Tips to visit World Expo

The World Expo will be held in Eastern city Shanghai from May 1 to Oct. 31st. You should never underestimate the crowd when this kind of mega events are happening in China. Compared to the Beijing Olympic Games back in 2008, the good side of this World Expo is that it is a 184-day event, compared to less than 3 weeks for the Olympic Games. This might be the reason why there are peak time tickets, mostly for holidays and closing week, and regular tickets. Since tons of visitors would be visiting EXPO during weekends, so probably Monday to Thursday is the most 'comfortable' time for you to visit. Have you been to Disneyland during American holidays? That might be what you would expect during the regular weekdays in Shanghai!


Picture: China Pavilion (credit: Shanghai EXPO official site)

If you are planning a trip to the EXPO, it is not the optimum time to book your hotel and the intra-China air yet. From the experience of Beijing Olympic Games, the hotel price would fall dramatically after the first few days of the events, so does the airfare. Go to www.ctrip.com and monitor the hotel/airfare prices and make your reservation once you find the 'right' price for you. By the way, Ctrip.com and Elong.com, similar to Expedia and Ortitz, are probably the two most famous online tool for you to plan your China trip.


Picture: USA Pavilion (credit: Shanghai EXPO official site)

Below is a few useful link for you to get to know Shanghai EXPO more!

World Expo Ticket information

Pavilion Design information and pictures

Shanghai EXPO most current news

World EXPO history

Which hotels to use when traveling in China

If we are talking about the best hotels chains in the world, we can come up with Four Seasons as No.1, Ritz-Carlton as No.2. Those two are definitely the most famous ones with regard to employees, service, standards, and especially, corporate culture. The Four Seasons' Golden Rule, and the Ritz's 'We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen' have been the most popular case studies for US college students.

However, when you are going to China mainland, there are not as many Four Seasons, Ritz and other world-recognized finest hotels as you may find in US. Currently, for example, Four Seasons only have one hotel in Shanghai, with three more in pipeline (Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Beijing). Mandarin Oriental even has no hotels in China. Meanwhile, some low-end brands in US like Hyatt or Holiday Inn have totally different positioning strategies in China and are among the top brands. Let me introduce you some of the top brands and also famous boutique hotels you may choose:

Four Seasons available in Shanghai only

Ritz Carlton: available in Beijing, Shanghai, Sanya, Shenzhen

Peninsula Hotel: available in Beijing, Shanghai

Hyatt: available in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou.

Famous Boutique hotels:

Aman Resorts: available in Beijing, Hangzhou

Banyan Tree Hotel: available at Hangzhou, Lijiang, Ringha, Sanya

Last secret, you won't find any luxury hotels in Xi'an, the hometown of terra-cotta warriors. You do need to anticipate huge service and product quality drop when you leave Beijing or Shanghai for Xi'an. Good luck!

Sustainable Tourism in China 2---Ecotourism

Ecotourism has four elements, nature-based, minimum-impact management, contribution to conservation and education. China is famous for its history, people, and unique architecture, nevertheless, it has a number of Ecotourism resources that are unseen to most of the people. If you are not the type of person just wanna see the Great Wall and Terra-Cotta warriors, or if you want to spend half of your time visiting some unique places that can only be made by the God, my recommendations are Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and Silk Road. And you know what, ecotourism trips are the cheapest, even cheaper than regular main city visits. It is mostly because of the relatively simple condition of the hotels.

For Yunnan, I would recommend WildChina tour operator. The reasons are simple. The founder, Mei, who is originally from Yunnan, has been the most passionate about spreading the word about Yunnan. Bird watching, climbing, excluded village visit, glaciers, and snow mountains, you name it. You can actually find any ecotourism activities in just one of the over 30 provinces in China. Some recommended tours include:

No. 1 pick: Pilgrimage Trail to Mt. Kawagebo


No. 2 pick: Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge

Picture credit: WildChina Travel

For Guizhou, very few tour operators have tours going there because of high costs, low profits, and difficulties in marketing and sales. If you search 'China tour' or 'China trip' on Google, you are going to find at least 7 pages of search results. On the contrary, if you search 'Guizhou tour', the results are only one page with just 6 paid results. Guizhou was just discovered by tourists and is famous for its ethnic groups, untouched scenery like waterfalls. 87% of its land is covered by plateaus and mountains. Other than WildChina, Odyssey Tours also have some very good tours going to Guizhou. Check it out here.

