mojo2121

Evening FT,

Has anyone here ever used Catherine Lu private tours for 1-3 days in Beijing? Was it a good experience? We are considering booking the two day itinerary since it hits most items we wanted to see (including transport to the Great Wall). Tripadvisor seems pretty happy with them but wasn't able to find much on FT.

Looking forward to peoples feedback!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...r-Beijing.html

moondog

While I find TA useful for certain types of missions (e.g. narrowing down the field of hotels and restaurants), over time I've learned to place VERY LITTLE CREDENCE in reviews of "activities".

I don't have any knowledge of the tour outfit in question, nor of many others apart from the government run gigs (CITC, CITS, etc).

What sort of value are you expecting to extract from the guide (e.g. shopping eating, etc)?

mojo2121

Mainly the idea is to have someone that can take us around and provide more detail and background to the significance of the sites we are seeing (like the forbidden city, etc). Price isn't cheap at about $500 total for two people but it does include all admissions and transportation. The link is below - what do you think?

http://www.catherinelutours.com/itin...-two-day-tour/

anacapamalibu

Would suggest their paypal payment option.
No recourse with the other options..cash, wire, WU.

If there is an issue, paypal allows dispute resolution.

Price seems a bit high 125/usd per person per day, but
if they deliver what is reasonably expected then it's a fair deal.

747FC

I've had tour guides around the world and never had to prepay. I recently made a reservation with Beijing and Shanghai guides and they did not ask for prepayment, either. YMMV.

moondog

Y500/day is sufficient to get the services of a smart person (I'm always happy to make intros). Then, add on meals (you pick the restaurants!), transportation, and venue tickets for an additional ~Y1000 (assuming 2 people).

IMO tour guides are hindrances in the general sense (wrt Beijing) because all major attractions have extensive English language info, but especially in the case of the Forbidden City because the audio tour is extremely comprehensive (i.e. I couldn't fathom the idea of a guide providing anything close to its level of detail).

JPDM

I would certainly consider Catherine Lu among the very best for Beijing. I also think that her reviews on TA are highly credible. It's not like she just has a few reviews from one-time posters. She has over 600 and many for senior contributors. 621 reviews out of 638 give her 5 stars. No small feat.

anacapamalibu

/QUOTE=JPDM;22849751]I would certainly consider Catherine Lu among the very best for Beijing. I also think that her reviews on TA are highly credible. It's not like she just has a few reviews from one-time posters. She has over 600 and many for senior contributors. 621 reviews out of 638 give her 5 stars. No small feat.[/QUOTE]

http://real-tripadvisor-reviews.com/
TA reviews..$20 each

Click Farms:
Youtube ..views..comments..likes
Twitter..followers..retweets
Instagram....followers..likes

Even Facebook themselves sells likes.

mojo2121

http://real-tripadvisor-reviews.com/
TA reviews..$20 each

Click Farms:
Youtube ..views..comments..likes
Twitter..followers..retweets
Instagram....followers..likes

Even Facebook themselves sells likes.[/QUOTE]

I am certainly skeptical also because of this. However, there were basically zero bad reviews which I figured would be there (even with pimping the service) if something was amiss...

anacapamalibu

basically zero?
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...u-Beijing.html

They push into obscurity, similar to yelp, depending on how much you pay.

mojo2121

I did read that one thread, but that was a separate string from the main review link I posted which also only has 1 poor and 1 average out of over 600. That's what I considered "basically zero" - I figure if it wasn't good surely there would be a few more?

Taiwaned

This is not specific about Catherine Lu however when I went on a guided tour a few months ago, the tour guide requested us to give her a good review on trip adviser.

Couldn't figure out why so many reviews of certain tour operators until I went on this tour. It wasn't that her tour was bad, it was that the tour operator had requested all the feedback to be posted did leave me a negative opinion of trip adviser.

JPDM

Most guides get their business from referrals so it is normal that a guide would ask for you to review them. Nothing wrong with that. The guide did not ask for a 5-star review, just a review. And did not offer you anything in exchange of the review.
About buying reviews, I am sure it happens but the truth lies in the numbers. I have seen properties with mostly reviews from one-time posters and I stay clear of those places. But when you have reviews from active senior contributors then it is far more credible as when you have a lot of reviews. As far as I can tell, TA's ranking algorithm takes that into account.
Of course you can't trust everything you read on the internet and that applies to the FlyerTalk forum as well. But again, this guide has been reviewed extensively and been commented many times all over and is definitely one of the best in Beijing. But you are free to hire an unknown guide that we never heard of with no review, if you think it is better.
I am retired and travel 3-4 months of the year and have relied heavily on reviews to pick hotels and am extremely happy of the results. Every once in a while I take a chance and regret it.

iceblueshoes

I had the same request made in Rome during a free tour. They said be nice jokingly but said that they do respond to criticism and suggestions.
Tour was free though so you can't really expect too much.

I'm doing the solo thing aroud Beijing. Should be interesting... lol

moondog

Solo is the best way to do Beijing. Feel free to PM me in advance of your trip, and I promise things will go smoothly (my services are free).