Sinorama Holidays

China Trip Cancelled by Tour Operator – Booked & paid for a 20 day Trip to China in July 2017 through Luxury Escapes, offered by SINORAMA HOLIDAYS NZ. Four weeks out from our departure date of the 23rd October 2018 we were advised by Sinorama via a brief email that the tour had been cancelled due to insufficent numbers due to a number of cancellations. We were advised that a refund… Read more

could be obtained through LUXURY ESCAPES. We rang Luxury Escapes immediately and they refunded the total cost of our holiday that day which we were very grateful for. We had paid Sinorama direct for the optional extra tours they had offered, to the value of $460 which were not covered by Luxury Escape in there refund. After many emails back & forth to Sinorama with a request to have our optional tour costs refunded, we were promised it would be deposited into our bank account early October. After this date had been & gone with no sight of our refund & with no replies to our last 3 emails sent to Sinorama, we rang Luxury Escapes to find out if they knew any more information and thats when we were told that Luxury Escapes had been informed that same week, that Sinorama had gone into Liquidation. We are now out of pocket for $460 for the optional tours, $219 for China Visas that Sinorama had instructed us to get only a month earlier and the cost of our Travel Insurance with Insure & Go for the trip.With no success obtaining a refund from Sinorama,

I then lodged a claim through our Travel Insurance to recoupe our losses only to have that rejected by

Insure & Go as well, because appartently the fine print in our policy states that if a Tour Operater or Travel Agent goes into Liquidation than no refund can be obtained.

We have no holiday, we are out of pocket to the amount of $1,000 and not able to claim on our Travel Insurance with Insure & Go as well. How can this happen.

BEWARE OF SINOMARA/TRAVELZOO – Don't book through Travelzoo/Sinorama. We booked 15day China Tour, we also had our tour cancelled one month out - Ist Oct 2018 What a disaster - in early stages back in May when we booked the tour, Sinorama was easy to communicate with, but as it got closer to the final details i.e. 6 weeks prior to trip they got evasive. My biggest lesson is,… Read more

we paid in full in May 2018. Looking at other web sites they request final payment 70 days prior to departure.... so it could happen again.

Gone into Liquidation as at 4/10/18 – Booked our holiday through one of Luxury Escapes deals for a 20 day tour of China back in April. We were leaving on 25/10/18. Got an email from the company late last month to advise that the tour had been cancelled due to people withdrawing from the tour. A lot of garbage in the end. Lucky got our money back from Luxury Escapes but the additional… Read more

tours we booked $360 worth we have lost our money. They promised as at the end of last month to refund our money then yesterday I received an email from the liquidators to advise that the company was placed into voluntary administration on 2/10/18. What liars as they must have known that they company was in big trouble.

Lucky we have found a cruise to go on which takes in China otherwise we would be out of pocket a lot more money.

Very unsettling to say the least. We will think twice about even using Luxury Escapes again

Sinorama now in liquidation – Tour booked 12 months ago and paid in full. Advised last month that tour cancelled (although they did offer us 2 different dates). Asked for full refund which they agreed to. Have had difficulty obtaining refund and kept being given different times to expect the refund. Today 05/10/18) that Sinorama Holidays are now in liquidation.....… Read more

Disappointing.....$5000 gone up in the clouds.......pretty hard for a couple of pensioners.....hope directors sleep well tonight.....will lodge claim form but not expecting miracles.

Sinorama in liquidation – Just received advice that Sinorama Holiays has gone into liquidation. Also seems that their Canadian head office, Vacances Sinorama Inc, who do all the bookings for and were paid by Sinorama Holidays, is also under administration. I won't be going on my trip to China now and doubt I'll get my money back.

Don't book – Tour canceled one month out, unable to speak with anyone regarding refunds. Trip was promoted by Travel Zoo, usually a reliable source.

