China Focus Travel

My review is a little late, ok a lot, but hopefully better late than never. I took the April 2014 China Highlights tour and it may have been the same one as Opal D. by the way she describes it. However, the experience my girlfriend and I had were apparently not the same even though we went to almost all the same places. With respect to the food, it was mostly geared to what would be the least objectionable to Western palates. The reality is that tour companies have learned over the course of time is that most of their clients do not necessarily want to be that adventurous. As an example, we were always served fish fillet instead of the whole fish which is traditional. Our group was fine with being served whole fish and when we told our guide, that was what we got.
In terms of the other experiences, though, I don’t know how they could have done much better without the cost being astronomical. I would say that Toby, our national guide, was exceptional and proactive with respect to making sure we well taken care of. Opal (if it’s the same person, she went by a different name on our tour) mentioned our delayed flight and the tight connection to the train. He handled that and we made our train easily. Our baggage was always taken care of everywhere we went so I should have packed more. All the guides were excellent and spoke good English and we were always given preferential treatment at events. They were also able to pull strings or schedule events so that we didn’t have to wait. We even got inside the Shanghai Oriental Pearl on May Day, one of the big 3 holidays in China, without too much fuss.
Want to get a picture of yourself holding a panda at the last minute? Done. Want to see the Beijing Kung Fu show? Front row seats. Raining at the Terra Cotta Warriors? We’ll get a shuttle instead of walk. BTW, I did not see any flooding and the low light is to preserve the statues. Get a cabin with a shared balcony? Fixed without us mentioning it. Want to cruise the Huangpu River to see Shanghai at night? No problem. Don’t like the common dining room on the Yangtze cruise, we paid about $ 2 extra per person per day for a private dining room.
As far as I’m concerned, all the accommodations were first rate, including the ones where they warned us it might not be as nice. I’m retired now, but when I traveled for business, I routinely stayed in places like the Fairmont, 4 Seasons, Ritz-​Carlton, etc. in the US and our hotels equaled or exceeded those in my opinion.
I live near enough to the Chinese Consulate that I could have went for the visa myself. However, spare yourself the headache and let them handle it. They know how to manage the bureaucracy. I’ve heard from others who did it themselves that it’s the equivalent of multiple days at the DMV.
In summary, I can wholeheartedly endorse China Focus, especially at their price. It’s true you can get a more authentic experience if you created a custom tour yourself, but I imagine the cost would be multiples of what China Focus charges and the potential pitfalls are enormous. Furthermore, some «authentic» experiences are simply not possible any more. In the age of smart phones and motorized transport, why would any indigenous person want to live without these conveniences?

