09-17 Heather G. from USA

Tourist nationality: USA

Tour itinerary: 11-Day HK- Guangzhou- Guilin- Xian- Shanghai- Beijing

Tour Reviews:

Dear Jason,

I am happy to provide feedback on the tour you organized for us. Overall, I would give you (and your company), the highest rating for customer service...wonderful, terrific, outstanding! Below I have provided comments on specific aspects of your service.

Guide/Driver Services

I cannot say enough about the quality of our guides. Every single one of them was wonderful! Hobie, Jessica (Guilin), Jessica (Xian), Mabel, and Reeves were each terrific! They were extremely knowledgeable, friendly, polite, and helpful. If there was ever anything that the guide himself or herself did not know, they immediately made efforts to get an answer for us by asking someone else. The guides also had very good English skills. Moreover, they were very good about accommodating our interests, even when something we wanted to do/see/eat was not on the set itinerary. For example, Reeves was so patient and helpful when we decided to forgo the Ming tombs in favor of going to the Paralympics. In small ways, each of the guides made these kinds of adjustments and we greatly appreciated their flexibility. 

We felt so comfortable with each of the guides and became so attached to them that we felt a little sad each time we left a city and had to say goodbye. I can honestly say that I would be perfectly happy to host any one of the guides (or you too!) if any of them ever came on vacation to the United States.

Hotels

Not much to say here. The hotels were fine. Nothing particularly noteworthy, but certainly at least as good as I had expected. The only one (small) complaint I would have is that many of the hotels that stated they offered internet services did not, in fact, have internet working in the rooms. In room internet was important to us for a number of reasons. We were very happy when we learned that almost every one of the hotels told us (at check-in) that they had internet in the room, but we were very disappointed when we learned (upon going to our room) that the internet didn't work. This happened in at least 2 of our hotel rooms. It would be very nice to have internet capability in all of the hotel rooms.

Sightseeing Arrangements

The sightseeing arrangements were great. We were so grateful that you were willing and able to arrange all of the sights that we requested. In addition, as discussed above, we appreciate the flexibility of your company to allow us to alter our itinerary during the tour in order to accommodate our new interests. 

Meals

This is probably the only area where I think the tour could have been slightly improved. First, I want to clarify that we thought the food was very good, both in quality and flavor. The only thing that could have been improved would have been the authenticity of the cuisine. We happen to be travellers who very much enjoy tasting the typical food eaten by the local people. For many of our meals, we noticed that were were one of the few (and in some cases, the only) people dining in a particular restaurant. In addition, it didn't seem that the food we were eating was the type of food that the local people were eating. Please don't get me wrong; of course, we enjoyed eating some of the lavish meals that we had so that we could experience the rich dining experience. It may have been nice, however, to have had a couple more "local" meals mixed in. For example, rather than having Mongolian BBQ restaurant (in Shanghai) opened especially for us, we would have been happy to eat in a local restaurant that served food typical of Shanghai cuisine. The meals that we felt were more "authentic," were also lots of fun and very delicious, for example, our meal with Jessica (Xian) in the Muslim Quarter or hot pot in Beijing. In addition, I really enjoyed the meals that were cooked for us in the hotel at Longsheng/Longji. The food was very fresh and felt very authentic for the area. For example, we were eating the vegetables that were grown on the terraces! 

I understand that many people who may arrange tours with your company may not be as adventurous as we are. I recognize that our interest and desire to taste all sorts of food, even those that may be unfamiliar to us, may be unique and somewhat unusual. Unlike many American travellers, we like very spicy food, dishes that are unfamiliar to us, etc. In fact, many of our friends have been surprised when we've told them the things we've eaten on our travels (e.g. crocodile, snake, insects, blood clots, guinea pigs, ...). In light of the fact that many people would not want to be as adventurous as we, I can understand "fancy" meals for the various specialities in different cities. For example, the dumpling dinner in Xian was terrific! We would not have changed that. 

That information aside, I would like to reiterate that the taste and quality of the food was quite good. In addition, we were given so much food that we didn't know what to do with ourselves! I think we each left China at least 2 kilograms heavier after eating all that food!

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jason, I can say that we were very impressed with your tour company. In the future, I will highly recommend your company to any of my friends who plan a trip to China. I will certainly return to your company for services when I take another trip to China. Moreover, I would be happy to be a reference for anyone considering using your services who has any questions.

Thank you, again, for all of your help! You and all the the representatives of your company were truly top notch!

Heather