I hv been a very frequent traveller since 1980 with many various travel agencies. I ever gone on the same Europe Itinerary with 3 different top 3 agencies, 3 times to Tokyo Disneyland group tour with the same tour agency ( is a small set up co).

My view is, generally all Travel Cos and Tour Guides service standard hv dropped years by years. My observation is due to the great demand and competitiveness.

All Travel Cos started offer 'very affordable price' tour packages to get biz, and travellers go around and compare prices..

The theory of 'Good thing no cheap, cheap thing no good' does not exist in Travel biz. u will find this theory agreeable only when u travel more frequently..is all depence on your luck.

Of course, all Travellers' wish to hv 'value for money' holiday but when we finished the tour, 'value for money' is never a concern anymore. We usuall choose to remember those little unhappy moments rather than many more happy times during the trip. Common human nature!!

I am sure after reading all other Posts here, u will know what u should expect from the Travel Co, so u tell the staff who take your booking to list down all your requests in the Invoice.

However, do take note what you asked for must be 'reasonable' and accept the Staff's reply of 'I will state your requests in the Invoice but subject to availability'..Trust me the Tour Leader will take note of your requests and try his/her best.

Remember, u are going for a self paid holiday, so go with happy heart and remain relax and happy through out the whole trip, and u feel the same too.

To conclude, do pray for luck..

I feel safe to book thru Hong Thai n those agencies (Insight, Trafalgar etc) that dare to stick their head and name the hotels we will be staying during the trip. Those travel agencies (especially chan brothers) who won't dare or never list down the hotels' name are suspicious and likely to rip and give cheapo hotels to customers.

Chan Brothers is the worst!

Join HT Hokkaido trip during June holiday. Althoungh I paid slighlty exp then my friend cos they book at NATAS.But it worth.This is the first time we joinning a tour pkg. But overall we enjoyed the trip very much.
Thanks to Angela, her knowledge about Hokkaido is very good. She told us alot on the history and culture about Japan eventhough sometime we fall asleep halfway when she talk.Sometimes our kids are very noisey at the back of the coach, she also showing greet patience.
Once again, Thank you. Next time if I would like to join any Japan trip HT will be my choice.

Travel with Hong Thai twice. The first time to Xiamen/Mt.Wuyi/Fuzhou/Swatow/Chaozhou. Meals is the best among all my package holidays. The 5 hours train ride from Mt.Wuyi to Fuzhou City is a waste of time. No nice scenery to see. So is Fuzhou City. Better skip Fuzhou and fly back to Xiamen from Mt.Wuyi(60mins). The local guide bring us to a teahouse. The tea i bought is s$20 cheaper in Singapore at Yue Hwa Emporium. The second time i travel with Hong Thai is to Yunnan/Kumming/Lijaing/Dali/Shangri-La. An unpleasant trip. Temperature minus 2 degree and hotel room no heater. I want to close the curtain, a light pull and the whole thing, curtain and railing came crashing down. Inform the hotel receiptionist when we go for dinner but when we came back nothing is done so have to sleep without curtain. Have Impression of Lijiang Show but local guide said no. Introduce us to another s$40 boring show. Please take note the local guide in Dali keep quite about the optional and that is the cable car ride. Once you reach the top you have to climb a very slippery steep dark cave in order to take the cable car down. My advice elderly and those with weak legs not participate.

Ngyaomin, you sounds like one bloody spy from HT...sounds familiar....

joined Hong Thai to Japan with my sister & 2 kids. Food is good,hotel given as promised. Tour guide is wonderful. Even though my sister had travel to many countries before,she also thinks that this is the best! The whole group are happy and it\'s really an unforgetable trip. Thumbs-up! Hong Thai !!

well singaporean like to comlaint. even I do. but let me list down a few things which singaproean love to complaint but really they should not

1. The tour leader told us the wheather is cool, so I did not bring my jacket but then it was cold.

For god sake no one can predict the weather and it is your responsibilty to check out weather forcast b4 you go. If you want to be safe do so b4 you even book.

2. My tour guide and leader do not wait for me.

They do not have to wait for you. You are suppose to catch up with the entire group. The only exception is the entire group cant catch up, or you have medical problem. If so it is your responsibilty to tell those involve as well as other tour mate so they can keep a look out. If you have children ask your mate to keep a look out for your child, I am sure they are more than glad to help. Dont expect the guide to look after your child.

3. No one help me carry my lagguage

You fucking carry your own baggage

4. The food sucks, I was promised gourmet food.

Well, you cannot complain cause there is no defination of good food. You can only complain if you do not have enough to eat

5. There are too much shopping, and the guide bring us to places where prices are higher than usual

All tours are like this in a nature, some have more shopping some have less, but there would be, if not the guide and the destination country earn what shit.

6. The guide spoke too fast, slow, lound, soft

You can ask him to adjust but there is no right for you to complaint

7. The guide do not speak interesting things.

A guide is suppose to tell you the very basics, if you want historical lesson, go to university.

8. I request for seaview room but get pool view.

For god sake you cant complaint unless you paid extra for it

9. My family are given rooms very far apart.

please understand sometime not all rooms can be together, the guide would not be so stupid to purposely seperate you all. If you dont like you can try to sort with other tour mate.


10. The guide and leader seem to favour certain person or family

All guide show favourism, it is directly or indirectly some not noticable. Most likely the family may be a long term customer, or is very kind to the guide. I know when i was in china a coupole brought a 15$ jacket for a tour leader who left his jacket at the airport. the 15$ move is so effective the tour leader carried their personal shopping bags for whole trip.

