8 days in China for $399!
10 Days in China for $649!
If you are constantly searching for deals, those low prices have grabbed your attention.
They’re shockingly low. The deal is even more surprising when you realize that they include airfare, hotels, some meal, and an English-speaking guide.
Is it a scam? Or the best travel deal to China ever?
When I started researching Rewards Travel China and the Groupon for $649 it offered, I couldn’t find many reviews about the company. The reviews I did find were all average without a lot of detail.
I also spoke to a group of women to traveled to China after buying a Groupon from an agency called Nexus. The trips sounded identical.
Jeff (my husband) and I just returned from the 10 day, 5 city trip offered by Rewards Travel China. The next few posts are EXACTLY what you’ll get with this trip.
This is a general overview, including some additional fees, that may help you decide whether or not you want to buy this deal and pack your bags.
We bought the 10-day trip through Groupon for $649 per person in November of 2016, more than a year before we’d actually travel. (I’ve noticed variations of this trip ranging from $399 to around $1099 since.)
These prices DO NOT include a visa cost of about $380 per person. (A visa is mandatory for U.S. citizens traveling to China.) It also doesn’t include $100 per person to cover tips that you MUST pay at the time you book. My husband and I also paid a $50 upgrade fee so we were guaranteed seats together on our flights to and from China.
Add it all up and that $649 ended up costing us $989 per person, based on double occupancy. This price is before paying for any other tours or shows offered by Rewards Travel China throughout the trip.
There are some “optional” tours offered by Rewards Travel China that I do recommend you book, mainly so you aren’t left sitting around on your own. You can read more about those options in the following posts. You’ll also learn exactly what to expect from your trip and tour guides.
Still trying to figure out of this trip is worth the money?
This trip is for you if you are a laid-back traveler who knows how to go with the flow. If you require personal attention at ALL TIMES during your vacation, go with a different company.
This is not a private tour. You will be in a larger group (ours had a total of 40 people.) If that doesn’t sound like your kind of vacation, skip this trip.
One of the reasons the price of this trip is so low is because of five scheduled stops. You will be to go to a silk factory, a jade factory, a pearl farm, a traditional medical school, and a tea plantation. While these are basically sales pitches, you will learn a little something during each talk. You don’t have to buy anything, but if you don’t want to spend an hour of your day listening to someone talk, this is not a trip for you.
You will be busy during this trip, and must stay on schedule. If you cannot be up and ready to go by 8 or 8:30 every morning, don’t waste your money.
However, if you are up for an adventure and like to meet new people, you will do just fine on this tour. The people in our group ranged in age from late 20s to probably 70s.
Rewards Travel China also arranged wheelchairs for two gentlemen to use during the trip. THIS IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO DO BEFORE YOU LEAVE.
I do have several other notes about Rewards Travel China.
First of all, you may want to get your visa on your own, or go through another company. Jeff and I used Rewards Travel China. We mailed in our documents at the beginning of September, more than three months before our trip. We didn’t hear from anyone for weeks. I finally called Rewards Travel and spoke to a woman named Paris. It turns out that there was a problem with our paperwork, but no one ever notified us. We submitted paperwork and eventually received our visas about 10 days before our trip. If I wouldn’t have called, I’m not entirely sure our visas would have made it in time.
You will not receive your itinerary until about two weeks before you leave. That makes it a nightmare to book connecting flights on your own. While we knew we were leaving on a certain date, we didn’t know if our flight to China was at 9:00 a.m. or midnight. We ended up with a 12 hour layover at LAX traveling to China. However, several of the people in our group used Rewards Travel China to book their connecting flights, too. At least one family told us they were unhappy with the service and thought they were overcharged. This is just a word of warning and something you may want to consider.
If you have an issue with Rewards Travel China before you leave on your trip, call the company. I tried sending countless emails and even tried the online chat. It was all a waste of my time. The only way I ever received answers to my questions was when I called and spoke to someone directly.
Finally, except for travel between Beijing and Shanghai, ALL travel is by tour bus. You will be on the bus for hours at a time, which is another consideration.
Overall, we were not impressed with the service Rewards Travel China provided before our trip. HOWEVER, the service and trip when we were actually in China outweighed our expectations.
If the reason you’re going to China is to check a few things off your bucket list and learn more about the people who call it home, grab this deal! There is no way you can put together this trip for this price on your own.
Recently returned from same trip.Our group of 29 was wonderful…made the trip better. Our guide called us lazy Americans, stated America has no factories, and admitted the Chinese government subsidized the trip. Or maybe it was just a coincidence that the” cultural” excursions to the jade, silk, tea, pharmacy and pearl stores were all at government owned businesses???? Spent more time shopping than exploring the Forbidden City as well the other historical locations. As for walking on the Great Wall?? One climbed several flights of uneven stairs, then turned back, never walking on the wall itself. Very disappointing. Overall, glad I went, as I appreciate American even more
I’m currently on one. I can not wait for it to be over. I feel like you are herded around like cattle. Pushed through sales pitch after long sales pitch. Meanwhile, the amazing sites like the statue of Buddah and The Great Wall you get half as much time to enjoy. Free time is a joke. 45-50 min to explore unguided. You’ll return to your hotel rooms too exhausted for much else but rest before waking up at the crack of dawn to enter the cattle bus again.
