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| Staff of TravelChinaGuide at Guangyun Gate of Xian Expo |
How to judge a legal tour operator from an illegal one? How to tell if a tour operator has the qualifications for running tourist business in China? What constitutes the real leading China tour operator? How can I judge the authenticity of the feedbacks from the customers? How do I judge my payment is secure? How can I judge the authority of a tour operator? How to judge a legal tour operator from an illegal one?
Answer: For an online tour operator, the most useful means is to check the 'About Us' section of the website, which performs as a self-introduction. Here you should find the full name of the company who runs the website, as well as corresponding licenses and other related documents issued by the authority, as proof of its legitimacy.
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In the absence of such information either the company or the website could be fraudulent or unreliable.
However, the 'About Us' section of TravelChinaGuide.com shows that the website, run by Xian Marco Polo Int'l Travel Service Co., Ltd. and Xian Diamond Network Co. Ltd., is that of a legitimate tour operator. You can check the page Who We Are to find the authorized licenses, and What We Do to know about our tourist business.
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| Our Travel Consultant with Customers |
How to tell if a tour operator has the qualifications for running tourist business in China? Answer: First, see if there are words like 'Travel Service' been included in the company's name. Please note that those companies named 'Network' or 'Business' have no legal right to operate tours in China although they may have a license to engage in other business activities.TravelChinaGuide.com (Xian Marco Polo Int'l Travel Service Co., Ltd.) has proven qualifications and is licensed to organize tours in China for overseas tourists.
Secondly, check to see if the tour operator is accepted by the authoritative tourism organizations. TravelChinaGuide.com (Xian Marco Polo Int'l Travel Service Co., Ltd.) has become a member of ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents), the world's largest association of travel professionals. Our member ID is 900207220. We has also been recognized and accepted as a member by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), which is the leading voice and authority on Asia Pacific tourism. We kindly remind you that some tour operators claim that they are members of PATA by putting the PATA logo on their web pages; however about 80% of these so-called members are not real.
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1. The membership number should be within the period of validity. The membership number # 2040 of TravelChinaGuide.com (Xian Marco Polo Int'l Travel Service Co., Ltd.) is valid from January to December 2011. You can recheck the clear copy of our PATA patent
2. If the member can be found on the official website of PATA. E.g. you can find the details of membership of TravelChinaGuide.com on PATA website.
What constitutes the real leading China tour operator?
Answer: Besides legitimacy and qualifications for running tourist business, long and professional experience as well as quality and considerate service make TravelChinaGuide.com the real leader of China tours.
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Here are some methods to test the quality of a tour operator:
1. just make a phone call to their office at any time convenient to you and see if there is anyone to pick up the phone. A large and responsible travel agent should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If not, imagine the situation should you encounter some emergencies during your tour, if you can find no one in the agency to help you. (Note: TravelChinaGuide.com promises 24/7 service!)
2. Check whether they have both international and domestic toll free numbers. If not, this is an indication that they are not a large organization. Most of the big and reliable travel services have their own toll free numbers for the convenience of the customers. (TravelChinaGuide.com has toll free numbers: 1-800-315-3949 for USA & Canada; 0-808-189-1339 for the United Kingdom and 1-800-665-977 for Australia.
3. Take care when coming across a tour operator offering unbelievably low prices. Tour operators offering an excessively low price probably offer a very poor service, even worse they may not provide the standard of tour they had promised. Taking meals as an example, they may provide the mass-produced meals for you, which only cost 2 to 3 dollars. You will never have the chance to taste the real Chinese food in some fine restaurants, not mention the a la carte meals offered by TravelChinaGuide.com
How can I judge the authenticity of the feedbacks from the customers?
Answer: Feedbacks or testimonials from real customers are an important measure of the popularity and reliability of tour operators. TravelChinaGuide.com has received more than 900 real feedbacks from our customers. You may find other tour agencies that have also many feedbacks, but not all of the feedbacks are real. You may notice that some that are poorly expressed, which are most likely to have been composed by the site's operators rather than customers.
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Here we show you some tips on discerning the feedback:
First, is a valid email address offered with a feedback? You can find that the email addresses of feedbacks on TravelChinaGuide.com are registered on various websites, not on a certain website. The user names of the emails are various. The real names of the customers are attached. If you have any doubts or questions, you can contact any of the customers for verification at any moment and know how they think about TravelChinaGuide.com. If you are interested in booking our tours, we strongly suggest you do this beforehand! Please allow us to remind you if the email addresses of the feedbacks on a website appear similar or connected, you'd better give up and choose another tour operator.
Secondly, judge by the photos attached to feedbacks. Fake feedbacks seldom have photos of the customers. You can see many of the feedbacks on TravelChinaGuide.com are with photos of the customers with their permission. You can see from this the authenticity and their satisfaction about our service.
How do I judge my payment is secure?
Answer: Security has always been the main concern for online payment. A big and reliable tour operator always offers you several ways of secure payment. Payment through a renowned online payment system like PayPal is safer and faster. TravelChinaGuide.com welcomes you to use Paypal. Cable transfer, cheque and Western Union are also acceptable. When paying though cable transfer or cheque, please note that the payee account/address of the tour operator should be a company account/address, not a personal account/address. For instance, the payee account/address of TravelChinaGuide.com is the account/address of its company, Xian Marco Polo Int'l Travel Service Co., Ltd.. See more about Payment to TravelChinaGuide.com and bank info of TravelChinaGuide.com. For some who like to use Western Union, we kindly remind you that Western Union allows personal account only, so it is better not to use it unless you fall across an emergency. If a tour agency insists that you pay to a personal account/address, or continuously persuades you to pay in cash, then you need to think twice about the tour services on offer.
How can I judge the authority of a tour operator?
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 Click to enlarge it,or go for more Media Recommendations. |
Answer: Kudos from well known media, praise by the local tourist bureau, and recommendation by real customers are important references for you to judge the authority of a tour operator.
TravelChinaGuide.com has been recommended by numerous worldwide renowned media, such as the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Times Online, National Geographic, Chicago Sun Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Toronto Sun, and so on. See details of Media Recommendations.
TravelChinaGuide.com has been praised many times and granted diplomas and plaques by the authorities such as China Association of Travel Services and Xian Tourism Bureau. Once ratified as one of the top 10 travel agencies in Xian with the recommendation letter by Xian Tourism Bureau, our company again ranks in the AAAAA grade, the highest level in the service quality and credit grade evaluation.
Besides numerous feedbacks from our customers showing their satisfaction about our service, many travelers share their pleasant tour experience with TravelChinaGuide in the forum of tripadvisor.com. See Recommendations on TripAdvisor.com by Our Customers.
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