China Tour Reviews from United Kingdom Customers
Jose Eduardo's China Tour Review
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Dear Cindy,
It was great to meet you in Xian. Please see my comments below.
We are quite satisfied with the service. The guides spoke well. We were specially very impressed with Sonny, guide in Beijing as he was great in his understanding, attention to detail and flexibility making our visit great. We had a few stops at souvenir shops but were never too pressed to buy, generally a bit of notice about it is welcome so we don’t feel uncomfortable.
The Driver Service and Vehicle throughout the tour was comfortable in all destinations.
Lunches and Dinners were generally good apart from lunch in Shanghai which was a bit poor.
For hotels, I think for a budget tour they were ok.
We did Daily Bottled Water in Xian but not sure we did in all the other destinations.
I will see if I can send you some pictures when I have some time.
Overall, it has been a great holiday trip and we enjoyed it throughout.
Thanks and Best Regards,
Jose Eduardo
Customer's information:
Name: Jose Eduardo
Nationality: United Kingdom
Itinerary: Beijing-Xian-Guilin-Shanghai
Updated: Tuesday,Sep 07,2010
Yvette 's China Tour Review
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Dear Sophia,
The guides were all very good. They spoke clearly and politely and we understood them. They were all keen to help us understand the history and importance of each location, and kept our interest by recounting old stories and tales related to each place. Of all the guides, I have to say that we liked Juliet the best. I can’t really say why, but we just felt so much at home with her, I think it was probably just a good combination of our characters. That said, the others were also excellent – enthusiastic, friendly and bright. We did stop at souvenir shops / factories – the jade one on the way to the Great Wall and the craft one in Xian. These were interesting, especially the one in Xian. There was no factory or shop to see in Guilin, but when we needed hats, the guide took us to a shop to get some. In Beijing, Juliet offered to take us to the silk museum but we asked to stay in the Temple of Heaven. We did not feel pressed to buy anything, but could done have if we had wanted to.
All the cars were clean and comfortable, water was provided, and the driver was proficient and safe. Pick-up and drop-off was safe and timely.
We had very good food. I particularly liked the railway restaurant in Beijing where the guide and driver sat with us and taught us how to eat Peking Duck. And I enjoyed the lunch restaurant in Shanghai with the musical entertainment. It was fun. The only bad thing was that often there was far too much food for the two of us, and we would have been happy with just two dishes each plus rice, as we didn’t like wasting it. The tastes were good, and it was exciting to try new foods. I’m glad we ate in places that had some character and seemed to be Chinese, with Chinese food.
Hotels all had good points. Locations were all excellent, service was efficient, and the hotels felt safe. I was very happy.
1、The location of the Xuanwumen hotel in Beijing was good for us because it was by the metro and also in a very local area. I would rather stay in a local area than a tourist area, though maybe some people would prefer a tourist area. We had a good time walking around the area and meeting people and seeing how they live. They were very friendly and asked us to join in some of their activities, like dancing for exercise. The breakfast was also very good. But the smell of cigarette smoke might displease some people. I guess that’s just the way things are, though. We liked the idea of the hotel’s pavement café, and I think other visitors might like this too.
2、The Xian City hotel again had an excellent location, and felt fresher and cleaner. The room was very nice, but the breakfast a little limited. As we stepped outside, there were immediately interesting things to do and see.
3、The Guilin Universal hotel was my favourite, especially as we got upgraded to the river view room. The location was excellent. The room was large and comfortable, and it was easy to relax just looking out of the window! The breakfast was varied and good. (I was a bit sorry that the foreigners and Chinese ate in separate sections).
4、The Hengsheng Peninsula in Shanghai AGAIN had an excellent location. It was not as relaxing at the Guilin hotel, but Shanghai is not a relaxing place! The breakfast was very good, varied. This was Helen’s favourite – I think she liked the high bed! The business centre was handy for online check-in.
