Review of 4 Day (3 Night) Beijing Private Tour Package by Shona

We found this website and nervously decided to book through them. Nancy in the office was very efficient, prompt and helpful. We booked and paid for a "4 star hotel", Howard Johnson Paragon. This hotel was horrid and I would have rated it as zero stars! After one night we moved to a wonderful hotel, Lee Garden Service Apartments. Nancy was able to get a small refund but not the total amount. Regarding the tours, the sites and history were fascinating and we enjoyed learning about Chinese history. Unfortunately, our guide, Edward, seemed to dislike his job and had zero personality. It was as if we pressed an "on" button when he started his memorized speech of the location and then the "off" button when he was finished. He had nothing more to add and really did not like it when we asked questions. We felt like we were bothering him the entire 3 days!! He then refused to let us go into the Cube which clearly is an option in the tour description. He was very unprofessional in the last 5 minutes of the entire tour and asked for tips (which we interpreted as ideas as to how he could do a better job with the tour as he had just asked us what we thought about the 3 day tour). I highly recommend this company but would also advise to somehow ask to not have Edward as your guide in Beijing. We also booked flights and a 1 day tour to Xi'an and had a completely different experience as the tour guide, Peony, was a delight! She loved her job and it showed. We had a wonderful time with her in Xi'an! I think all of the extra side trips to the jade, silk, clay factories, the tea house and the Chinese medicine place are things that I would not have chosen as those are clearly overpriced tourist traps with the only intention being to sell us tourists stuff!!