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.