Booking & Payments

Booking

China is a vast country with charming civilization and fascinating diversities, worth of many visits. When shaping your first tour to China, you should take your interest, expectations, travel time and budget into your considerations.  

Recommended must-see cities:

Generally speaking, Easy Tour China travel specialists could possibly recommend you to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Guilin as the destinations of your first trip to the country. All the four cities have their own features, which can provide you with a comprehensive idea of the country.  

Beijing is the political capital of China, as well as a cultural and commercial center. Visitors can explore the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, the landmarks of China; in Xian, the Terra Cotta Army is the big draw, besides, it is a perfect place to try Chinese dumplings and noodles; Guilin and its neighboring town Yangshuo are very popular among tourists, when setting foot on this land, usually people feel so relaxed and amazed by its fantastic natural landscape; finally in Shanghai, a dynamic metropolis of China, it is leading the country to more economic success.  

Hong Kong and Chengdu can also be added to your travel list. As you know, Hong Kong is a fascinating city with an interesting mix of Western and Chinese heritages, as well as a gourmet and shopping paradise. Chengdu is famed as the hometown of giant pandas and unique culture. At the same time, it is the gateway to the scenic Jiuzhaigou and other well-known places of interest.  

If you have more time and love to see the in-depth of China, then we can recommend you to visit Lijiang (an ethnic ancient town in Yunnan), Pingyao (a well-preserved ancient town in Shanxi), Yellow Mountain and Tibet. 

When to come

The best seasons: generally September and October are the best time to visit China. It always has a mild temperature with more chances of sunny days in autumn. April and May are also fine, while in North China it might still be a bit chilly, and possible dust storms hit the cities of northern China 

Avoid traveling during the China national holidays: During International Labor Day holiday (May 1-3) and National Day holiday (Oct 1-7) million of Chinese people go out for holidays, therefore, airports, train stations, and places of interest are all crowded with flocks of Chinese domestic tourists. The rates of some hotels in tourist cities will go skyrocketing. Therefore, it is not value-for-money at all. Besides, you are not recommended to travel by train during the Spring Festival period (usually from mid January to the end of February). Countless migrant workers will move by train to go home or back to work during the period.   

Low season: from December to early March it is the low season for tourists except the winter destinations like Harbin and Jilin. You will see much less visitors in other major tourist cities. Usually you can better enjoy your visit to the specific places of interest without noisy flows of other tourists, at the same time, have the more reasonable rates.

Yes, all of our private tour packages (unless specified) can be tailor-made based on your request. Please feel free to let us know your expectations, preferences, and requirements. Our professional travel consultants would love to exchange ideas with you and offer the first-hand destination information to help you figure out the real pictures here, as we do know that taking a trip to China is a dream of many people. Being as flexible as Chinese bamboo, we must provide what our customers expect and do our best to deliver them an once-in-a-lifetime holiday. 

For some join-in tours or sit-in-coach tours (one-day bus tour), the itineraries are fixed, which can not be tailor-made.

There are so many travel tips for international travelers to save money when traveling in China.  

Avoid the national holidays, like International Labor Day (May 1-3), National Day holiday (Oct 1-7) and Spring Festival period. Millions of Chinese people go out for traveling, therefore, airfares are expensive, hotel rates in some cities are doubled or more. What is more, you will see countless tourists at every attraction to take photos; the travel experience at this time is very poor.  

Select the low season: March, June, November could be a good time to travel in China with less expense. Compared with the high season, you will see fewer tourists, and enjoy more peacefulness at each site.  

Select the value-for-money hotels, usually tour operators like Easy Tour China will bulk buy from certain hotels in the major cities, therefore, we can get a very competitive rate. These hotels are usually frequently used by our clients and get good feedback. For the regular tourists, we usually use 4-star hotels, which can meet the needs of most of international tourists at a more affordable price. 

Select the proper transportation means: The airfares are getting more expensive in China. If the tour cost is beyond your budget, our travel consultants would advise you to consider other transportation means like high speed train or overnight sleeper train. What is more, for the intercity travel, you can also choose to take fast train or express bus instead of a private car.  

Carefully choose the right attractions to explore: in China, there are so many interesting sites worth a visit, but with a limited travel time, you need to know what is more important for you. It is rather bad to see more and more local governments kept raising the admission fees of the famous attractions. But we really don’t have to see them all, and some of the sites may not suit international travelers’ need due to the different cultural background. Professional travel consultants usually would recommend some other sites to offer you more chances to see the essence of China and a real China, not just the tacky tourist attractions with boring programs. 