We were provided two bottles of mineral water everybody everyday and it was very useful, especially travelling with a child.
Finally, I would like to share my feelings for people who will travelling with Chinatouronline
1、I’d like to add that I would definitely recommend this kind of tour for people I know.
2、China tour online is a very friendly organization and that really filters down to the customers.
3、All the staff were calm and professional. I knew we could trust them to deal with things, even if something had gone wrong. I felt that we were in responsible hands.
4、All the activities were fun and interesting.
5、I liked the fact that it was possible to arrange the tour for just our own group, even just two of us. This is a real bonus and felt like a luxury.
6、In the future, knowing more about China, I would ask to visit some specific places, and I’m sure you would be able to oblige, because I found all the staff were knowledgeable, flexible and sensitive to our needs.
7、I felt respected and treated as an intelligent traveller.
8、I liked the fact that we had “free days” to explore on our own, as sometimes we want to go back to a place or just to wander around. The guides offered us suggestions for our free time, and told us how to get to places that interested us.
9、I noted the prices of air tickets and hotels on the way, and I appreciate that the tour was also very good value for money. We could not have done it for less ourselves, even if we had been able to make the advance bookings – which would have been difficult. Presumably, tour operators get concessions or block bookings, which makes this possible, but ultimately it means that it was well worth our taking a tour instead of trying to organize the trip ourselves. I think that is an excellent selling point.
10、The organization of the tour at all levels was efficient, and communication was outstanding from beginning to end. Perhaps this communication – again at all levels (between yourselves and with guests) is your greatest strength. Everything was transparent and clear, and we felt involved in all aspects.
11、Again I’d like to thank you, Sophia and the guides, for really making us feel at home in China, and enabling us to have an excellent impression of your wonderful country.
Customer's information:
Name: Yvette
Nationality: United Kingdom
Itinerary: Beijing-Xian-Guilin-Shanghai
Updated: Friday,Sep 03,2010
Ms. Naybour's China Tour Review
Dear Sophia Sun,
Thank you very much. We had a wonderful holiday and were very impressed with China Tours.
Everything from the service whilst booking, ie your swift email responses to everything I asked, to all the guides and the standard of hotels. It was extremely professional. If I was travelling to China again, I would not hesitate to use China Tours in the future.
All the guides were very good and very professional. They were all very friendly and spoke good English and consulted us on all plans. I would, however, like to make special mention of Nick in Guilin, who was exceptional. He was particularly knowledgeable and professional. He came across as a lovely person and he was happy to take us where we wanted and whilst offering us options he never pressurised us. We asked him for a recommendation of a restaurant in Guilin (McFound) and it turned out to be one of the best and the cheapest at which we ate. We would like to send him our thanks.
All the cars were comfortable and had air conditioning - not that we like air conditining but it did have it. The drivers all seemed very nice.
All the meals were good. They were all clean restaurants.
We were happy with all the hotels but two we chose ourselves. So can’t comment on comparisons for the original choice.
The standard of the cruise was also very good and I would recommend Century Star. The service was exceptionally good and it was very comfortable and clean.
There was always bottles of water available which was very helpful.
I am happy for you to use my comments. I am also happy to recommend you to other clients. Would not, however, want our email passed to other marketing companies.
Once again, we would like to thank you for helping to make our holiday so enjoyable.
Kind regards,
Julie Naybour.
Customer's information:
Name: Ms. Naybour
Nationality: United Kingdom
Itinerary: 4 Days Memorable Downstream Yangtze Exploration
Updated: Tuesday,Jun 08,2010
Ms. Nicola Ward's China Tour Review
Hi Tracy:
Thanks for the photo – it came out really well. It was really lovely to meet you and put a face to the name at the end of all of the emails! We had a lovely trip and Mike and I would like to thank you in particular for making it all so easy for us and for arranging a fantastic holiday – I know we gave you some problems along the way but you handled everything in a very professional manner. I have replied to your questions below so hope the answers are helpful for you. Sorry for taking a few days but I wanted to make sure I had time to be thorough for you.
