Arthur Bernard Frommer (/ˈfroʊmər/) (July 17, 1929 – November 18, 2024) was an American travel writer known for founding the Frommer's brand of travel guides.
Frommer was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War.[5] Rather than being sent to Korea, he was sent to Europe because of his linguistic abilities.[2] In 1955, while serving in Germany, Frommer wrote and self-published a guidebook called The GI's Guide to Traveling In Europe.[2] It sold out its first print run.[3]
In 1957, Frommer followed up with a civilian version called Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, which covered major European urban destinations.[2] It became one of the best selling travel guides of all time. For five years, Frommer practiced law and expanded his guidebook publishing empire. As a lawyer, he worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison and was involved with water rights cases in the American West, as well as defending D.H. Lawrence's controversial novel Lady Chatterley's Lover against the U.S. Post Office (a benchmark First Amendment case). In 1962, Frommer founded tour operator $5-a-Day Tours, Inc.[4] He also left the practice of law in 1961 to pursue his travel business, Arthur Frommer International, Inc.,[2] of which he was chairman and president until 1981.[citation needed]
In 1969, Frommer built a hotel in Amsterdam, now known as the Hotel Mercure Amsterdam Arthur Frommer, and part of the Accor group. In all Frommer built 4 Arthur Frommer hotels (in Aruba, Curacao, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam).[1]
Frommer sold the travel guide book business to Simon & Schuster in 1977, it changed hands a few times, and Frommer eventually reacquired the rights in 2012.[7]
In the 1980s, he published Frommer's New World of Travel, which advocated alternative vacation styles, and founded Budget Travel magazine, which he sold to Newsweek.[8] He briefly ventured into general bargain shopping in 2005–2006 with the quarterly magazine Arthur Frommer's Smart Shopping.[6] He wrote a travel column syndicated through King Features Syndicate for over 2 decades. He had a weekly syndicated radio show for over 20 years, The Travel Show with Arthur and Pauline Frommer, also hosted with his daughter Pauline (from his first marriage), co-president of Frommer Media LLC.[9]
In 1997, Arthur Frommer was brought on by publisher IDG (later known as Hungry Minds) to create Frommers.com.[10] It became one of the first travel sites on the web and it remains one of the top sources for unbiased, journalistically created travel information on the internet, receiving millions of page views per month.[citation needed]
Over the decades, over 75 million Frommer's guidebooks have been sold.[2]
Personal life and death
After Frommer's marriage to Hope Arthur ended in divorce, he married Roberta Brodfield in 1994.[3] He had one daughter and two stepdaughters.[2] He died of complications from pneumonia at his home on Manhattan's Upper West Side on November 18, 2024, at the age of 95.[2][1]
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared bathrooms. Private rooms may also be available. Hostels are popular forms of lodging for backpackers, however very few impose age limits, so hostels are an option for travellers of all ages and styles. The benefits of hostels include lower costs and opportunities to meet people from different places, find travel partners, and share travel experiences. Some hostels, such as in India or Hostelling International, cater to a niche market of travelers. Different hostels can be known for offering different experiences. For example, one hostel might feature in-house social gatherings such as movie nights or communal dinners, another might feature local tours, one might be known for its parties, and another might have a quieter place to relax in serenity, or be located on the beach. Newer hostels focus on a more trendy design, some of which are on par with boutique hotels. Some may cater to older digital nomads, global nomads, and perpetual travelers who prefer slightly more upmarket private rooms or a quieter atmosphere. Hostels may also differentiate themselves by being environmentally friendly ecohostels. In countries where wages are lower, the cost of staying at a hostel may be similar to staying in a budget hotel.
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
Fodor's is a producer of English-language travel guides and online tourism information. It was founded by Hungarian Eugene Fodor, who created his first travel guide, 1936...on the Continent, with the intention of improving upon the directory-type travel guides in existence through the inclusion of practical guidance, such as tipping advice, and levity.
The Moscow Times is an Amsterdam-based independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates, such as hotels, cafés, embassies, and airlines, and also by subscription. The newspaper was popular among foreign citizens residing in Moscow and English-speaking Russians. In November 2015, the newspaper changed its design and type from daily to weekly and increased the number of pages to 24.
The Chicago Reader, or Reader, is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The Reader has been recognized as a pioneer among alternative weeklies for both its creative nonfiction and its commercial scheme. Richard Karpel, then-executive director of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, wrote:
[T]he most significant historical event in the creation of the modern alt-weekly occurred in Chicago in 1971, when the Chicago Reader pioneered the practice of free circulation, a cornerstone of today's alternative papers. The Reader also developed a new kind of journalism, ignoring the news and focusing on everyday life and ordinary people.
Richard John Steves Jr. is an American travel writer, author, activist, and television personality. His travel philosophy encourages people to explore less-touristy areas of destinations and to become immersed in the local people's way of life. Starting in 2000, he hosted Rick Steves' Europe, a travel series on public television. Steves also has a public radio travel show called Travel with Rick Steves (2005−present) and has authored numerous travel guides, the first of which was the popular Europe Through the Back Door. In 2006, he became a syndicated newspaper columnist, and in 2010, his company released a mobile phone application called "Rick Steves’ Audio Europe" containing self-guided walking tours and geographic information.
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Simon Peter Richie Calder is a freelance English travel journalist and broadcaster. He works for various news and travel publications as well as being travel correspondent for The Independent.
Hampton by Hilton, formerly Hampton Inn or Hampton Inn & Suites, is an American chain of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. The Hampton hotel brand is a chain of moderately priced, budget to midscale limited service hotels with limited food and beverage facilities. Most Hampton hotels are independently owned and operated by franchisees, though a few are managed by Hilton. Hampton by Hilton is one of the largest hotel franchises in the U.S. As of March 2024, the Hampton franchise includes 3,000 hotels in 40 countries and territories.
Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft, the group currently operates 77 five-star hotels and residences in 35 countries.
Insight Guides, founded by Hans Johannes Hofer, is a travel company based in London with offices in Singapore and Warsaw. It sells customised package tours as well as guide books. It also produces travel books, maps, globes, and travel gadgets for travelers.
Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company celebrated its 60th anniversary. Frommer has maintained a travel-related blog on the company's website since 2007.
John Wilcock was a British journalist known for his work in the underground press, as well as his travel guide books.
KFYO is a commercial AM radio station in Lubbock, Texas. It airs a news/talk radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media. Its studios are on 82nd Street in southwest Lubbock.
Donald Emory Welsh was a magazine publisher and editor.
HotelsCombined, a unit of Booking Holdings, is a hotel metasearch engine founded in 2005, with headquarters in Sydney, Australia.
Let's Go was a travel guide series researched, written, edited, and run entirely by students at Harvard University. Let's Go was founded in 1960 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Norfolk Hotel is a 4-star hotel in the seaside resort of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Designed in 1865 by architect Horatio Nelson Goulty, it replaced an earlier building called the Norfolk Inn and is one of several large Victorian hotels along the seafront. The French Renaissance Revival-style building, recalling E.M. Barry's major London hotels, is "tall, to make a show": the development of the passenger lift a few years earlier allowed larger hotels to be built. It is a Grade II listed building.
Joshua Benjamin Hammer is an American conservative political commentator, attorney, and columnist. He is a syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, senior editor-at-large for Newsweek, and host of The Josh Hammer Show, a Newsweek podcast and syndicated weekly radio show. In 2024, he launched a second daily podcast, America on Trial with Josh Hammer, with The First.
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