Client's Testimonials & Feedbacks

Itinerary

The tour itinerary was varying and extensive. It gave us a comprehensive overview of China's different regions, cities, cultures and history. We enjoyed every city we went to. The only thing that wasn't positive about it was that we felt we were packing and unpacking quite often. We knew the itinerary was busy before going on the trip, but looking back now, we wished we had either added another week to the trip or reduced the amount of cities visited by one or two, so we could stay longer in each city. 

Also, in hindsight, it would’ve been interesting to replace one of the locations with one or two less-traveled cities or regions. Maybe replace Shanghai with something else.  I’m not sure which location would be better or more interesting, but every location we visited was definitely filled with tourists. We know it’s hard to see a whole country like China in 3 weeks so if we ever return, we’d go off the beaten path a bit more.

Hotels

We liked almost all of the hotels we stayed at. Here are our favorites. The Sofitel in Xian was great. That hotel had great restaurants and good breakfast buffet. Also, the rooms were large, the beds were soft, and it was in a good location for walking. The Shangri-La hotel in Guilin was our favorite and we wished we could have stayed there longer. The resort area was awesome. The views of the river and karst mountains were beautiful and the food was great. The Radisson in Shanghai was really nice as well. The hotel was in a great location to walk around, right across from the People's park, a subway stop, and a pedestrian shopping area.

The only hotel we didn't like was the Tibet Minzu Hotel in Lhasa. None of the hotel staff spoke English (which was a promised as part of the tour) and the food was terrible, either for breakfast or dinner. We saw other tourists there complaining about the hotel to each other or to the staff as well.  Thankfully, our Lhasa guide was very helpful to translate when we needed help at the hotel.

Guides

All of the guides were very friendly and incredibly knowledgeable about the sights and cities they represented. Also, They were always on time to pick us up and were very helpful at the hotels or airports when language translations were needed. Weaver in Chengdu was our favorite guide of the trip. He went out of his way to recommend things for us to do during downtime and local restaurants for us to eat at. He was also very enthusiastic about Chengdu and the sights he was showing us.

The only negative was that once our day with the guides ended, typically around 5 pm, we didn’t have any more support from them. They didn’t suggest any places to eat or visit during the evening, unless we asked. When we did ask for that kind of help, they acted somewhat surprised and generally didn’t have many suggestions/options for things to do or places to eat at. We wished they proactively provided a list of restaurants to eat at and places to see during our free time, with descriptions in English and with the name/address written in Chinese for cab drivers. There are other tour companies that do this and I think U China Travel could benefit by doing this as well.

Drivers/Vehicles

The drivers were all very professional and did a good job keeping us safe, since driving in China seems to be an adventure at best. They were always on time to pick us up and got us to any event or location on time as well. Some were friendlier than others but since most didn’t speak English, we didn’t expect conversation from them.

All of the vehicles seemed to be newer and well maintained. We always had enough room to sit and some drivers even provided little neck pillows. Nice.

Locations and Sights

We enjoyed all the locations we went to. There were so many, I won’t review them individually. The highlights were the Terra Cotta Warriors, karst mountains in Guilin, and the rice fields of Longsheng – amazing stuff. Since we hit the most featured tourist destinations, there were a lot people around us. But that’s the case anywhere in China I think. The guides did a good job keeping us away from the crowds to give us our own view of each location. 

Having a private tour guide in all the locations really was an advantage to getting in and out of places quickly. We didn’t have to struggle to hear our guides over a crowd of people, or ensure we followed the group to keep up. We went at our own pace, which was nice.  I won't go into a review of each site or location because we enjoyed them all for different reasons. We saw and experienced so many things, it would take too long to write about each. 

Food/Restaurants

This is where I think the service could be improved. We were hoping to get a very local dining experience in each city, but in most cities we were eating at other tourist-filled restaurants unless we specifically asked our guide to take us somewhere local. Our guides in Chengdu and Tibet did a great job of this, once they found that going local was our preference. However, we just wished we didn’t have to ask. It’s a somewhat miserable experience eating in a giant banquet room or restaurant filled with tourists. You usually can’t order off a menu because the meals are preset. The food was good but not memorable. The only restaurants we seemed to remember were the ones that were more local in nature.

Leo Chu – Owner

Leo was great throughout the trip. He met with us in Beijing at the start of our tour and reviewed the itinerary in great detail (even bought us tea at a beautiful spot in a park). This meeting made us feel like we were in good hands. Throughout the tour, he called to check-in with us to ensure everything was going well, which was reassuring. After the trip, Leo asked for feedback, which we’re finally getting to right now. He wanted to know our opinions, good or bad, which is great. 

In Summary

We thought that UChinaTravel did a good job overall, but there were some improvements that could definitely be made to give it a more personalized tour experience, and less like what some other tour groups were doing. We felt that we got a good value for the price, with the hotels being mostly really good and the exception being some mediocre dining experiences. Thanks again to Leo and his guides for taking care of us from start to finish.  

Here is the link on Trip Advisor...

Dear Leo:

Now that we have arrived back in Chicago we want to personally thank you for making our time in China absolutely great!  We learned so much about your country, cities and peoples.  The comments by you and your guides really opened my eyes to the Eastern philosophy and experience.  Our group was extremely impressed by Beijing and Shanghai.  We would very much like to return and this is due to your professional and extremely considerate tour guiding.

Thank you once more--hope we get to see you in the future.