Update: A representative from China Focus finally responded. He stated that the guide’s food are not included in the meal cost.
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My husband and I recently completed the 19 day China Highlights tour with China Focus (CF).
MAJOR CON: Our primary complaint, which was congruent with most of our tour group, was that the food they served us was absolute dirt cheap bottom of the barrel. To meet the «number of dishes» (~1 per person, served family style), they would order inexpensive dishes, and often times the same inexpensive dishes over and over; french fries (a couple times cold) were served at multiple meals. I happened to see the check on one particular meal and was astonished that they spent only ~350Yuan for 15 people (12 tourists, 1 national guide, 1 local guide, 1 driver) which comes out to less than $ 60… no wonder we all hated our food the entire trip. Even worse is that the guides and drivers are never eating exactly what we are eating — often they have a dish or two that actually looks appetizing! My husband and I gave up on eating on the tours and went out to meals on our own as often as possible because we did not want to leave China not having experienced the delicious food the country is known for. We spent additional money on top of the trip cost to CF (they never offered any money in return), and judging from the other tourists’ feedback, the money from the two of us skipping the meals did not go to the rest of the group’s food budget either because they were just as unhappy about every single meal we skipped, «It was the same crap we’ve been eating.» «I’m ill from the lunch today.» «There wasn’t much food, the dumplings were tiny.» On the second to last day of the trip, a lady in my tour group came up to me after having a meal outside of the tour group for the first time the evening prior to say, «You were right, Chinese food is nothing like what they’ve been serving us. There was a lot of options and it was pretty good.» If I hadn’t convinced her to give it a chance, she would’ve left China thinking the entire country was full of bad food — and that is truly loathsome. My husband and I did not get sick once from the food we ate, including lots of street food!
Pros: CF was helpful in getting Visas filed and giving China-​specific pre-​trip advice such as «bring large-​faced US bills in pristine condition» which I would not have known otherwise. Once our flight was delayed, and our tour guide arranged for bellboys to lug our luggage to and from the train station allowing us to catch our connecting train. We saw many tour groups getting preferential treatment in attraction lines, including ours. Having a guide was like having a translator with you which is necessary to travel China comfortably.
China Highlights Tour Specific: I give the trip itinerary itself 3-​stars. Beijing was hectic but a good start to the trip. The hotels we stayed at were mainly good except the Ocean Hotel (Shanghai) and the Empark Grand Hotel (Xian). In truth, I would have wanted to skip Xian all together because the main reason to go to Xian is for the Terracotta Warriors and that attraction is so poorly managed that the entire facility flooded while we were there and the pits are dimly lit that you cannot see a thing. The Yangzhee Gold Cruise 6 took you to stunning sites but what was touted as historical sites were more like theme parks, fabricated for your enjoyment. We highly enjoyed the Longsheng Terraces although once they get the gondolas up, I’m sure it will become as «fake» as the attractions on the Yangzhee River. The Reed Flute Cave is an abomination, if you are a nature buff, stay away, it’s more concrete, light show, bird sound tracks than a real cave. If I had known what I know now, I would have created a custom tour (not necessarily with CF) and I would skip the Temple of Heaven and Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs in Beijing, skip Xian, spend more time in Chengdu, spend a couple days exploring some of cave systems in Guilin, and have gotten a tour that did not include restaurant stops in the prices so that I could eat wherever and whatever I wanted.
Service: The national guide was spectacular during the trip, although he basically ignored my very last request asking him to check on a flight for me before we all parted ways on the last day. During the booking process, the staff in San Francisco were responsive except for one missed email. After my trip, I emailed one of the managers of CF to inform him of our experience as a courtesy so that he may improve the tour/​company, as the CF guides in China even mentioned, they have lost a lot of business and there is more competition than ever. Unfortunately, this CF manager did not respond to my email even to say a simple, «Thanks for using us, glad you enjoyed ‘X’, I’m sorry you did not enjoy ‘Y’, we appreciate the feedback and will work to improve our services. Please come check us out again.» Just… radio silence

Got onto this company from wife’s friend who used them several years ago and were happy. Many pros and only a few cons when you use this vendor. Downsides in part are due to travelling in China, and not necessarily related to China Focus (CF). Currently, our guides say that travel is down in China (pollution, economy, avian flu, etc.) which allows you to get great value for the money. CF was willing to take us on tour as a single group of 6 people! Though no national guide, we were met at every airport and brought back and assisted with check in-​a great comfort when you can’t speak, let alone read Chinese. We had a nice comfortable bus almost everywhere and most guides that had good english skills. Found staff always patient and willing to help when we spoke by phone. They are frankly slow when trying to communicate by email. First and last hotels 5 star, though in the smaller areas you are not going to get it so good. For example Lijiang the hotel was pretty dirty, and in Dali the roof leaked when it rained. The Chinese are still trying to figure out how to construct things that both look good and are made well at the same time. Expect sewer smells in the BR due to plumbing techniques.
The venues are fantastic. Watch out for guides that doggedly stick to the itinerary without exception and won’t listen when you tell them you are sick of western buffet with sweet and sour dishes. Dim sum dinner was really terrible, but in general food quality very good-​we were overstuffed by 2 big meals a day.
You are going to have to put up with several «factory tours”-they can be interesting, but have firm resolve and don’t be uncomfortable not buying anything. Be sure and bargain, you should always start with the low ball!
Take care for scams at your hotel-​my ¹⁹⁄₁₃ yo children and I were charged for using condoms so considerately provided for guest use in each of our rooms! ($ 20). Turns out they put an empty box in the bathroom with the cellophane wrap carefully slit open to extract the contents. Amazing how the housekeeper just happened to know how to «look». Still waiting for the refund that CF promised.
All in all a wonderful experience and great value. Just returned from Kensington trip to Eastern Europe that cost more for 1 week less, ¹⁄₃ the guided tour time, and no meals except breakfast.

