TV shows about European destinations. These shows were produced with his own funding and given to public television stations for free. The TV shows made him a nationwide figure, and his tour, guidebook, and merchandise businesses boomed. An important factor in the company's success was the information exchange possible between the various parts of the business. The tour business benefited from the yearly guidebook updating and his trip consulting businesses, and vice versa. The company is privately held by Steves.