Booking trips in China for parents - Advice

[杰.克]

Hi guys,

 

So my parents will be visiting me in China for 3 weeks. Parts of this I will be working and unable to be with them, as such im looking to book them into daily tour groups. I wonder what you think the best way of doing this? Ive looked at both trips on Ctrip and Tripadvisor. Although both are a bit more expensive than I expected. With prices around 500-1000 RMB per person zuoyou to go on 1 day trips in places such as Beijing/Shanghai etc 

 

Does anyone have any experience doing this that they can share?

[abcdefg]

What parts of China do they want to see? Where are you working? When are they coming? (What time of year?)

[大块头]

When my mom came to visit me I found her a private tour guide on the Facebook group for the city I was in. I forget how much he charged, however.

[eion_padraig]

A friend of mine who used to live in China does tours with a company called, Urban Adventures base in Australia that has walking tours all over the world. It looks like they have some tours in a few cities in China. The prices seem to run about 250 RMB/person to double that. That's a bit pricey for China, but it's probably the going rate for you to get a tour guide who is an English speaker.

Or alternatively you could just send them out with some Chinese university student desperate to practice their English. No, that's a bad idea. Well, actually... how much do you like your parents?

[杰.克]

Ive booked two things up until now via trip advisor. A 1 day tour to tiananmen/great wall and a 1 day cooking class with trip to a market. They were 300 and 500RMB respectively. Both, particularly the cooking seemed steep. But have tralled the net, this actually seems to be about the going rate, if you want someone established and speaks english

 

Im thinking of giving ctrip a go, but am a bit wary for booking tours via it. (someone who speaks Mandarin turning up)

[大块头]

Another potential concern with trying to find the cheapest option: there are many tour guide companies in China that offer very inexpensive package deals but the trip consists almost entirely of visiting an endless series of over-priced knick-knack shops. You see stories about them pop up every once in a while on the r/China subreddit. While at these shops these companies use seemingly all means imaginable to cajole, shame, or force you to buy useless jade carvings, jewelry, etc.

 

These companies seem to primarily target overseas Chinese, but I'm sure some target the non-Mandarin-speaking crowd too.

[imron]

Yep, they're inexpensive precisely because the tour guide/company receive a commission from the knick-knack shops/factories that you visit in order to make up the difference in price, hence the cajoling, shaming and forcing.

[杰.克]

Ahhh Okay, noted. I booked my parents on a few trips up until now. Tiananmen Sq and the Great Wall through Ctrip, 200 RMB pp, but it was last week when the insane pollution cloud was so I told them not to go (tour operator did not provide a refund, unfairly i thought? aqi was over 900). I then booked them via tripadvisor. guided tour of food market and cook jiaozi class , 500 RMB pp, (expensive I thought) which they really really enjoyed. Today they go on an introductory tour of Shanghai that I booked via Ctrip, 300 RMB pp. Ill feed back and let people know if it is full of shopping trips or not!

 

Im hoping the ctrip booking works out, as it seems a good platform. I will travel with my parents to Hangzhou, Nanjing and Xian, and for Nanjing and Xian im thinking of booking one of these guided trips from Ctrip, if the one today works out in Shanghai,

[abcdefg]

When you book trips through C-Trip or Tripadvisor, it's important to realize that they are just brokers, no more than middlemen. They don't do anything except link you up with a subcontractor/supplier (for a small hidden fee.) If you want to book with an actual tour guide, you would be better served by using other resources. That's why I asked early on where you were trying to arrange tours and travel. In order to perhaps suggest actual providers of services. Actual human beings.

 

For example, for ideas in Beijing, have a look at The Beijinger.  http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum.

 

Then do something similar in Shanghai. At least check some issues of The Shanghaist. http://shanghaiist.com/

 

As it is, you are getting only the dregs of what is possible; you are certainly not getting the cream. These quickie half-day "idiot tours" for 200 or 300 RMB are pretty weak tea. But maybe they are good enough for your purposes. If you want more, it will cost more. Not only in terms of money, but in terms of time and effort.