I just returned from a 14 day — Three Gorges Tour of China using China Focus. I took my two nieces aged 15 and 17, and I would highly recommend this trip for somone wanting a great introduction to China, 4 and 5 star hotels and a great value. Toby our national guide made the trip run smoothly and fun for everyone!
I was very impressed with the tour. We went to Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, cruised the Zangtze and Shanghai. Our hotel accommodations were outstanding — 4 and 5 star — well above what I was expecting for the cost of the tour. All our meals were included. Breakfast was a buffet sytle western food or eastern food, your choice. The worst food was on the plane rides (I’d suggest skipping!). We did have an excellent dumpling dinner in Xi’an.
The days were packed with many things to see. The trip stayed true to the agenda that was published. You will attend factory tours to see jade, pottery, silk, pearls, etc. This tours were about an hour and were informative of how the products were made. The local guides were also very good and made you feel at home in their city. Our trip included one home visit.
Highlights of the trip for me were the Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, Three Natural Bridges and the Temple of Heaven — so awesome in real life! The tour included all airfares, hotels, meals, and entrance fees. This was my 2^nd trip to China. The first one was in 1986. China is changing very quickly. If you want to see «old China» you need to go soon. I felt I got a great value for the cost I paid, and would recommend China Focus for someone wanting an initial tour of China highlights.

I used China Focus for my recent trip to China. They were wonderful… friendly, accomodating to my needs, and the trip was flawless. The guide in Beijing spoke English well, waiting for us when we arrived and accomodated all of our last-​minute changes we wanted to do.
The folks in the SF office that coordinated the planning for the trip were extremely helpful. From getting my visa to coordinating details of the trip, they were professional and knowledgable.
One of the nicest things was when I emailed China Focus, Jack (the main guy I worked with), responded back right away. When I called, I talked to someone immediately… personal service!!!
Thank you China Focus for making my trip wonderful!

My wife and I completed the 17 day Best of China tour offered by China Focus. In short, it was spectacular. This was our first, and probably only, trip to China and we wanted to see everything. Well, we just about did, and in style to boot.
We started out in Beijing for three days (Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Olympic Stadium, Great Wall, and a rickshaw ride through a Hutong) then had a three day cruise up the Yangtze (Three Gorges dam) to Chongqing. Then we traveled to Chengdu (Panda reserve), Xi’an (Terracotta Warriors, Big and Little Wild Goose Pagodas), Guilin and Yangshou (Li River cruise, visit to a family farm, and Reed Flute Cave), and ended up in Shanghai (the Bund, French Concession, Pearl Tower, and Municipal History Museum. On the last day, we took the mag-​lev train to the airport.
Our guides were wonderful, especially our national guide, Ford. He is the rock star of tour guides. He was extremely informative, spoke English fluently, had a great sense of humor, and had the knack of appreciating our Western point of view. Additionally, he was a great administrator. We got to all our flights on time, were speedily checked into our hotels, got prompt service in every restaurant, and were whisked past long lines at many of the attractions we visited.
Hotels were truly five star. Don’t be misled by some of the more mundane hotel chain names… all the properties were beautiful, had great service, and spacious, well appointed rooms.
Meals were perfect for us. We had a Western breakfast each morning, and enjoyed family style Chinese food for most other meals. That way, you could be as adventurous as you wanted (I passed on the fish eyes, but enjoyed lots of other stuff I had never tried before).
We enjoyed the entertainment, especially the Liu Shanjie Impressions Show in Yangshou. This spectacular light show is on the Li River, with a cast of over 460 local people. It was directed by Zhang Yimou, who did the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics.
We did have some free time as well, when we enjoyed watching the Chinese people almost as much as they enjoyed watching us! While I had some anxiety before the trip, it was quickly extinguished by the genuine warmth and friendliness of the Chinese people.
If you plan to go to China, go soon. The Old China is quickly being replaced by the New China. Right now, you get to see them both side by side.

I wanted to give an update of this review.
As stated before getting information and Call backs were difficult initially but questions have been answered in a timely manner.
At first they explained to me that no credit cards was their policy, now I am being explained that they don’t accept credit cards during their winter promotion and I can now use my credit card and pay a 2% charge which was more than acceptable to me and this is what I offered to pay initially.
As before I always knew that these tours are tricky as during off season they need to book a minimum amount of people to initiate the tour and that will dictate prices and dates.

