Hi from Rick: Here Come the Guides!
When I moved into my house, overlooking the Puget Sound and my hometown of Edmonds, it had no deck. I knew I needed a world-class deck…one that could hold an entire team of tour guides. I spared no expense on building that deck, knowing that it would be put to very good use. Well, we finally did that last week, throwing an unforgettable party for more than 100 tour guides. And as I looked out at our family of guides, standing together on that deck, with the sun setting behind them, I thought of the joy I get entrusting the travel dreams of over 30,000 travelers (who entrust their dreams to me) to this amazing and talented team of tour guides.
It's been a challenging few years. When we went into lockdown in early 2020, we reassured our guides (mostly based in Europe) that our one and only goal was to keep the company alive until we could start running tours again.
And we made it! But then came the hard part — getting back up to speed from a full stop. With unprecedented demand, unexpected hiccups, and Covid still lurking, it was a bumpy year or two getting "back to normal." Quite a few of our guides had switched careers during the pandemic, so we had to hire and train a whole new crop. I personally devoted several trips to Italy to travel with our new guides, mentoring them to be sure they embraced the Rick Steves style of travel.
At Rick Steves' Europe, "getting back to normal" must include hosting our annual Tour Guide Summit: our longstanding tradition of flying our guides to our headquarters in Edmonds, WA, for a week of in-person meetings. And just last week, we finally came together — the entire office staff, and the majority of our Europe-based guides — in one place…not on Zoom, but in person!
While we've traditionally done this meeting in January, this was the first time we hosted an August summit. That meant that when I invited the guides to my home for a party, they could actually be outdoors to enjoy a stunning Seattle summer. And it allowed me to fulfill my dreams of surviving Covid, getting "back to normal," working with a guide team that's better and stronger than ever…and finally to look out and see all those guides standing together (packed onto the deck), and to imagine the thousands and thousands of trips — and travelers' lives — that they have impacted.
That "party at Rick's house" was just one of many opportunities for our guides to reconnect and learn together. From our Sunday-night welcome happy hour at the local tiki bar, to the grand finale Thursday-night costume party on the waterfront, we were busy nonstop. Business meetings got our guides up to speed on the inner workings of the home office; strategy and brainstorming sessions for each of our 40-plus tour itineraries allowed for plenty of fine-tuning on hotels, meals, and experiences; and trainings — including a panel led by "veteran" guides (not named "Rick Steves") who were among the first people to lead Rick Steves tours — gave all of our guides, new and old, a sense of both the community and the responsibility of being part of our wonderful team. Meanwhile, my radio team and I enjoyed recording about 30 interviews with the visiting guides — which you'll be hearing over the next several months on your local public radio station.
Of course, flying a hundred guides from all corners of Europe to Edmonds, putting them up and feeding them all week, and transforming our office into an all-hands-on-deck tour-guiding incubator is not cheap. But, for me, it's a slam-dunk great investment. We've learned, again and again, that running the best European tours in the business — made possible by hiring and training the best tour guides in the business — is well worth any cost. Our guides are what make our tours special. And gatherings like this ensure that our guides are top-quality and perfectly in sync with our mission, values, and travel style.
We'll keep the party going in this month's Tour News with a behind-the-scenes slideshow of my week with our guides, sit in on a chat I had with France guide Gregoire Bouron, and hop aboard our flagship Best of Europe in 21 Days tour with a colorful slideshow and tour-member reviews.
Great guides have always been a cornerstone of Rick Steves tours. After last week's investment in learning, community, and fun, I'm confident that when you take one of our tours, you'll be in the hands of an exceptional guide…one whose understanding of the Rick Steves style is as rock-solid as that deck that supported all of them at once in August of 2024.
Keep on travelin'!
Rick
P.S. Some may wonder: Why didn't we invite our tour alums for a Tour Reunion along with the Guide Summit, as we used to? For this event, we decided to stay laser-focused on the guides. But we're hoping to eventually revive that custom as well. Stay tuned! In the meantime, we've found new ways to keep in touch, such as our free, weekly Monday Night Travel sessions on Zoom, which often feature our guides.