How We Stack Up

WSA's Guides

WSA guides are hand-selected by Andy Steves himself after an extensive interview and screening process. Andy knows a guide can either make or break your trip. These are not chaperones nor are they professors; WSA's guides are young and passionate about revealing the local's version of London, Dublin, Paris etc. to you.

Meet your guides here!

Others' Guides

Read below for the type of guides you can expect (directly copied and unedited from website):

"[competition's name removed] guides are NOT professional tour guides and therefore are not expected to provide walking tours, guided excursions, or extensive historical knowledge of the city/site of that tour. We are responsible for properly arranging only your trip basics."

Guides are what brings a city to life for you. Without great guides to reveal complex and fascinating history, you'll likely breeze past the very reasons you're spending the time, money and effort to make your trip in the first place. Additionally, read a note from a student on one company's guides from his personal experience:

"The 'guides' for [competition's name removed] were definitely cool people that were a lot of fun. They definitely are NOT guides. Their job was to ride the bus with us to and from [destination name removed], ski or snowboard, and give people tips throughout the weekend when asked. When talking to a few of the guides, I found that a couple of them had just started working for [competition's name removed] within the last month and had never been to [destination name removed] before."

For a company to put someone in the position of "tour guide" for a destination they've never been to is unacceptable and must be noted when purchasing weekend packages.

Walking Tours with WSA

WSA tour features walking tours throughout each destination city lead by locals. These guides are fun, licensed professionals and are paid in full by WSA so you don't need to pay nor worry about tipping. WSA's goal is to help you see the city like a local.

Walking Tours with Others

Many of our competition states they include walking tours. In actuality, these tours are highly scripted, led by native English-speaking ex-pats and tip-based—leaving the responsibility to pay your guide to you. These tours are not hired by your tour company meaning you'll be pressed for tips at the end. And there's nothing wrong with Australians, but when I'm in Prague, I prefer to be lead around by a Czech who grew up in the city and can explain what it was like to live behind the Iron Curtain. In Paris, I want the accent and a taste of that quintessential French "joie de vivre". After the "free" tour, you'll also be given the "opportunity" to tag along on their paid tours the following day.

Meals Served with WSA

Andy Steves has discovered unique cultural dining experiences for every single WSA destination. We include all your breakfasts (3) and organize group lunches and dinners. This means we go to the best Fish 'n Chips joint in London, try Andy's favorite pizza in Trastevere in Rome, and we go outside our comfort zone with some escargot in Paris all in a way that's unforgettable and fits your budget.

Meals Served with others

2-3 breakfasts included with the hostel. They do not include any lunches or dinners. This means you'll have a tough time finding the real hidden cultural gems OFF the main tourist tracks in your destination city along with the fun atmosphere of eating with your tour group.

Sightseeing with WSA

We know you want to hit these main sites so we include the entry. Not only that, but we have reservations for each site, allowing us to skip the line. With literally hours in savings, we can build in free time for you to explore the city on your own. A win-win!

Sightseeing with Others

They don't include any sights in their packages. WSA does not walk you up to the entrance of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, or the Eiffel Tower in Paris and say, "Alright, see ya later."

WSA's Testimonials

Please read them! We post directly to our website from our feedback form and it is something we are very proud of. Our testimonials show that our tours are distinctly different from what else is out there. Read more about our tours here.

Others' Testimonials

We had a hard time finding any at all. The ones that are posted are anonymous and on their Facebook pages rather than their website.

Promotion with WSA

We limit our promotion to those who have signed up for our newsletter. We've also found that word of mouth of our quality service has been huge for us. Friends love telling friends about a great find!

Promotion with Others

They'll Facebook promote you silly, turning what used to be a fun way for you to stay in touch with your friends and fellow study-abroad students into a constant commercial. This is in large part due to their interns not interning, but rather promoting via Facebook messages and handing out flyers.

Group Size With WSA

Our max group size of 30 gets you: a personalized approach that allows for discussions on the cultural and historical context of what you are seeing, the opportunity to eat in smaller, more local places, and the ability to move around quickly and see more in a short-period of time. WSA's goal is to connect with the local culture, not trample it like you see so many large tourist groups doing.

Group Size With Others

Their tours don't run if they have less than 25, which means your booked trip can be canceled at the last minute. Trip sizes approach 150 people delivered to cities via two double-decker buses. With group sizes that large, their "guides" are reduced to crowd-herders.

Transportation with WSA

We have designed our weekend tours without including transportation from your home city, for a number of reasons:

1. You can work around your own academic schedule. Late class on Thursday? No problem, book a later flight. Have extra time? Extend your stay in the city!
2. You can easily coordinate a weekend adventure with friends studying in other cities. Simply book the same weekend and you're guaranteed a great time together!
3. You can book the transportation that makes the most sense given your unique scenario. Find that cheap flight, use your Eurail pass on an overnight train or hop on the Chunnel to enjoy a weekend in London.

Transportation with Others

Our competition includes bus transportation. From Rome to Prague, this means you spend over 30 hours on a bus to be in a city for about 50 hours. Instead, our tours encourage you to spend about 3 hours on a plane total to enjoy over 72 hours in each destination.

(No) Hidden Costs with WSA

We operate with the continual mission to make our "fine print" big and in your face. You'll know exactly what you're buying when you sign up for each tour. There are no hidden costs when traveling with WSA because we present them directly to you throughout the booking process.

Hidden Costs with Others

You're on your own for food, tour guides, sightseeing entry, all local transportation and more. As you can see in the details outlined above, the hidden costs of traveling with our competition add up. This doesn't even mention the intangible costs that you encounter when missing out on unforgettable cultural experiences! Think about how long it will be before the next time you'll be able to return to Rome or Dublin or Prague. Make sure you do it right the first time!

Hostels with WSA

We stay in the best, most centrally-located hostels in each city. Location can make all the difference! If you stay in a hostel 1.5 hours away from the slopes on a Swiss ski trip, or in a hostel with an hour commute into the center, it just doesn't cut it!

Hostels with Others

Our competition features optional "upgrades" adding up to 150eur to the price tag of your weekend trip to stay in a 4-star hotel. If that's what you're into, we'd recommend going with them. We prefer to stick to the exciting, clean and fun atmospheres that hostels have to offer.

Local Transportation with WSA

We include all of it—Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This means day passes so you also benefit during your free time!

Local Transportation with Others

They don't include any of it. In cities like London and Paris, local transportation can easily climb past 30 euros and more throughout the course of a weekend.