Tibet and Silk Road are not just known for their ecotourism resources but religion and history. If you are just interested in ecotourism activities like hiking, climbing, biking and bird watching, Yunnan and Guizhou are the two places that I highly recommend. Be one of the 8 million people visit Great Wall Badaling section alone or be one of the thousands of tourists going to remote areas in Yunnan, it is your choice!

Sustainable Tourism in China 1---Community Based Tourism

Although for most of the first time visitors to China, the big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Guilin and the Yangtze River are must-sees, some people are really interested in the experiential type of tourism. They would like to go to the unseen and intact places in China that have fewer tourists and authentic local tastes like culture, architecture, ethnic group people, so on and so forth.

Community based tourism (CBT) is a very effective way to achieve the goal of sustainable tourism development. It means that tourism activities are mainly happening in the communities. Tour operators can help connect the travelers with the local people by sending the travelers directly to the local communities. Through this kind of interaction, the travelers can experience the most authentic things. CBT has an important merit that it does not require the travelers to only go to the remote places in China. Instead, CBT can happen in major cities too. For example, in Beijing, travelers can go to Simatai and Jinshanling section of Great Wall instead of the crowded Badaling section. After a 6-10 miles walk from Jinshanling to Simatai, the travelers will end up with visiting a local community at the foot of the great wall and learn making authentic dumplings with the local people. It may only cost an additional $30pp or so but these costs may directly go to the pocket of the local people, which may mean a lot to these poor families.

Absolutely CBT activities are more significant in remote areas. Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet and Silk Road are famous for CBT activities. Yunnan and Guizhou is rich in the number of ethnic groups while Silk Road and Tibet are famous for its unique culture. If it is going to be your first time to China, I would recommend you spend 7 days for a quick look at the major cities and spend the rest to one of the destinations I just mentioned. This combined tour will make it once-in-a-life.

Oh, last point, forget about the Yangtze River Cruise. Since the Three Gorges Dam, a lot of famous heritages and beautiful scenes are buried under the water...

China Tour Operator 2: Virtuoso China tour operators

Today, my picks are three Virtuoso China Tour Operators: A&K, Absolute and Imperial Travel. According to its website, Virtuoso is a network of the world’s finest travel agencies and tour operators who have the skills to craft perfect vacations for travelers. To me, I think Virtuoso stands for both luxury and exclusiveness. I really appreciate Virtuoso’s idea to invite only the TOP 1% of travel operators into its network.

Virtuoso is a by-invitation-only organization so its over 300 agencies in 22 countries must have established their recognition and reputation over a long time, which ensures the quality and service of their programs.It is not surprising to see that Ms. Kristi Jones, the President of Virtuoso, were selected as one of the TOP 25 influential women in the travel industry by Forbes.

After talking about all the positive things about these three renowned China tour operators, A&K, Absolute and Imperial Travel, I have to point out that their challenges are their prices. A&K considers itself as the ultimate luxury tour operator in the world. Its China programs can easily cost you about $10,000 per person, but when talking about the most luxury tour operator providing the best services, A&K is definitely No.1. You know what, the best guides in China are competing to work for A&K.

I want to say that I don’t like Imperial’s website. I think travel is a piece of art. If a company can not perfectly design its website, they may not be the perfect tailor for the tour programs. Browse both the websites of A&K and Imperial, you may immediately see the difference.

My scores for these Virtuoso tour operators:

4.A&K:
Price: 10
Comfort: 20
Service: 20
Value: 13
Experience: 18
Total: 81

5. Absolute:
Price: 8
Comfort: 19
Service: 19
Value: 11
Experience: 18
Total: 75

6. Imperial:
Price: 9
Comfort: 18
Service: 18
Value: 10
Experience: 17
Total: 72

China Tour Operator Comparison 1

Today I am going to discuss three well-known China tour operators mainly about their price, comfort, quality of service, value and experience. And then I am going to give a score (0-20) to each category so that the best tour operator can gain 100.

A. Pacific Delight Tours (PDT)

PDT has been in this business for almost 40 years. Although it changed ownership in 2006, it remains as one of the main player in China tour industry. Over 10,000 US travelers are traveling to China with PDT services every year. From PDT, you can find lots of journeys to mainly the major cities and Yangtze River, mostly from 13-17 days.

