"We are finally back in New York after our tour to Silk Road and also after spending about a week in Beijing. First let me say that our experience on the Tour was very positive overall and we are very impressed with EduTours. We will not hesitate to recommend Travel China Guide to other people in the future. In fact we have already recommended Travel China Guide to many of our friends in Beijing and when I was posted to Beijing with UNDP we have used your company many times for our guests. Women Shi Zhong Guo Tong! We are very familiar with China, having spent five years in Beijing and having travelled extensively to many areas of China, including many poor areas where we have projects on Poverty Allevation. So we understand the business, social and cultural environment in china very well. I take this opportunity to provide you with some feedback:
What you are doing well: 1. Very fast prompt reply to all queries by email. Excellent email website. Comprehensive information on your tour. 2. Itinerary, hotels, etc organised carefully. 3. Pricing competitive. 4. You are receptive to feedback. This is a very important feature enabling you to improve your service. In fact, I suggest that as part of your standard procedures, you should ask guests to fill in a form to provide feedback (like for hotel service).
Problem: It is unfortunate that the problem with the train happened. How can we be informed suddenly on the day that the train schedule has been changed? Maybe more explanations should have been provided and what alternative arrangements would be made to make our journey smooth. (instead of us asking for it). I understand that sometimes it is the problem with your local agent. Certainly, they did not explain clearly what caused the change in schedule and who was responsible. It is important to accept responsibility and then to propose alternatives (e.g. some suggestions: next train, no disruption in programme, extra performance or special dinner to make up for the time having to wait for the next train, provision of bathroom to have a shower as it is very hot during that period).
The idea is: 1) Advise the guest of the problem asap, 2) explain what caused the problem, 3) accept responsibility, 4) fix the problem asap, 5) offer some token compensation to minimize the disruption/incovenience caused. That way, the guests will be inconvenienced but will be understanding.
In the end we were happy with the resolution but only after we got angry and had to request for a few things ourselves.
Improvement: Meals in general were good. However, the quantity was too much. I think this will vary from guests to guests, groups to groups. Maybe it is advisable to ask the guests/groups, as the tour progresses, on whether there should be a change in menu or quantity. For us, 2 adults and 2 children, 12 dishes pre meal were just too much! I know this is the standard but maybe it is time to change the standard! Most days we would be happy with 3 or 4 dishes or even 1 sandwich for lunch, for a change. The idea is to be flexible, if possible, to the requirement of the guests. Maybe it is too difficult to change the standard meals but if you manage to tailor it more to the guests taste (especially for foreign guests), it will be a major improvement in your service (for all tours actually!).
Conclusion: Mr Wang, please take these suggestions in good spirit. As I said, overall the experience was very good. In fact it was one of the better tours we have been on in China, as we have travelled extensively. We look forward to using your tour agency again in the future and we certainly hope to refer other guests to you."