China Focus Travel caters to the tastes of the waspy American. If you like glamorous 5 star hotels, Americanized Chinese food, and loitering for hours at various factories, I would recommend traveling with China Focus. I did not even realize that there could be Americanized Chinese food in China until this trip with China Focus.
My relatives and I went on the 15 day tour (Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Yangshuo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai). I’m Chinese and I’ve been to Beijing and Hong Kong before, so I was familiar with the local authentic foods there. I was so sad that only two of our meals in Beijing served authentic Beijing food — the Peking duck restaurant and the vegetarian restaurant. I was looking forward to some Beijing-​style hot pot, but did not get to experience any of that with China Focus, which probably assumed that waspy Americans would grow queasy at the sight of freshly sliced raw meats and seafood on the lazy Susan.
China Focus provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner in every city except Hong Kong, and each meal was huge with a minimum of ten courses. This left no room at all in my tummy for side trips to local street food stalls to try the authentic Chinese food. In every city, we ate basically the same Americanized Chinese fare — kung pao chicken, chop suey, and sweet and sour chicken. I did enjoy the eggplant that was served with every single meal, but none of the restaurants served a whole fish to the China Focus tour group. A whole fish is normally served with each Chinese meal at the fancier restaurants! When we were in Shanghai, we didn’t even get to eat Shanghai’s signature dish — xiao long bao. I was especially disappointed with the «restaurants» that China Focus took us in Shanghai, because two of them were in factories that served food only to tourists! Of course no local in their right mind would go dine at a silk or rug factory! The factory food was the worst. China Focus also made us dine at several other restaurants that served only tourists, but at least those restaurants specialized in food only.
Pros about China Focus:
— You get to travel in style. China Focus puts you in 5 star hotels in each city except Guilin and Shanghai, but the 4 star hotel in Shanghai was more luxurious than most American hotels with the same rating. I loved staying at the super chic 5 star hotels in China.
— I also enjoyed the parts of the tour where the guide took us inside an ancient Beijing hutong home and a Yangshuo countryside home of real families.
— We saw a lot of landmarks in a short period of time, especially in Beijing.
— The local tour guides in Beijing (Jerry), Xi’an (Steve), Guilin/​Yangshuo (Ling), and Hong Kong (Patrick) were very knowledgeable and helpful as translators.
Cons about China Focus:
— The food sucks for the most part, and there’s plenty of it. Chinese cuisine is actually my favorite, so I was really sad to miss out on many of the authentic local dishes while I was with the China Focus tour. If you like Americanized Chinese food a la chop suey and kung pao chicken, then you will love China Focus! I was shocked by the fact that there was Americanized Chinese food in China (usually adjacent to or inside the factories where all the American tour groups frequent)! If you are looking to try some authentic local flavors, look for another travel agency.
— Precious hours are wasted at various factories that aggressively try to sell you expensive items that cost thousands of US dollars. Not all Americans are rich.
— The Shanghai tour guide (Jeffrey) does the bare minimum by leading us to the places on the itinerary without much commentary. A lot of the Americans on the tour group felt confused when Jeffrey took us to the Mongolian BBQ buffet at the rug factory, but a buffet-​style lunch seemed self explanatory to me. It was funny to see the other tourists sit around for a while at the Mongolian BBQ buffet in Shanghai because they expected food to be handed to them on platters.
— There isn’t much free time unless if you’re planning to go clubbing or hang out at a bar after a long sweaty day of sightseeing. The tours usually depart from the hotel between 7:30 am and 8:30 am, so make sure you wake up in time.
–You don’t get to pick your tour guide.
Anyway I expected more from China Focus. There is much room for improvement in terms of food and time allocation. When no one feels like buying anything at the factories and they make it clear by completely ignoring the things for sale, then there is no need for the whole tour group to loiter at the factory for another hour or so. Also, some of the restaurants that China Focus took us were frequented by locals, and those were the favorites of the majority in my tour group. It doesn’t hurt to order some authentic local food for American tourists.

