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| - We went on a discounted 10 day tour of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai through Rewards Travel China. They were very responsive on the phone and through email. They took care of many details including our flights and ground transportation, English-speaking guides, hotels, some meals, tours, shows and tipping all of the people who assisted us.
We also liked how Rewards Travel China gave us options for the trip. We could add on tours, shows, dinners and even extra days and cities. Other members of our tour group came with large families and children. Some people were retired and had age-related needs. Rewards Travel China's coordination and options accommodated everyone very well.
We ran into only two problems. First, we asked for a room with a king bed for the duration of the trip but they had us in two-bed rooms the whole time. We had to work it out at each hotel, sometimes pushing the two beds together into one.
Second, the hotels were different from what they had on our itinerary. It seems as if they found less expensive options at the last minute. For example, we stayed at a renovated YMCA in Hong Kong and a remotely located hotel in Shanghai. The Shanghai hotel was the biggest problem because it was 1.5 hours by train from anything we'd want to see and our original hotel was downtown.
One thing that we wish we'd known was that the Chinese government pays discount tour companies to take visitors to government run stores. We were surprised that we had to spend at least an hour every day in one of these stores whether we purchased something or not. The stores specialized in things like pearls, jade, ceramics and silk. They started with a presentation about how the products are made and how to decipher quality. It was really interesting. At the end of the presentation we were free to shop for souvenirs with the assurance that we were getting good products.
Anyway, our tour guides explained that more expensive tour groups don't have to go to the government stores. It would have been nice to know about those mandatory trips up front so that we were expecting them.
We would recommend Rewards Travel China for someone traveling to China for the first time or folks who don't like to get boggled down with logistical details.
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