Meals: 

Chinese people are proud of our own culinary culture. In this country, you don’t have to worry about the food options. Unless you are picky about food or have specific requirements, you can try different local cuisines while traveling to different parts of the country. Easy Tour China always includes breakfast and lunch in the program at the convenience of the clients and leaves the dinner open for your own selection. Generally speaking, the cost ranges from RMB50-100pp. at the regular local restaurants. If dining at the high-end restaurants, the cost may reach RMB400-1000pp for one meal in some big cities. 

Easy Tour China is very pleased to receive your email or fax for the further pursuit of tour information. Once you intend to book the services we propose for you at the agreed price, please send us your acceptance in a formal written form. You are supposed to fill out the relevant form by choosing your favored way of paying deposit and fax us with your signature. 

Upon receiving your reservation email or fax, Easy Tour China is committed to fulfilling the reservation based on the tour program our clients booked. 

After we have confirmed the whole tour, the clients are required to balance the payment ever since in your preferred way. Final payment is due 30 days prior to the departure date. Failure to comply with the deposit and balance payment requirements may result in automatic cancellation of your reservations.  

For the urgent booking within one month before your arrival, Easy Tour China offers the special payment policy. Please contact our travel consultants for more information.

A package tour is the vacation/holiday trip organized by a tour operator like Easy Tour China, with arrangements for transportation, accommodations, meals, tour guides, etc., made at an inclusive price. 

Since China has a very different cultural background and a language barrier for most international travelers. Traveling with a tour company is very convenient and time-saving for the tourists abroad to arrange their holidays to China. Generally if you book with a professional travel company like us in China, we bulk buy the package deals from the suppliers like car rent, hotels, attraction admission, etc.; therefore can sell the tours at a lower and more competitive rate. This is an instant cost saving benefit for the customers, as the discount we have will be passed on to our clients.  

Typical packaged tours of Easy Tour China include:

  1. All transfers between airports/stations/piers and hotels
  2. Different classes of hotels in China with daily breakfast
  3. Private car rental
  4. Entrance fees to attractions
  5. English or other language speaking guides
  6. Lunch included except the free days, dinners are usually left open for tourists’ own selection. 

For those clients who have some specific requirements, Easy Tour China travel specialists will listen, discuss with our clients to customize an ideal trip in China.

Easy Tour China specified the included/non-included services under all the tour itineraries listed on our website. Please pay attention to the details. For certain programs, maybe some items are different, please read carefully before booking with us.

Included Services:

1. Private tour escorted by an English Speaking guide and a private air-con car. The guide and driver serve you only if not specific in the itienerary.

    For group tour (including SIC or Coach tours), a car/coach and an English speaking guide witl be shared with other tourists.

2. Private guided transfers between airport, station, pier and hotels in destinations are included if not specified. 

    In some cases, we recommend own arrangement for the transfers or arrange a car without English-speaking guide to save your cost.

3. Above-mentioned hotels or the same class with double room or standard room. Daily breakfasts are usually included in the quote unless specified.

4. Meals are included as specified (B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=Dinner).

5. First Entrance fees. There might be some small museums, galleries or scenic spots in a large site, which require seperate tickets. You can buy ticket on site if have interests.

6. Domestic flights with applicable tax and fuel charge. 

Non-included Services: 

1. International flights.

2. Visa arrangements.

    We can offer assistance in applying China visa, such as invitation letter, after you book and pay the tour.

3. Excess baggage charge.

4. Tips to guide and driver (not compulsory but it's a common practice in China tourism):

    For group with 1-5 persons: RMB150 (or US$25) for local guides per day per group and RMB75 (or US$12) for drivers per day per group as a guideline, depending on service quality.

    For group with 6-9 persons: RMB30 (or US$4) for local guides per day per person and RMB15 (or US$2) for drivers per day per person as a guideline, depending on service quality.

    For group with 10+ persons: RMB20 (or US$3.5) for local guides per day per person and RMB10 (or US$2) for drivers per day per person as a guideline, depending on service quality.