Do not book tours with Sinorama – Booked a 11 day China trip for October then to be emailed a month out (not called) that trip was cancelled with no reasonings behind the cancellation. The trip entitled having to apply for a Visa, take 11 days leave from work, countless emails back and fourth to be emailed our trip has been cancelled. Now in the process of obtaining a refund and… Read more

Sinorama seem to be in confusion to whether they are paying the refund back late September or early October. Even tried to offer us a trip March 2019 to compensate. No thank you! We had already put in PAL through work we don't want to waste our time again. Worst tourism business you could ever think of! Wish I could give no star reviews!

Beware of this tour company – We booked a tour with Sinorama several months ago for a tour of China, and were due to depart for the tour next month. Once within the visa timeframe we asked for confirmation that tour was going ahead and indicated all was well. Tour was cancelled last week and now they will not respond to emails or return monies owed. There is an article link… Read more

below relating to Canada authorities investigating and acting on Sinorama practices

https://montrealgazette.com/business/consumer-protection-office-puts-travel-agency-sinorama-under-trusteeship

Excellent for the price paid – We went on the 11 day discover China tour which cost us $800 each. We had return flights, an English speaking guide, transfers sorted the entire time, all breakfasts, some lunches and good to fair international hotels. The food was good but plain. The hotels were a bit away from everything but it was a budget tour so we didn't expect to be in… Read more

downtown. Many days had 'factory tours' which are shops. Commission from these sales is one way the can make the tour cheaper. I think the tour price was very very good for what we got.

Be careful when booking through this company – 18 days China and Yangtze river cruise. We booked this through Luxury Escapes and was told that Sinorama Holidays was running this. Because we paid for our own flights instead of using there's, they tried to charge us our first nights accommodation, which we did get a refund for. All our hotels were changed at the last minute and Sinorama told us… Read more

that the accommodation hadn't changed since we booked it 10 months ago which made it very stressful since we had arranged our own private tour on our first night. The accommodation was about 1 to 1 1/2 out of the city and some staff couldn't understand any English. Food and restaurants were all the same with only 1 drink policy and we had the same Chinese food for lunch and dinner for 17 days. Coaches were very poor with broken seats, no fridge for keeping drinks cold. The company would provide soft drinks and beer at each policy that had been kept under the luggage department of the bus which was directly beside the air conditioner which made our drinks extra hot to drink. Yangtze Gold 8 was very old looking, bed was like sleeping on concrete, staff couldn't understand or speak English. Shower door was broken and nearly fell through the rotten decking on the top deck. Drinks very expensive, Beer, Soft drinks and coffee were all the same price. Way too many people of the tour. They told me that there would be no factories tours but at the last minute they showed up on our itinerary. Spent hours at the factories and no time to shop. Tour company wasn't too interested in supporting the local people, just in the government ones. The best part of this trip was coming home.

Do not travel with Sinorama, it is unethical, and doesn't abide by any food/human safety standards – Horrible company, do not use them no matter how cheap they advertise their prices. Their rating is an "F" with the canadian better business bureau, and they don't belong to any travel associations, so when you run into a serious problem, and trust me you will, you have no where to turn to. We had deathly food poisoning, our child was kidnapped… Read more

on their bus, alone, and taken for 35 minutes, their bus driver held us hostage, because he was deranged and psychotic, they lost our luggage etc. etc

Shall we say anymore? Do not use this company. If it wasn't that we were doctors ourselves, we would love died on their food practices ( they served us 7 hour old mayo/turkey sandwiches, that had been sitting in a heated bus ). Unethical bunch of greedy trash company.