If you enjoy pyramid scheme type of sales pitches, you’ll love it. If you’re an explorer and like anything remotely adventures, DO NOT sign up for this. Guides are hit or miss. Our first one was pleasant and friendly. The last two were downright rude, impatient and unforgiving.
Personally, this trip isn’t for me. I noticed the folks who enjoy it the most are over 65+ and have disposable incomes. Nearly everyone under that range in the group made the same complaints I have made.
I do agree, I wish we had much more time to explore. I am still glad we went. Now I know what to expect from trips like this in the future.
THANK YOU! I’ve always wondered about the groupon trips! I appreciate your honesty!
Hi Heidi! Thank you for all the usefull information. I’ll be doing this same trip with my boyfriend and we are not sure whether it’s wort it to pay the extra 50 USD to be together in the plane. What do you think? Is there a way to sit together without paying the extra money? Is there chance we will be sent in different airplanes or buses?
Thank you in advance,
Luisa
It seems like Rewards Travel China booked a section of seats. Everyone on our flight that ended up on the tour sat within 3 rows of each other. You can always ask people to switch seats with you once you’re on the plane. I don’t know how they decide which people are on which flights. But it seemed like everyone flying out of one city ended up on the same flight
Hi Guys,
My family and I are going on the same 10 day tour in 2 weeks. Do we get any day at all to go around on our own for shopping? Either in Beijing or Shanghai?
Hi Tara!
Yes, we had a free day in each city … Plus evenings in Bejing free. Our hotel in Bejing was just 4 or 5 blocks from a mall, so it’s walkable. Have a great trip!
I think my friend and I are leaving in s couple weeks also. We have not received our visa or anything else from Rewards Travel. Makes me nervous.
Hi Cheryl! Call them and make sure everything is in order. I had a problem with my Visa application, but wouldn’t have known unless I called. I tried to email multiple times, but didn’t get a response until I called. Then I was fast tracked. We didn’t get our travel packet with flight info until about 2 weeks out.
I love the trip. Excellent, I enjoy the group. Don’t buy anything at the Olimpic Park souvenirs were very expensive. Vendors will approach you everywhere and you can bargain. They keep you busy the whole time. Long travel at the buss but you sea a lot of interesting areas just for traveling in the buss. They sell yogurt everywhere. I never eat at the street. Will be good to included two additional days in Shanghai. There is a lot to see in Shanghai. They should include take you to the Pear Building the second tallest building in the world. At least to take a picture.
Wandy, Thanks for reading! I agree that this trip was a great experience, especially for the price. I too wished we had a little more guidance in Shanghai and a little less time on the bus! But knowing what I do now, I’d still recommend this trip to most of my friends.
My son and I are contemplating purchasing the Groupon for this trip. My question is: Did you take any of the Optional Tours and Upgrades? Any comments on Hits and/or Misses??? I’ve compared with other vendors and think the prices listed with this trip could be a little steep (Is that their way of making up for the low, low Goupon price?).
Nancy,
We did do some of the excursions. I agree that some of them are a little on the expensive side.
I was a little concerned about trying to get places on our own, so we went with the tours offered.
That being said, the extra tours during the day end up being either you do them, or you explore the area on your own. We didn’t have time during the day to try to meet a different tour group.
We did have time to do different things in the evening, if you wanted to skip the offered dinner or show.
Hi Nancy!
We did the daytime tours, but not the evening shows, if that makes sense. You won’t have time to meet a different guide for the daytime tours. There are several required stops … Like you have to go to the jade factory, the silk factory and the tea place. Those locations are paying for you to stop there. That’s why the price is so low. You have to listen to their sales pitch at those stops, but you aren’t required to buy anything.
Hi!
Thanks so much for this information. I’ve booked this trip for December and received flight ‘confirmation’ but when I go to the website to verify tickets it says it’s not a number. Did this happen to you? It is reassuring that you had issues but still had a great trip
Thanks,
Raegan
Yes it did. Rewards travel China gave us a number, but it was their number, not the airline number, if that makes sense. I called them and they gave me an actual ticket number for the flight. Have a great trip!
im going to this trip on 9/11/2019. how is the weather during this time in China??
My wife and I, along with another couple, went on this very tour in Nov of 2018. Here is my take on the trip.
Yes, most stops are a sales pitch. This was true at Jade factory, tea plantation, etc. But, you don’t have to buy anything…we just went along and browsed around.
It’s fast, yes, be ready by 7a, eat, get on the bus, and go! – we enjoyed the fast pace, not that big of a deal.
Tours, they were fine, we got to spend a lot of time at the Great Wall and even had time to buy a beer and our souvenir! We never felt like we were not learning or enjoying it! Locals were also very friendly and would come and take pictures with us…
Price, yes, initial price is not what you’ll pay – we paid about $400 each for all extras, but in the end, we still enjoyed the shows, dinners, etc and feel we got our money’s worth. We got quite a bit for it.
Guides – maybe we were lucky but ours were GREAT! Very friendly and helpful.
Air travel – we had a great experience, no need to pay $50 to sit together and only paid $75 per person to fly from San Diego as opposed to LA….and, we were able to change our trip from connecting to Canada to LA also at no extra cost. Our flight from Beijing to Shanghai was fast and easy, no surprises of any kind…then we were picked up by our guide and no issues!
Overall, we had a great time and we actually are very glad we took the chance and went…we made memories that we will never forget and plan to hopefully return with our kids someday.
Hi Hector! We thought so too. Enjoy exploring!