Testimonial

Hi Virginia,

Trip evulation from us.

Simati section of the Great Wall was fantastic, would recomend it to anybody as worth the effort to go there and see this part of the unspoilt wall. (have attached a picture of Prue myself and our 3 boys on the wall),

Tour guide in Beijing was very good he spoke good english and was very helpfull, we enjoyed the day more so for his efforts.

Hotels and breakfast were very Good, Luxury Serviced Apartments in Beijing were well located, central and a good size,
Sheraton in Guilin was very good, once again well located , nice rooms and good service, probably our favourite of the hotels we stayed at. Radisson in Shanghai also very well located although not as nice as the Sheraton in Quilin, our room was a little old and small but when we asked the duty manager if something larger and more modern was available she moved us to a larger room without any fuss or extra charge, so well done Radisson Shanghai.

We would deffinitly recommend your company, you pleasant maner, attention to detail and execellent service made our trip very memorable.

Yangtzee River cruise was also fantastic and would recomend any traveller to China do it , Victoria Cruise was well organised, good staff, once again execellent food and good attention to detail, in summary a must do when in China and well done Victoria Cruises.
One recomendation we would suggest is that included should be all transfers from all airports to hotels, for us geting taxis from the various airports was difficult as we spoke no Chinese and it was difficult to find anyone who spoke English and the taxi drivers seemed to charge more than they should have. after a flight from and to a strange city it would have been nice to see someone at the airport holding up our name and having a vehicle waiting to take us to our hotel. On the couple of occasions transfere were included it worked well.

You can also use the attached photo on your website if you like, we have lots more if you would like some.

To summerise we had a fantastic holiday in China, thanks Virginia for all your help, you did an execellent job and  China Highlights should be very proud of you.

Kind Regards

Mike and Prue

Hi Eva,
Sorry to answer you rather late. We went to spend a few days in Canada right after the China trip, and we just got back home, so as you can imagine, we are pretty tired!!!
Our trip to China was very good, as good as we expected it. The various town we visited were just as pretty as we saw in books!!! So in all, we were very pleased.
We will post some of our pictures so you guys can look at them. And we will write a testimonial later and send it to you. We have a lot of comments for you, just give us some time to recover first!!!
We thank you for receiving us at your office in Guilin, and please tell Candy we also thank her for stopping by and say hello (and to take pictures of us too!).
You guys look great and we love your Guilin, we just wish we could stay a couple days more to explore more of your fabulous sights!!!

Sorry I took so long to reply. We're been rather busy after a long vacation, so it took us a few weeks to
get back to normal. To answer your questions, here are my answers:
 
the most memorable attraction was definitely Mt HuangShan ( of course second would be Guilin). For an old woman who very seldom exercises, I was very proud to say that I HAD CLIMBED THE GREATEST PEAKS OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!Even though at the end I was absolutely exhausted, but I did finish all of the major peaks that our tour guide took us. That in itself was a major accomplishment on my part. And the scenery was absolutely oustanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
our favorite tour guide is by far Tony, from Hangzhou. He was pleasant, very open, honest, and a lot of fun, and also he was very knowledgeable (he learned everything from the internet he told us), and we were rather surprised at his intelligence.
 
The hotels on the overall were up to standard, except the Beihai hotel perhaps. We really only need places that's clean and have a nice soft bed for us to be happy. We like the hotel in Suzhou (YuanWaiLou) the most, also the HuaShan hotel (HuangShan) and the osmanthus in Guilin.
 
Yes, we would definitely recommend your company to our friends.
 
Our experience with the trains was the most interesting,on the overall we were a little nervous at first, but after the first overnight one, everything seems to be OK, and at the end, I think I like travelling by train, better than by air or even by car.
Of course I just wish I had more time to explore eveything, but the attractions we visited were outstanding, and we were very pleased.
 
Of course you can refer us to anyone who would like to ask us questions, by email please.
 
We still want to be on your mailing list.
 
Yes we will send you a few pictures to post on your website.
 
 
There you go.
 