 

You are arranging something with Tripadvisor and they are passing the ball off to a company they own or in which they have a large financial interest, such as Viatour; and Vaitour in turn is contracting something with an actual guide; and he might be busy, so he passes it off to a junior colleague in return for a small kickback and some down-the-road guanxi.

 

In addition to considerations regarding the quality of the service and mandatory shopping stops, you now have at least three layers of accountability, three levels at which things can be miss-communicated or otherwise go wrong. This is not an ideal situation.

 

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I will travel with my parents to Hangzhou, Nanjing and Xian, and for Nanjing and Xian im thinking of booking one of these guided trips from Ctrip, if the one today works out in Shanghai,

 

How well things work out today in Shanghai has very little bearing, almost none, on how well things will work out some days from now in Nanjing or Xian. You are not purchasing a constant or reliable product. It's a crap shoot. This is not the best way to go about this in my opinion. I am not at all impressed with this plan.

[Lu]

4 hours ago, abcdefg said:

As it is, you are getting only the dregs of what is possible; you are certainly not getting the cream. These quickie half-day "idiot tours" for 200 or 300 RMB are pretty weak tea.

I find this rather insulting. It implies that Jieke is an idiot for booking through a major travel agent (or perhaps that his parents are idiots for enjoying the tour). Not everyone has the time to spend calling and baidu'ing around to get 'the cream', and how would you even know where to find 'the cream' in a city where you've never been? Outsourcing that effort is the whole point of a travel agent.

 

Instead of criticising the OP's efforts and ideas, perhaps you could suggest some ways that you would go about this if you were in his shoes.

[abcdefg]

1 hour ago, Lu said:

Instead of criticising the OP's efforts and ideas, perhaps you could suggest some ways that you would go about this if you were in his shoes.

 

That ship has sailed. I offered to help when he first posted.

[杰.克]

Chill guys, im sure no offence meant, and none taken.

 

Anyhow yeah, I am limited on time in truth and am happy to pay a bit more for the convienance. They are here for 3 weeks, and im having to partially work that time whilst managing their trip. Anyhow we are all off to Hangzhou, Nanjing and Xian next week. I can speak Chinese fairly well, and will check resources on the ground a bit closer!

[abcdefg]

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Anyhow we are all off to Hangzhou, Nanjing and Xian next week.

 

Those are all great places and I hope you all have a very good time.

 

Here's an English-speaking guide in Xi'an that always gets favorable reviews and has done so over the span of several years. Name is Bryan Bai. I do not know his rates. Website: http://xianhistorytourguide.com/ E-mail: 13991987358@139.com. https://www.tripadvisor.com/members-forums/bryanbai 

 

The Moslem Quarter in Xi'an has excellent street food, and lamb specialty dishes are not to be missed, with 羊肉泡馍 at or near the top of the list. Eating it is an experience that is hard to duplicate elsewhere.

 

In Hangzhou, be sure to take time to visit the Longjing tea hills, right outside of town. One can get there by public bus or of course by taxi. It's a good place to have lunch as well as to sample their world-famous tea. 东坡肉 is a regional specialty that I've enjoyed there several times; it's named after a famous statesman and poet.

 

A lesser-known spot in Hangzhou that is worth the trouble is the five-story Leifeng Pagoda on the south side of West Lake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leifeng_Pagoda

 

Nanjing has a top-notch museum with a world-class collection of 清白 pottery from the Ming and Qing. It's often overlooked in the rush to see more popular things such as the Nanjing Massacre Museum and the section of the (Ming) Great Wall. Nanjing is known throughout China for its osamanthus-flavored salt duck 南京盐水鸭.

 

Less fancy fare that is usually excellent there is their soup-filled dumplings 灌汤小笼包。Inexpensive and delicious.