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.