Thanks again and be assured that we would definitely recommend your company in future.
We had no problem with any of the vehicles and found them all to be very comfortable and clean. Air cons all worked and the minivans in particular were great for the airport pick-ups and collections when we had our luggage with us.
The drivers were also very polite and courteous to us and we had no problems with anyone offending us – no smoking, yelling etc. The best and most attentive driver was probably the one in Shanghai. He was particularly courteous and friendly.
We had great respect for all of the tour guides as their comprehension of English was so good. They were all very well informed and friendly towards us and they were all waiting for us in the airports as we arrived at each location. Everyone also arrived at the arranged time each morning to collect us.
The bottled water was available to us every day and was very useful as we were regularly out in hot weather for a couple of hours at a time. This is a great service and I think necessary as you definitely need to drink water during the day to keep hydrated – thank you!
Food
We found the lunch restaurant on the first day in Beijing to be very good as it was small and we were served hot food. We had a problem at the delicate dumpling banquet as they could not initially find seats for us. Jasmine was very good and really tried to help but the problem was that we had been allocated with another couple from another group and they did not want to share their table. I think in future if you only have a group of 2 people a separate table should be booked for them to ensure that this does not happen again.
The rest of the lunch restaurants were good and the one at the Terracotta Warriors and the one in Shanghai were very good. The dinner in Chongqing was also in a lovely restaurant.
The food on the ship was excellent and we could not fault it at all. The tables were well organised and the service from the waiters and waitresses was excellent. The choice of food on board was also fantastic. We would definitely recommend the Victoria Anna to anyone wanting to cruise the Yangtze. Also the breakfasts in each of the hotels were very good, with a lot of choice of both Western and Asian foods.
There was a lot of food in each location and we regularly had to leave up to half of it, which seemed a great waste. We also found that we usually received a very large bowl of soup with the meals and there were only 2 of us. It was not hot quite often and we would have preferred less food but hotter food, with the rice and vegetables served at the same time as the meat dishes. One other thing we noticed was that a lot of the plates and bowls etc. were chipped or cracked – the restaurants must improve on this as westerners do not like to see this.
Tracy we certainly are not complaining as we had a great experience with the food but I know if my parents went that they would complain about cold food!!! I think it is useful for you to know our views to help in the future
Hotels
The Prime Hotel in Beijing was very centrally located and was an excellent choice. It offered free internet service in the room, which is very useful when you are travelling and the room was spacious and very comfortable.
The Grand New World Hotel in Xian was also very good and we would recommend it highly.
Victoria Anna was excellent and definitely 5 star. We really appreciated the Junior Suite upgrade that we received and when we saw it we were very pleased. The ship was only about half full so there was plenty of room onboard and the staffs were fantastic.
The Hua Ting hotel in Shanghai was lovely but we would have preferred to have been closer to the downtown area. It was a very high standard but we spent a lot of time travelling back and forward from our attractions. The room we got was lovely and the internet charges were reasonable. Hotels are lovely. Staff are very helpful and no problems for us. I would probably recommend the Prime Hotel as the best one.
I will certainly send you some of our pictures – once I have sorted them out – still not had time to do so yet!!! I will forward to you under separate email.
In general we were very impressed with how modern China has become. We could not comprehend the size and scale of the various cities and the fantastic infrastructure that you have. The airports in particular were very efficient and we had neither delays nor problems at check-in. We both travel a lot and expected there to be some hold ups but this simply did not happen. We could not believe how upmarket the main shopping street in Beijing is, full of designer shops which unfortunately we could not afford to buy from!!! We would have loved to have spent more time in Xian and we would love to see Shanghai when all the work is completed for the Expo next year. As for the Yangtze river – we would both strongly recommend the cruise to everyone as it is a lovely chance to relax and sail through such fantastic scenery. The highlights of my trip were the Great Wall (even though it was a foggy day!), the Terracotta Warriors, which I have always wanted to see and the Yangtze River cruise as it was so interesting.