Top Strengths:
1. Reputation: Great reputation after almost four decades in service.
2. Options: With its advantage of huge agents and customers base, PDT is able to classify its tours into three basic categories: Gold (expensive but with better accommodation and National Guide), Escapade (to second-tier cities), and SuperValue.
3. Good Guides: Because PDT allows commissioned shopping to bring their costs and prices down and its bigger group size, they can attract very good guides to work for them in China.

Top Weaknesses:
1. Commissioned Shopping: You will have to go into stores at every destination.
2. Touring Experience: Since most of its destinations are major cities, Yangtze River and stores, you will miss many other exciting places all over China…

Price: 16
Comfort: 14
Service: 14
Value: 17
Experience: 11
Total: 72

B. China Spree

This is a US based travel company managed by Chinese. It has invested a lot of resources doing online marketing so you may wonder why you can find them everywhere on the internet! They also pay a lot to Google by its online ads.

Top Strengths:
1. Price: Can’t believe 7-day Beijing trip all inclusive (w/ intl. air) will only cost $588.
2. Travel Options

Weaknesses:
1. Comfort: It says it will use 4-star hotels in China. I want to remind you that 4-star hotels in China are not appealing at all… Only a few of them are just fine… I won’t recommend 4-star hotels especially in second-tier cities.
2. Touring Experience: You have to admit that one can’t get good quality service when it is offering such a low price.

Price: 19
Comfort: 11
Service: 12
Value: 17
Experience: 11
Total: 70

C. WildChina Travel

I have introduced in my previous article about WildChina. I personally like WildChina because it offers off-the-beaten path journeys to not only big cities, but also most of the remote but exciting places in China. If you are a traveler looking for some different, in-depth or cultural immersion travel to China, WildChina may be your best choice. However, since it is too unique, it can’t get large groups signing up its tours, so the price is so high…
Top Strengths:
1. Reputation: A lot of rewards earned from National Geographic Traveler magazine, Travel + Leisure magazine, National Geographic Adventure magazine, Conde Nast Traveler magazine, etc.
2. Tour experience: no commissioned shopping will be conducted
3. Quality of service

Weaknesses:
1. Expensive
2. Poor guides: because WildChina pays its guides instead of allowing them to do commissioned shopping. The good guides in China are reluctant to work for them.

Price: 11
Comfort: 19
Service: 16
Value: 15
Experience: 19
Total: 80

To continue...

How to tip in your China tour?

During your private China tour, under most of the cases, tips are not expected. In restaurants, mid-level hotels, taxis and theaters, tips may badly surprise someone. If you go to some finest restaurants, especially those in the luxury hotels, you still don’t need to tip because there is always a 15% service fee included in your bill. You do not need to tip unless you are super satisfied with the services. If this is the case, then you can leave some cash on the table. Therefore, it would be the best if you can prepare some small gifts to express your gratuities.



However, there are some exceptions. If you are following a China tour group, for example, tips are normal and may even be expected by tour guides, coach drivers and bellmen in the hotel. For most tour guides in China, they are receiving only base salary, or sometimes without any salary, so their income is mainly based on two parts, commissioned shopping and tips. I’ve talked in my previous posts that most guides receive at least 30% commissions on the things you buy from the tourist-only shopping malls.

For tips, I would recommend the following:
National guides: US$5-8 per day or $15-20 per day if you are not led to stores
Local guides: US$4-5 per day or $10-15 per day if you are not led to stores
Drivers: US$1-2 per day based on the evening hours and total service hours
Bellman or cruise luggage porter: US$1-2 per piece of luggage depending on size and weight

Remember, they are making most of their money by sending you to commissioned shopping stores. The guides who don't do that can be awarded by more tips because they are doing perfectly to help you experience China more.

Commissioned shopping during China tours: A double-edged sword

Nearly everyone hated commissioned shopping. We have all paid several thousand dollars and nearly used all the annual vacation days for this China trip. I don’t think it is fair if those tour operators keep sending us to the commissioned shopping stores for hours each day throughout our journey. What’s even worse, all the shopping activities are hidden in the itinerary to fool the travelers. Have you realized that you will have to spend at least one hour doing shopping by “visiting a Cloisonné factory and learn how to make them”?