5. Medical insurance and emergency evacuation insurance (Easy Tour China highly recommends you to have it at home).

6. Personal expenses (eg. shopping, laundry), optional tours and other not mentioned services.

Payments

As for the payment methods, please find it on our website: http://www.easytourchina.com/info-v638-payment-guide. On this page, you will see there are 3 acceptable methods: credit card, PayPal, and wire transfer. Among these methods, credit card and bank transfer are the most popular.  

Please note if you choose to pay via credit card or PayPal, an extra 3%-4% processing fee will be charged over the tour cost.

If you paid via credit card, then it is easier for us to refund back to the card you used for payment without extra cost. The actual amount might be fluctuated a bit due to the change of exchange rate. 

If you paid via PayPal, as soon as we offer a partial refund, you have 10 days to accept or deny the offer at your PayPal account. If you don't accept or deny the refund within 10 days, the offer will expire. PayPal will charge an extra service fee, which is on your own account. 

If you made the payment via bank transfer, we need the information of the beneficiary’s bank, bank account, beneficiary name and possibly more other info. This is more complicated, and costly if we wire the refund from China. Our travel consultant will be in touch with you for further details when needed.

Yes, a deposit is needed for making reservations. Your booking is not confirmed and payment is not deemed made until the deposit is received by Easy Tour China, and you receive a confirmation. Your reservation will be automatically canceled if deposit is not received by Easy Tour China by the deposit due date. Under certain situations, deposits may be required at time of booking to hold or to confirm space for you. Payment of the deposit indicates you have read and accepted these Terms and Conditions. 

Please review and verify your booking confirmation thoroughly and contact your travel consultant immediately if your confirmation appears to be incorrect or incomplete, as it may not be possible to make changes later. Easy Tour China cannot accept responsibility if we are not notified of inaccuracies within 10 days of sending out the confirmation.

International tourists can see ATMs everywhere in big cities. But not all ATM can accept the bank cards issued by foreign banks. Usually the ATMs have some signs showing what cards can be used. To be on the safe side, it is suggest that you can use the ATMs of Bank of China (BOC), which has been a specialized international exchange/trade bank in China. Other national banks like Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and Bank of Communications, also have their ATMs accepting international bank cards in big cities, while in some small towns, possibly not.  

There are also hundreds of other banks in China, if you are not sure if the ATMs can accept your card, please ignore it. If the machines don’t offer English instructions, it will be quite annoying to get your card back.   

Other must-know tips: 

  1. Please note that all the ATMs remit Chinese bank notes (RMB). 
  2. Carry two different ATM cards just in case one gets damaged. Be sure to tell your bank that you'll be using the card in China.
  3. If you want to exchange the Chinese money back to your home currency on the way out (e.g. at the airport), you’ll need to keep the ATM or bank receipt, otherwise, the exchange won’t be accepted.

Please kindly note that all the major credit card like Visa Card, Master Card, and American Express Card are widely accepted at the banks, star-rated hotels, and high-end department stores in the big cities. In some small towns with few international tourists, you can withdraw Chinese money from your card at the branches of Bank of China or ATM.  

International credit cards are not accepted at the local shopping centers, restaurants or convenience stores. Therefore, please keep some cash with you when you go out. Unlike the westerners, Chinese people love to use cash to pay regardless of dinning at restaurants or shopping at supermarkets.

After we have confirmed the whole tour, the clients are required to balance the payment ever since in your preferred way. Final payment is due 30 days prior to the departure date. 

Regarding refund, the cancellation fee will be calculated as follows:

If more than 30 days: 50 USD per person plus the actual cancellation charge (air tickets, hotels, cruise, etc) 

If 29 - 15 days: 150 USD per person plus the actual cancellation charge (air tickets, hotels, cruise, etc) 

If 14 - 7 days: 50% of the tour payment 

If 7 - 3 days: 75% of the tour payment 

If 2 - 0 days and no show clients: 100% of the tour payment 

We are afraid that no refund will be made for any portion of the tour unused because of a cancellation or change made by tourists themselves while the tour is in progress. Thank you for your kind understanding.

PayPal is an easier way to pay and get paid online. With this payment method, anyone can pay through anyway they like such as credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances. PayPal is also a safer way to pay without sharing your financial information. You can visit the official website of PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ 

If you have a PayPal account, the maximum amount for a single transaction is US$10,000. When making a payment more than US$10,000, it is suggested to make multiple transactions to add up to the total amount. If you don’t have a PayPal account, for every single transaction, you may send a maximum of US$4,000.