Me and my girlfriend just got back from the 9 day beijing, xian, shanghai tour. Things were going smoothly in Beijin and Xian, but once in shanghai everything fell apart. The tour guide there was not well prepared at all and poorly informed by the company on what he was supposed to do. Also, we were unable to go up the shanghai Pearl TV tower to get a birds eye view of the city due to a long line, but the company did nothing to compensate us and would not even agree to take us the next day, which was a free day. Basically, most of the tour was great, but China Focus showed that they are not looking to make their customers happy if anything throws off the schedule. Disappointing…
The airline to China as well as for the flights in China, Air China, was pretty terrible as well. Old planes without watchable movies for a 12 hour flight and bad food is pretty rough…

We just got back from a China focus tour (Best of China & Hong Kong 15 days) and it was amazing! I agree with everything Michael H. says. May is a great time to go in terms of weather… I must add, yes, you will go to the Pearl, Laquer, Jewelry, Silk and Jade factories but it’s brief (1 – 2 hrs) and no one is forced to purchase anything. Most of them are government owned (if not all), so I will assume almost all tour companies will pay a visit in order to keep their tour package prices down. In fact, it’s quite educational. Small price to pay for a great value! I’m serious when I say… GREAT VALUE!
Company: Prior to the trip, I had my questions and concerns answered immediately by the owner himself, Jack Lee, while I had to wait a few days from several other agencies. I had to meet up with some family from a different part of CA and the company helped me coordinate flights. Everything on their website is accurate and thorough and after payment, you receive a detailed package with itineraries, hotel and flight info 2 wks prior to departure. A very nice couple in our group told us that they were on their 2^nd trip with China Focus (their 1^st trip was Three Gorges)…need they say more?
Tour guides: I went with my family who speak Chinese (but my brother and I don’t) and the guides were exceptional in English and extremely knowledgeable about China. I gained sooooo much on the tour from culture, language, history, and food… more than I would from reading a travel book or researching on my own. I even learned to read a few Chinese characters along the way. My family surprisingly, learned quite a lot as well already coming from a Chinese background. There was a different tour guide for each major city but we also had a national tour guide who stayed with us the entire trip (Han, he’s the best!) while we hopped to each city to ensure everything ran smoothly… and it did. All the guides were so helpful, efficient, friendly, entertaining and accommodating… I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Hotels/​Meals: Wow! For the price we paid, I would have to question how China Focus do it? Half of the hotels were centrally located, the other half weren’t, most of them had a great breakfast buffet, a few didn’t, most of the meals we had were delicious, a few were «different» but not disgusting but all the meals were chinese food (that’s what we came for right?)…but I can’t complain because they were all wonderful and a great experience. Yes, most of the restaurants were catered towards tourist but what else do you expect… many people are hesitant to try street and local foods so these places are safe’r’. If you’re adventurous, there’s always time after the tour and on free days to try local restaurants and street food. The free day cities (Hong Kong and Shanghai), the hotels were located less than a 5 min walk from the subway station and were so easy, clean, and convenient to venture out on our own. Also, the concierge were so helpful and drew everything out on a map.
Misc: We had 26 in our group most of the time, and split off to a group of 13 halfway through the trip. Everyone was great so we lucked out.
We were able to go on little side trips/​excursions in Xi’an to get a foot/​body massage for 120 yuan (~$ 17) for 110 min arranged by our guide. We also went on an addtional tour in Yangshou to the countryside (~$ 15) which was exceptional and the landscape and ways of living are just jawdropping. We also grabbed a cab in Beijing (thanks to Han) to see some of the unusual foods (snakes, starfish, bugs, etc) at the Night Food Market.
You will encounter lots of street people selling things (we call them «hallo» people) for $ 1 – 2 US and if you’re not into authenticity… the postcards, kites, maps, books, toys, faux-​Rolex etc, are well worth the prices and you’ll be helping the local folks. $ 1 doesn’t even cover the cost of the paper for some of those books… how do they make profit? But be warned, once you give them a sign of hope you’ll buy something, you’ll have to struggle to keep away so if you’re not interested, don’t even make eye contact. If you do buy street items, make sure you carry small bills (10−20Y or $ 1 bills) so you dont’ have to get change from the vendors on the mainland to avoid receiving fake money (Made in China)
Covered lots of ground in very little time which was exactly what we were looking for despite being exhausted from the constant checking in and out of the hotels and going through the airports. Perhaps I would have liked more shopping time but nonetheless, we had an unforgettable experience with China Focus.