‘Great service’ from Tour Beijing

By Varun Agnihotri
This item appears on page 31 of the May 2017 issue.

Two family members and I had a long layover scheduled in Beijing, China, on Nov. 28, 2016, and we wanted to pack in about eight hours of local travel in the city. I tried arranging transportation with several companies, but their rates and availability were all over the place.

Three months before our trip, while searching the Internet, I discovered Ms. Mary Ma at Tour Beijing (2001-1-1 Nanxiaojie, Guangqumen, Dongcheng District, Beijing, PRC; phone +86 10 67160201 [ext. 1020], www.tour-beijing.com).

Mary was wonderful to deal with. She promptly responded to emails and had excellent, detailed suggestions. Our program got finalized about three weeks before our trip. The night before our driver was to arrive, she texted me his name and phone number.

The driver came early in a clean, brand-new van. He had been well apprised of our intended itinerary, which included the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. We paid $151 for his services.

Mary helped us out by equipping the driver with a phone that translated English and Chinese. It used something like Google Translate. After the driver spoke into the phone in Chinese, an English translation of his words appeared on the phone’s screen. When I spoke my answer, the phone typed the Chinese translation for the driver to read.

Mary provided us with great service. I would use her in a heartbeat the next time around.

VARUN AGNIHOTRI

Walnut, CA