Sincerely,

Molly and Dwight Carroll

Sandra Schultz and Lawrence Poltrock 

We are finally back to normal after being Jet Lagged for quite awhile.  We want to thank you again for arranging the most marvelous time in Beijing and Shanghai;

 We are attaching the photos we took of you and of course will recommend your services to anyone we know who is going to China.

Our best,

   Anne and Peter Valentine

Mr. Valentine lived in Shanghai, China during 1939-1947, when he was a child as Jewish refuges from Germany during World War II. He lived in Baoding Road 37 and we helped him found that place where he lived as a child. It was very important to him.

Leo

Thank you for a terrific holiday. Everything was well arranged and interesting; Also your thoughtful was around our boys and your patience is very much appreciated; we will definitely recommend your firm!

All the best!!

Teresa Parker

The trip was great! We should stay in Beijing longer for more sightseeings; 2 Days is not enough!

For Shanghai, we especially like the Shanghai World Finacial Center, the Jewish area and the food for the whole were great; The guide in Shanghai Windy is also very patient and nice to us!

Thanks, Leo! We will recommend you in the future!!

Leo

Leo,

The trip overall was fantastic. I think my personal favorite part was Beijing, because there was so much history there and so many delicious meals.... :)!

Cindy was wonderful in Shanghai, very knowledgeable and fun. We had a great trip there and again the trip was well paced, we got to see a ton and had some time to relax as well. We were all blown away by the Expo, never have I seen anything quite like that. I am glad that we did not spend a whole day there though. It was so crowded and difficult to get into the pavilions so better to just walk around and check it out. We loved the acrobatics show and of course the Shanghai dumplings were everyone’s favorite! Mike loved seeing the planning museum and the skyscrapers and I liked the water town: Zhujiajiao was a great escape from the city and we had fun cruising down the river and buying some fun trinkets. Shanghai was really fun and interesting.  We loved Yuan Yuan Garden and had a delicious lunch near there.

Joyce picked us up as scheduled in Hong Kong, she was great too! We cruised around with her the next day and loved all the touring that the day offered.

So thank you again for everything, well done!!
All the best,

Kelly

Hi Leo

We want to thank you for the wonderful trip we had. We received all of the things that were  in the offer and more .

The  guides were very good with good English and knowledge . We enjoy the restaurants – especially in Beijing.

The two shows were a good surprise . Looking back – Xian should have another day .

Guilin – the food in the ship is only ok . We enjoy very much the bike trip . We have spare time and we asked Joanne to suggest more attractions and we took two :

In Yanshu – the Shangrila park – a very nice park with a lake and we can see how local live there. The second was in Guilin - to go with a cable car to the highest mountain  and down by slide.

Over all it was a very interesting and comfortable vacation – mainly due to the excellent program that you prepare for us.

again

Thank you

Koby & Sibil

This is the delegation from University of Arkansas, Fort Smilth.They travelled 12 days in China. They visited Shanghai Changning Disctrict Government, Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, Hong Kong for a half day tour and half day shopping and Beijing and Tianjin. Here is more info!

We generally enjoyed our trip very much. Restaurants choices are great. Think if guide gives us more stories about Beijing e.g, great wall, etc that will be great!! More times for every sightseeing place to spend!! We're very happy with U China Travel's services!!
 

Eva Nichol

We appreciated Jerry's Flexibility in altering the schedule, especially being able to walk on the South Gate to see the Lantern show at night, it made our trip!!

Dunlevy 

The arrangements were very thorough. The Experience more than I had hoped for. Learn much from the trip. Keep in touch in email would be helpful and for educating about China.

Thank you,

Merry Beekman

My name is Apryl, I'm from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England.
Me and my Mum have been to Beijing twice and Leo was our guide both times.
He is a very professional, informative and helpful tour guide whilst at the same time we felt like we were out and about with an old friend.
Leo was very flexible, we had a list of places we wanted to visit and he was very happy to take us, and also suggested places for us to see.

we had great time here!

From airport pick ups to the local arrangement, the service provided for us went far beyond our expectations. We were in business trip in Beijing for 2 nights, but everybody including my president and other cabinet members. I will definitely use their service in our future trip!

Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA, Takeo Suzuki

"The entire trip was a dizzying overload of beauty, culture and history. The second our plane left the ground we swore we would return. We only touched the tip of this wonderful Country and I long to discover more of it another time. Besides the Country calling me back, I must say the beautiful people I met in China call me back, too. I have never been treated so graciously. They genuinely made us feel as if we were their family."
Dee Voigt and Bob Leotaud, Nancita Circle Placentia, CA, US

  U China Travel arranged our trip to beijing with two families and four children for four days. They took care of our group from the airport arrival to airport departure. as none of our group speak chinese, we were greatful for all of the guidance.

  we saw a range of Beijing landmarks, an amazing excursion to the Great Wall includeing cable ride up and tobagon ride down. and wonderful lunch near the sights. The Guide was friendly and flexible to our needs (when we want to stop at an extra site~~~~) and the driver drove safely.

I would recommend this company for a visit to Beijing, it is an interesting city with many things to see!
                                                   

 Crowley Family from US

"U China did a wonderful job of planning an enjoyable and comfortable visit of Beijing. Our tour guide was very flexible while especially helped with the children and getting a better day to visit the great wall.

We would highly recommend U China to friends and family"
 

Leo is a very good excellent and Knowledgable guide and he made our visit Beijing enjoyable and filled with special moments.