Please get your itinerary on your hand and let me go through it with you. If you find the following activities on your itinerary, do expect to spend 5-10 minutes watching them how to make those souvenirs and then stay there for at least one hour shopping from the most expensive collections to the reasonable ones.

1. Cloisonné factory in Beijing
2. Pearl market en route to Temple of Heaven or Summer Palace in Beijing
3. Jade factory in Xian
4. Carpet factory in Shanghai
5. Silk factory in either Shanghai or Suzhou
6. ……endless list

You think that’s all? No. You may find more along your journey. For example, many tour operators would like to lead you visit a Friendship restaurant for lunch on your way to the Great Wall. Let me tell you that the restaurant is no good and the food session only covers an area of about one tenth of the whole 'restaurant'? After the lunch, you will have to spend one hour shopping in it! They will not serve you good food because they want you to shop!

But why did I say that commissioned shopping is a double-edged sword, because you will find really knowledgeable and wonderful guides in those grouped journeys. I know dozens of guides working for Pacific Delight Tours and they are very impressive and will not make you feel bored throughout the journey. On the contrary, WildChina pays their guides for their services. I don’t say that they can’t employ as good guides as those working for Pacific Delight Tours, but considering the Pacific Delight's guides can easily get over RMB20,000 per month by shopping commission, why do they choose to work for those who commit never doing commissioned shopping? FYI, the annual income for a citizen in Beijing is about RMB60,000.

You will also have an escort or a national guide with you if you join a group journey. The national guide will take care of you throughout your journey. They may know what you need and like during the first few days and make you very comfortable throughout the long journey. On the contrary, by joining the customized, or private journey, although you will enjoy more flexibility, you have to deal with differently local guides and tell them your preferences over and over again once you arrive at the new destination.

Wanna know how to tip the guides and how much they earn from the commissioned shopping stores? Please read my next post: The decent job of Chinese guides and how to tip them.

Group China tours VS. Customized China trip comparison

Today I am going to talk about two different ways to travel in China, Group China tours and tailored China trips. At first glance, people can easily point out some differences, namely, price, flexibility, and pace. All are correct answers, but you also need to know the weaknesses of a customized program.

Apparently, group tours are cheaper than customized programs. If a group has 10+ travelers, they will have huge discounts from both airlines and hotels. For airlines, the group rates are always at least 20% cheaper, especially for the flights between big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Guilin. With regard to hotels, usually hotels encourage tour operators to book with groups. Small hotels may grant group rate for 3 rooms or more while large hotels may require a minimum of 5 rooms. You may have also heard of escorted tour, which usually have 16+ customers. Most hotels in China grant a free bed for the 16th person. In addition to the cheaper costs of transportation, guides and restaurants, you may find the group program rates 40-200% cheaper (or even more) than customized ones.

On the contrary, there are some unseen differences. Most people would think that customized tours must have more privileges such as better services and guides, flexibility, and faster pace. This opinion is not completely right. Admittedly, travelers choosing tailored programs, namely FIT travelers, will enjoy flexible schedules and personalized services. For example, if the travelers are not interested in religious stuff, the guides can easily shorten the sightseeing time or simply cancel the temple visit. However, we have to admit that the good guides are always with the group journeys. Why? Please read my next post: commissioned shopping in China: A double edged sword.

For today’s pick, I would recommend WildChina’s Chinese Treasures program. It is a group journey but from what I know, they can rarely get 10 people signing up for the program. And if they get 6 travelers, the journey is a sure go. Then you may have great value because of the small group size. WildChina is a sustainable tourism operator and commits never doing shopping along the journey. You may enjoy a different approach of traveling by joining their trip. The trip will cost you almost $5,000 per person all inclusive. FYI, their profit margin is more than 35% on land cost and probably 30-60% on flights. This is not considered high in this business. But if you can book the hotels and flights on your own, you are gonna make the most out of it!!!

For the best sites booking hotels and China internal flights, I would recommend the following websites: (be sure to click 'English')
www.ctrip.com

This is not the cheapest one, but it is the most famous in China. It can save you tons of money if you wanna do part of the job.

Welcome to my blog!

I want to thank you for coming to my blog. If you are looking for a unique China program that would give you totally different experience than just seeing the major sites, you are finding the right place. I will comment 1-2 programs in the marketplace every week and suggest you the pros and cons so that you may have a better understanding of what they are offering and what you will get.