Bad food Bad service Dont do it – 12 day China tour with Cruise,hotels 40-50 klms from cities very average food and service.Staff don't speek English.The guide was not at Airport to pick us up as had left with wrong people.Cruise ship was nice but expensive.Tours were to high price retailers and low grade food Guide could be very abrupt and rude.After 2-3 days everybody had cold,food left uncovered in restuarants DONT DO IT

More time spent in "Factories" than attractions – We did a 15 day imperial China tour. They started the tour by introducing themselves as one of the cheapest options so they don't want to hear complaints. Every day they made us go to a "Factory" where they pretended to make local goods and try to sell it to us for a huge mark up. I understand that a lot of tour companies do this, but Sinorama… Read more

took it to the extreme. For example, we were only allowed 2 hours at the great wall of china, then they made us spend 3 and a half hours in a ceramics factory.

One factory even admitted when we noticed no one seemed to be making anything, just pretending, that nothing is made in the factory, they get it elsewhere in China.

The food was the worst part of the tour. A third of our group was vegetarian, myself included. They made no effort to cater for us, they would often give us meat and lie and tell us it was vegetarian, then later admit it was pork. The hotels are usually on the outskirts so it's difficult to sneak off and get your own food. During the river cruise, they scan your bag to make sure no food is brought in, then offer horrendous food options. I would strongly recommend going with another tour company if you have any dietry requirements whatsoever. It will not be taken seriously. All the meat eaters of the group said the food was horrible as well. Our guide explained they try to make it as bland as possible to suit tourist needs. I understand food isn't everything, but two weeks of really bad food started to take a toll on the group.

If you do book on this tour, I would recommend not booking the add ons. The nights off we had were the best nights I had on the whole trip.

The booking process was easy, but once we paid they stopped showing an interest. I had to keep hassling them to get them to send me receipts and itineraries which were necessary for my visa.

The accommodation was nice. You won't stay where they say you will when you book the tour, but all the hotels were clean, some even had saunas and pools. It would be nice if they were a little more central though so you can make the most out of your minimal free time.

All in all, I would say pay a bit more for another tour company, or don't bother. China is a wonderful country to visit, but Simorama made it very unenjoyable for me.

Tour from hell sinorama gold 8 yangtse river cruise – Unlike popular view the pollution is not confined to the cities but is all though the Yangtze River in varying degrees (I would suspect it’s throughout China). The result is everybody is either coughing, or through to bronchitis to pneumonia. The food on the ship is plentiful but poor and served cold. The uncovered buffet is basically a series of… Read more

sugared stews.

Taking liquor on board is bared and ex rayed. This is not surprising as a beer is $1 onshore and $8 on board.

Medical treatment for all of our party as we were all bed ridden with bronchitis or pneumonia was $1800 per head.

The ship has a sewerage smell ranging from light in some cabins to horrific in others. All of our party had to shift cabins. The cabins are large with balcony which basically can’t be used because of the pollution. The staff are young, beautiful and very pleasant, speak only a few words of English and with a few exceptions, no european languages. The passengers are mainly 70+.The half day tours, with a few exceptions, are a couple of hours of bus tour to a poverty village where all in sundry are trying to sell you a tee shirt. These villages haven’t had any public money spent on them in decades so everything is falling apart and covered in years of pollution. Some of the larger towns have shopping streets and markets..

China has banned most western internet providers so there is no access to Facebook or google. Also you need a Chinese passport to buy a local SIM card.

Overall China seems to be focused on major works, which they are good at, but most of the people live a third or fourth world life in an environment that would kill a westerner. I was here 30 years ago shanghai has grown from 8 to 24 million but in general the conditions for most of towns and people has not changed.

After the ship there is a series of good hotels where food is poor and once again, the staff speak little English and have little idea of westerners needs. Tours are a few hours bus and miles of walking. Pollution is horrific everywhere. Those on our bus who have survived the ship and medication joined the locals coughing and spitting. Flight back to Sydney on China Eastern was like a hospital evacuation. Took 24 hours door to door due to an unscheduled stopover. “Just don’t do it “.