Hope to be able to make another trip to China
 
Bye now,
Binh and Van   
 

Dear Carol,

First, you were very helpful in organizing our trip. We had a great time and would recommend yourself and Chinahighlights to everyone. Second, we used Pacific Delights on our previous trip to China, but would recommend Chinahighlights specifically if a traveller wants to travel on their own schedule. Esther, our tour guide for Xi'an was wonderful, knowledgable, fun, entergetic, accomodating to want we wanted to do. The local restaurants, she took us to for lunch were very good. Not the tourist catering that we experienced on Pacific Delights. However, I will forward your email to Thomas concerning the tour guide he had in Beijing.

Sandra

Dear Carol,

We are extremely pleased that we used China Highlights. The quality of services was excellent and we will definitely plan to use your services again. While both of our guides, Iris in Hangzhou and Claire in Guilin and Yangshou, were excellent, we want to let you know how special Claire is. Our trip would not have been the same without her. We feel fortunate to have had her accompanying us on our travels. Both guides were very flexible and accomodated our needs and requests. Claire went beyond all expectations. I have been to China three times and have had many great guides. Claire is the best guide I have ever had. We have a suggestion for guides in Hangzhou. We took the train from Hangzhou to Shanghai, and it was the one difficult part of our trip. We do not read Chinese and as a result could not read the ticket. We had no idea where we were seated. There was also some ambiguity about what happened with the luggage. We would suggest that guides explain the ticket to non-Chinese speakers and describe what to expect when going to the train. Tank you for a wonderful trip!

Barbara

Dear Karen,
Thanks for organizing such a wonder tour for my family around Guilin, my 2 kids loved it very much.

The rice terraces is the most memorable attraction, and the night show in Yangshuo also could not be missed.

Hotels are good, but the pool was chosed at the one in Guilin, And Li River retreat was just perfect for our family, peaceful, beautiful, friendly, great food, very clearn and spacious.

Lily (our guide) was truly a wonderful guide, she was always happy, helpful, fun and genuine, we could not speak highly enuoght of her, we all loved her!

For the overnight trian travel, i know you might be concerned for our 2 kids. But they loved both experiences. I would suggest that you have the Shenzen guide wait for passengers directly outside the Hong Kong exit, as there were no signs in English where to find the long distance train station. (The arrival back into Shenzen from Guilin was fine as there are signs in English telling you which way to go for Hong Kong)

Finally, thanks again for helping us designing a such great tour, we could not help recommending you and China Highlights to my friends.

Best Wishes!

Sarah 

Sunny

We would like to thank you for the perfect organisation of the trip.
Everything worked out very good, the guides, the hotels, the cruise, ...

Best regards

Beat

Hi Karen, I just wanted to give you an email before I head to Mongolia and have no internet for ten days!
Kristen and I had a great time in Beijing! Jeff was fabulous guide! His English was impeccable and he was so knolwedgable and helpful with everything we did! We had a great time talking with him and he was very fun!
Richard on my bus tour was also a wonderful guide, very funny and knowledgable as well.
If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer, but overall I had a great trip and will post as such on Tripadvisor and tell my friends that you are a great company! Thanks again!
Katie

HI Jean

Thanks for sending the evaluation to us. We have had a wonderful holiday. Please see our comments below

The most memorable attraction we visited are:

Summer Palace (with the boat cruise) it was a wonderful sunny day and great fun,  Three Gorges were just wondrous, Xian Terracotta warriors and horses amazing history, size and proportion of the archeological find and of course the great wall at Mutianyu was extraordinary.

Jeff in Beijing was a fabulous guide because he really worked hard to understand our needs and what we would enjoy. He explained all of our options to us and made recommendations about things that might be better or advised what might be less desirable. Jeff also joined in all the excursions with us and provided us with lots of extras such as tried to teach us phrases and words in Chinese, provided us with hand wipes, took us to find a battery for our camera, showed us how to use the subway. Jeff had a great rapport with the driver and between the 2 of them we felt very safe and well looked after. My only regret is we didn’t speak Chinese so that we could have communicated more to local people.

