bigguyinpasadena

If I visit China again I might hire the hotel's car service- especially if I was landing at night.
Even though I had a printout in both Chinese and English-with phone numbers for the hotel it took the driver 20 minutes to get an idea of where the hotel was.

Dsm2m2

Does anyone have experience using their E-Concierge service for booking tours? I will be in Beijing for only 3 days and want to make a trip to the wall during my stay.

For example they have an option for private car service to different Great Wall locations, promising English speaking driver and gate admission for RMB 1,580.00

I know that is more expensive than some other driver options, however it is appealing to me being that I can confirm it with the hotel and also have it added to my room bill. SO outside of the price, does anyone have any positive/negative experiences using this service?

Thanks!

JIMCHI

700 RMB (= about $100) plus I gave him a $10 tip.

Trustguy

I emailed the E-Concierge, and I received a listing of tour options within about 15 minutes of e-mailing. I had them book my tour, and everything was charged directly to my room. It was super convenient during my short trip there. ^

RDUflyer2

I was there last weekend and prior to arrival was offered these rates for the car service:

Audi A6 : CNY700/per way per car
Mercedes Benz S-350 : CNY1020/per way per car
Benz Viano 6-seater : CNY1020/per way per car

If I was with my wife/family I would probably do this. As it was I took a taxi and again even though I had a printed sheet with the hotel address in Chinese and English, it took looking on a map with the driver for him to understand where we were going. We got there fine and he went what appeared to be fairly directly.

Had a good stay at this hotel. Enjoyed the lounge and great staff. Was upgraded to larger room which was just right. I liked the location and it was convenient to getting around by subway and by foot. I would stay here again.

jasonvr

As another option, my wife and I used thechinaguide.com. We are not usually tour people, but we essentially had a very long layover in Beijing with only one full day to see the Wall and Forbidden City. As such, I didn't want to take any chances. We had a private driver in a new VW and very fluent English speaking guide. We went out to Mutianyu first, then back to Tiananmen, then finally to the Forbidden City. Everything was basically on our schedule. We could spend as long as we wanted at each place without pressure. On the wall our guide stayed with us for a bit, then let us explore and then met back up with us for photos, etc. They also had no problem with us skipping the silk market as we had no interest in high pressure, inflated shopping. Overall, I was really pleased. No upcharges for anything including lunch, drinks, or the tickets/transport at the Wall.

Only downside would be the inability to charge it to your room. Looks like prices have gone up since I used them though and might actually be more expensive than the hotel's option which is interesting

http://www.thechinaguide.com/index.p...iew&tour_id=79

moondog

Fyi, Tiananmen is the south gate of the Forbidden City.

jasonvr

OK, I was using shorthand which I figured most would understand. Tiananmen Square....which is across the street

troyb

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 9_2_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/601.1.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/9.0 Mobile/13D15 Safari/601.1)

I've also used the hotel to coordinate a tour to the Great Wall. Twice actually. No problems either time.

GloverParker

I'm actually at the GH now but used Catherine Lu to for organizing a tour to the Wall today -- she came highly recommended from others (all frequent travelers) who had used her in the past. There are a number of different Wall (and other) options on her website and she was very responsive.

Dsm2m2

Thanks for all the replies.

I ended up booking with Simon for transport to/from the wall (based on recommendations on here) and using the hotel for a separate tour in the city.

I will be there next week and will post a follow up.

365RoadWarrior

I'll be there too, though only for work. I do appreciate all the knowledge shared in this thread.

365RoadWarrior

Minor update: Made in China restaurant was closed ffor remodel at the beginning of my stay, reopening early April. No longer available as a Diamond breakfast option.

CIT85

What are the options for Diamond breakfast? I will be there early May.

RTW1

That's a shame..... the lounge is good, but the Chinese options in the restaurant were nice once in a while.