ChinaTour.comReviews of chinatour.com

1。在未通知情況下， 原來應住二晚的地方改成一睌。 2。和別團比較起來歺食菜式差又少，黃豆芽菜時出現，像個步隊歺 3。 吃不飽，晚上自己另外出去吃 4。 導遊對退稅手續經驗不足，導致擔誤很多時間 5。參加過貴公司三次團，這次是最差的一次，很失望。

First, the price of the tour was amazing and in retrospect I would have paid the listed price plus the surprise price additions for the Japanese portion of the tour alone. Sub-contracted Japanese tour guide (don't know the company's name) Chiyomi Kuroishi made the trip an amazing experience with all the extra history and cultural info she added plus adapting the trip in route to keep the price down while focusing on our interests. The tour guide in China was absolutely fine but a little rigid--definitely showed concern when we left the medicine shop sales pitch without buying anything. We honestly felt we were respectful enough by staying through the talk and individual "analysis" without laughing at the pitch (think old Western movies where the guy comes into town to sell a bottled cure for all ills). Now on to the company that organized the tour-- 1. Mistakes in booking due to not double checking their standard tour play (day 1, day 2, day 3 style) with the actual days of the week and times of the flights. 2. Crazy lay overs and flight times booked requiring you to stay up over 24 hours and remain in the airport to catch the next connecting flight (We finally figures how to get a "day pass" from the airport in China to go get some sleep at a nearby hotel). 3. The times of our arrival were not communicated to the tour guide in one country, but luckily they tracked down the possible flights the missing guests (including us) would be on. 4. Our original gateway airport was cancelled close enough to the trip to make getting an economical flight from New York gateway during Thanksgiving holiday impossible. 5. Note that tour guide fees/gratuities are listed by selling company as optional but they ARE NOT--they are the only way those tour guides get paid--so they are not an option. Also, the optional tours are really not very optional (at least in the Chinese part of the tour). In sum: What is so sad is that the company could avoid the scheduling mistakes by applying their standard itinerary to an excel spreadsheet then just filling in the flight times for each individual tour so they could see the days/dates side by side--list the tour participant arrivals on same--make decisions on low purchase gateways early so customers can book additional economic flights--update excel sheet on tour member arrivals and forward to in-country tour guides. State ALL REQUIRED parts of tour clearly up front--don't bait and switch!!!!--Tour is still reasonable enough and more valuable without the stress! If tour requires fourteen hour or similar lay over in airport in China send step by step pictures and instructions for free exit and re-entrance to airport (available from fellow travelers by googling on web), standard US web sites provide plain, clean, super cheap sleep hotels near airport ($20 or so). That way for the price of a sit down meal you can recoup enough sleep to make the tour workable. Finally, the Chinese part of the tour seems more highly subsidized by required stops. That is necessary I guess, but when you stop at a place with merchandise to sell (like jewelry), everyone knows it up front and it doesn't seem devious. We bought something small to support the tour and some members loved the jewelry part and bought a good amount. But, the medicine shop folks should do an exit survey that would hopefully open their eyes to how shady they seem in terms of their product push. They snagged only one person from our tour group. If they had taken a more reasonable approach about the benefits of Chinese medicine that are acceptable to even people who believe in science they would likely have increased their income by gaining some sales from most tour members. They would have also saved their image. We were all honestly itching to get out of the room they closed us up in before we started laughing. Now, with our review I hope you can check the tour price (add in "optional costs") and see if the current tour price offered is still a bargain--It likely is--If so, make the adjustments listed above yourself (or double check tour schedule/gateway options in advance on own) and you will have a bargain tour. Or maybe the tour company adjusts after hearing above info from several customers and provides a tour that is still a stress free bargain for customers and local tour guides as well as a profit maker for China Tours--That is my best hope!

A great tour. it was so economical we didnt really exect much but it was first class all the way Dont miss theoptional tours as they are all well worthwhie. Would recommend this tour to anyone.

There were many hidden charges...we found out that we were obliged to tip a certain amount.no matter.what

Not organized and poor customer service.

Too many people...not what we expected. Sales job at each stop. Can not recommend.

Too many high pressure sales events, too much time on the bus. Got ripped off at the silk factory.

Having taken many tours and trips I had some preconceived ideas as to how things should go. Our transfer was hard to locate and the operator did not help us until we asked for help. Hotel was adequate but very little to eat on the area. Tour guide was not very helpful On our second tour we spent 14 hours in and out of the car and she slept for about 1/2 of it. We were hoping to learn more and given the fact we were a captive audience it would have been a great opportunity to tell us more about Thailand . Phuket was nice. Hotel was awesome and close to the beach and things to do but we had only about 24 hours there. The hotel we were put in when we returned to Bangkok was scary. Employees were great but hotel was very run down! I do not think I would use this tour company again.