The Grand Hyatt Beijing was a great hotel and offered both western and Chinese menus that were excellent. Staff at the Beijing Hyatt were well trained with excellent customer service skill. The swimming pool and Gym were great for us as we like to exercise while on holiday and enjoy swimming. I have already recommended this hotel to several people I know who are travelling to Beijing in coming months for business.

The hotel in Xian, we found  below standard for a Sofitel. The smoking throughout the hotel was very obvious and unpleasant and had to be mentioned to staff several times particularly when eating, The quality of the rooms was less well maintained, curtain tracks missing, bathroom door not closing properly, very poor storage for clothes and bathroom had virtually no space for toiletries. The food was only average at Sofitel and our room being located away from main hotel i.e. west wing was also very inconvenient for accessing pool and breakfast. (we wouldn’t go there again).

The restaurant in Beijing Courtyard number 7 was terrific, beautiful ambiance, quiet and peaceful and great food. The trip on Victoria Katarina was also excellent, Wonderful staff and very comfortable cruise ship.

We are glad to recommend your company to our friends and colleagues. We had the trip was well planned at short notice and we were well managed throughout the trip. We were particularly appreciative that Jean was able to provide us in just 12 days some of the wonderful array of experiences China has to offer. It has made us  want to return to see more.

Our whole trip was fabulous and we enjoyed every minute despite the very hot weather for some of the days.But there are still some things are Not to be missed:

(1)    Sailing up the Yangtze River was a real adventure and the 3 Gorges an absolute wonder even with the smog. (2) The dumpling banquet and cultural show in Xian was an excellent evening out. (3) the toboggan ride down from the great wall in Mutianyu (4) shopping in the Silk rd Markets in Beijing and of course things already mentioned above.

We found travelling around China with the assistance of guides to catch planes etc was very safe and generally comfortable. The people were friendly and helpful for example, catching the subway in Beijing was easier than we thought.

Cheers

di and george

Jean,

We both want to let you know how delighted we are with our guide, Iris, and our driver, Mrs. Zhang (?) ... they make a great team.

We have given back our glowing evaluation to Iris... so I won't repeat myself here.

I would like your help with this problem we had on our visit. We were to take a cruise of the Westlake, but when we got there, the boat was full and we couldn't get on. The next one would have been at 1:30 p.m;. which was not acceptable with our scheduled plans for the day. So Iris said that we should try the small boat, and that the touring company would refund our money for the cruise. We did that and paid for the boat ourselves. We were delighted and we recommend to you that this is a great option to offer to tourist. It is much better, more relaxing and made the experience so much more enjoyable. We were able to find a good boater for this excursion so the total experience was excellent.

If you would refund the costs to my credit card, that will be great.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Eva

Candy,

Thank you for arranging a fantastic tour that covered a lot of sites in a very short period of time! I hope to be able to return to China with my family soon, and will hopefully have more time to enjoy more cities and tours. When I do, China Highlights will absolutely be my choice for a tour operator, and I will not hesitate to recommend your service to any family or friends who wish to visit China.

The most memorable attraction I visted should be the Great Wall, with the Terra-Cotta Warriors a close second. Both of my guides were very knowledgeable, and spoke excellent English. They did a fantastic job, and I enjoyed the tours.

The Sun World hotel in Beijing was great. The room was clean and serviceable, and the location was very good. The Bell Tower hotel in Xi’an was in a great location, but the room was in great need of new carpet and new bedding. The noodle shop in Beijing was an experience! The food was OK, but the environment was great! In Xi’an, my guide took me to a restaurant and recommended the sizzling beef. I hope to find a dish this good here in the US. It was fantastic!

One suggestion that I would make to China Highlights: Not having used your services in the past, I was quite nervous about having submitted 100% of the tour price in advance, and receiving only a confirmation from China Highlights that everything was in place for my tour. One thing that would have given me a LOT of comfort would have been email confirmations, complete with confirmation numbers, directly from the airlines and hotels confirming that my reservations had been made. To be honest, I was very concerned on Day #1 until the China Eastern counter issued my ticket. You have now earned my trust, but as a new customer not having independent confirmation that everything was actually set up proved to be very stressful to me.