We have no problem with our comments being posted on your website. I found your company details during a websearch when I was trying to plan our trip and I found the comments of your customers to be very helpful. I would certainly recommend the professional service that we received from you, but in particular I think the friendly and caring manner of yourself and your guides etc. made this a fantastic holiday to remember for us for a very long time.
In particular can I praise you Tracy again for the professional way in which you organised everything for us – no detail was too small and we really appreciated being able to meet you. It was difficult for us to finalise some of the details because of the changes to our holiday schedule at late notice but you were very efficient and very helpful. Thank you again!
I would also praise Jasmine for her lovely, friendly and very professional service to us. We really enjoyed our time with her and found her to be a great asset to your team. She is very knowledgeable and helpful and made our trip in Xian a lot of fun. We hope to keep in touch with her by email and send her some of the photos we took.
I notice you do not have a question regarding the entertainment that we experienced. We both thoroughly enjoyed the Beijing Opera, the Tang Dynasty Musical and the Acrobatic Show. They were fantastic shows, very entertaining and well worth seeing. The talent was amazing. We did not get a chance to go back to the hotels to shower and change clothes for the shows and this was fine for us as everyone was dressed quite casually. It would be worth letting clients know that they will be having long days and will not be back to the hotels between tours and the shows, especially for older people who may get quite tired – I do recommend that these shows are not missed though as they were a very enjoyable part of our trip.
Customer's information:
Name: Ms. Nicola Ward
Nationality: United Kingdom
Itinerary: 12 Days Majestic China Tour with Yangtze Cruise (Luxury)
Updated: Wednesday,Oct 21,2009
Mrs. Helen Shiach's China Tour Review
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| Our clients at Great Wall |
Hello Sophia and Cindy,
I am very sorry that I haven’t got back to you but unfortunately I have not been very well since returning to the UK. We flew home from Hong Kong last Monday and I think it must have been the flight but I have had a cough and not feeling very well at all.
Firstly I would just like to say what a fabulous trip we had, it far outshone our expectations. We were in Shanghai for an extra 3 days with my nephew and his wife and we had a fabulous time, we then flew to Hong Kong and spent a week there. The only thing Hong Kong was very humid – too hot for me. We had a lovely time there also – it has been one of our most memorable holidays. We ate Chinese food all the time for 3 weeks and were never ill, just a pity about the final flight home.
Many thanks for all your help and it was very good to meet you in Xian – that was a lovely night the dumpling banquet was beautiful plus the birthday cake for Brian.
The drivers were polite the whole trip and we very much enjoyed the experience of so much traffic, and how the drivers managed to get through. Of course when you are on holiday this is no problem, when you have to go to work I’m sure it would be very frustrating. The vehicles were fine and we had no problems at all.
The water is an excellent idea and we were very thankful.
All the restaurants were very good, we enjoyed all the food. We were very lucky to have Chinese tourists with us to advise us what we were eating. Perhaps it would be good if the tour guide could stay with the party and let them know which each dish is. The food was all delicious, I don’t know the name of the restaurant we liked best, but it was on the Saturday lunchtime. There was a wedding party also in the restaurant.
The hotel were all very good. I enjoyed the Prime Hotel best as it was the old style, not so modern and felt more Chinese.
The two things I would like to say, are it would be good to have the Beijing Olympic Stadium included in the trip and also the ladies did not realize that once we went out in the morning each day, we would not return until the evening. If you could state this in your instructions for the trip, we would not need to take so many clothes!!
Customer's information:
Name: Mrs. Helen Shiach
Nationality: United Kingdom
Itinerary: 8 Days Splendid China Tour
Updated: Sunday,Oct 11,2009