Unethical Company – I booked a flight-included trip with Sinorama through a TravelZoo deal and PAID IN FULL when I booked. However, I had to cancel the trip due to a serious back injury. When Sinorama was informed about the cancellation, the first thing they told me was the tour package was nonrefundable. With this in mind, I spent multiple days communicating… Read more

with United Airlines (the airline that Sinorama booked with) to seek help. At United Airlines’ request - I got the cancellation policy in writing from Sinorama, visited my doctor to have him filled out the Physician Statement & written a letter to United Airline on my behalf, and I had to fill out numerous forms all while in severe back pain to apply for the refund.

When the refund was granted, United Airline had to refund the airfare with the original payment method, which was through the agency. So, the refund checks were sent to Sinorama with mine and my friend’s ticket numbers on it. United Airline’s representative said the checks were to be refunded to the ticket holders, so they put our ticket number on the checks. It wasn’t meant to be Sinorama’s to keep.

Because of United Airline’s refund process, Sinorama now claims the checks belong to them, since our tour is nonrefundable, even though they already collected the full amount of flight-included tour fees from me and my friend last year.

I am not disputing Sinorama‘s no refund cancellation policy. The maximum Sinorama can keep according to the contract and cancellation policy is the cost of the tour, which we paid in full when we booked.

Sinorama had sent me multiple documents regarding their no refund policy. In nowhere, it stated that Sinorama has the right to keep the airline or hotel’s refunds resulted from customers’ efforts on top of the tour fees they had collected.

One receptionist even argued that we owed them the tour guide’s tip (for a cancelled trip?) No words can describe the feeling to deal with such unethical & unprofessional company, horrible experience.

Near Perfect Holiday – We just came back from a 15 day trip to china, this company was so helpful from the start. constantly updating me whether I had got my Visa's organized right to hotels, transport and travel. I can't fault this company they do an excellent job and their guides are so much fun. How they do it all for the money we were… Read more ·  1

baffled...Flights,Hotels,Tours,coaches,bullet train and internal flights and Ship. Awesome trip met some lovely people and yes they served us Chinese food...well you are in China but also we hate junk food from Mc Donalds and Domino's on free days. Would I use them again YES

I asked for a party of 4 to be located together – I called them before the tour and asked them to change us considering we had requested for a party of 4 to be located together there was no effort to help or accommodate our requests. really disappointing ensure you give clear instructions for what you need as they don't care otherwise.

Canada & USA with Chinese Tour Director – Start of the day between 6 & 8 am - finish of the day between 8 & 10 pm. Tour Director gave no details of country we drove through. Long days, I would have liked to have learnt something. English poor. Inexperienced and no people skills. Insisted we could only eat at Chinese Buffets, no options given. You do as I say! [name removed] could have… Read more

learnt something from him. Most hotels supplied only plastic cutlery for awful, uninspiring breakfasts. If you didn't like dry scrambled eggs, hard tasteless bacon and yucky sausages you were out of luck there too. No redeeming features, I'm afraid.

Promises made at time of booking but not delivered – Would love to be more positive BUT. Saw a very atractive 12 day China tour Beijing, Yangtze river cruise, Shanghai with a 5 day Guilin, Macau, Hong Kong extension. Before booking and paying in full in November 2015 for a tour on 11th April 2016 we specifically asked "What airlines do you use". We were assured we ONLY use China Eastern, China… Read more

Southern, Cathay or Qantas for the Australia Hong Kong /China International leg. We are fully aware tha in China we may have other airlines. We were issued false travel documents that listed Qantas to get our Chinese visas.

We received our 'ticket' information today, 29th February on Sichuan Airlines. A Chinese domestic carrier begining its first flights 23rd February 2016. We would not have booked our trip if we knew that Sinorama would use a dodgy airline with little international flight history. We specifically asked and were specifically told China Eastern, China Southern, Cathay and Qantas were the only airlines used Australia/HK/China.

Now Sinorama claim that they cannot refund even though they are in breach of their contract. We don't want a refund, or a discount, we want the holiday and the flight on one of the 4 airlines they said that they 'only' use. No upgrade, no special service, just what they promised and now seem unable to deliver.