11. the optional tour are a bomb.

please do not complain because this is how they make money, if you dont like you can dont join

12. the guide show displeassure when we all no booking optional tour she suggested

For god sake you block her weath of cause she angry la.

13. When we enter shop and dont buy anything, the guide angry with us even if there is nothign we like.

Please for god sake force yourself to buy something, the guide depends on the commission. If you really dont want to buy, tel the guide, but give him or her some moeny to cover her commission.

When i travel to coutrny at every stop I buy something even if i dont need them. I may buy more if I love the guide.

14. The driver is hell driver.

you do not complain because every coutnry driver is different. Unless of cause he crashes.

15. the guide never change clothes for the entire trip

for god sake why you care

16. the resturant is dirty

for god sake stay in singapore if you scare dirty

17. I was made to walk long distance disprite being told min walking is required.

Well unless you ask for how long i need to walk, ie ask the distance not the time. You cannot complaint. If you cannot walk far tell the guide in advance and he would arrange alternatve for you. You may need to pay extra tips for the special arrangements.

18. We have to go to high lands and it was cold, we were not told to bring jacket so we did not.

Omg, if you do not have basic common sense then please do not travel

19. the guide do not tell us joke, or his joke not laughable

not everyone tell joke lor

20. the guide smokes

unless he smoke in the bus you cannot complaint. In china even if smoke in bus you cant complaint, it is their culture.

21. My guide pronoucation sucks

ask him to slow down, some people have slang they cant correct in a moment so please understand

So what can I complain

1. I was promised xxx hotel as listed but is given yyy hotel.

You can if yyy is lower class. But in a tour do expect 1 in 4 day there is a change in hotel listed. If not listed you cant complain.

2. The guide dont speak chinese even if we book chinese tour.

Well, you can complain unless it is peak and there is not enough chiense guides.

3. There is not enough to eat.

You can complain if more than half do not have enough to eat. This is provided they are not overweight, underweight, prenant or ill.

4. some destination was not go to.

You can complain if it is not due to natural or causes beyond control of the guide. If for exampke you book disney land tour and cannot go in due to full. You cannot complain because the guide do not own disney land, if you really so afraid you make sure it is comfrim go in b4 you book. or sometime time do not allow them to do so.

If they purposely missed then you can complain.

But in a 4 day tour expect 2 destination cancel or delete is usual.

5. The guide disseaper for 2 hour because we decided not to buy from a china medical shop.

you all know how cruel chinese medical shop are so ya you can complain. But if she just black face you dont, again remember you block her weath


So how can I make my trip nicer

1. check and ask everything in details before you go.

2. dont expect anything

3. buy things when you can, if money go to guide, he happy you happy

4. pay the guide higher tips before the end of the tour.

Heres is wat I do, i would observe guide for a day, if he has potential or is good then I give him tip, usually 150% of the stated tips. I would told him he did good and like to thank him. I also told him I would still give him his standard tip at end of tour. You dont have to tell him wat you expect all guide would know wat to do.

At end of tour I pay 100% to 300% of stated tip depend on his performance. Of cause if we never buy anything that pay commission we would pay more.

5. be nice, when the guide tell a joke, even if you dont like, clap.

6. be cooperative, dont delly and take your own sweet time to do things, and make everyone wait for you.
If you have elderly or children you are exempted. but still try to be fast.

7. expect everywhere to be only 40% of singapore standard.

Yes, I agree to some of the comments above.As a Singaporean, I do feel ashame of some acting as though that the whold world is owing him/her something.Not about travelling, sometimes you could even see those ppl hogging onto the public buses ,pushing through at the entrance just to get the first comfortable seat.And moreover at the Exit ,some will hog the area and pity those who need to get of the bus in a hurry.They just stand there like a log without any sense that someone is getting of the bus.And another by seeing ppl queing up to board the bus you could see some just hogging the rear front and simply ignore to move to the rear to make boarding easier.It's just plain selfish and stupid.This delays could be eliminated and saves us alot of precious minutes for those who are trying to get to work ontime.
This delay is causing everybody that take the bus isn't it so???
Sad to say , some singaporeans need some social responsibility education.They really Sucks!!!

HT services has dropped over the years...the worst I have come to was in Japan. The guide is just too eager to ripped us off the otionals though they have put it in a nice way! I heard them 'planning' the massacre! The whole trip was pretty normal (compared to those that I have joined with CB and CTC). I have joined them for some 7 trips and have seen them getting from bad to worst! Honestly, I would never to join Hong Thai trips again. Its too heartache to know that all these while, they have been ripping us off! Dont mind paying but at this rate of service? Never!

I just come back from 8 day kyushu tour.
I am very lucky to have a very good tour guide (Mr Sai Ken) and tour leader Shawn, although he is very new to the industry.

1. Shawn suggested that older folks take the seats further in front for convience, a common sense move that even many experience tour leader forgot.

2. Both of them were very resposnible and offer us help when ever we need them

3. My father fall ill at night at mt aso farm village and both of them not only arrage a medical center trip for my dad but follow him, explaining and tranlating the doctor insturction, this is given the fact that they have not even have dinner yet.

4. Both of them help us to ask for extra rice, sauces during our meals and shawn offer to help us take photos when eating. Most tour guide and tour leader i known just give us a time and disappeared

The tour
Well the rain killed most of the atmospere and there is heavy fog.

But never the less we have a great time there, most accomodation is good. The food is excellent, there is so much food most of the time, we can filled our stomach even without touching the rice

Of cause due to heavy fog we are unable to asent mt aso, but no one can be blame for that.

On the last day we were being upgraded to hilton hotel (this is a sudden change, reason i dont know), and yes hilton hotel breakfast is top notch.

If many of you think that a japan tour is eating bento set daily then you have to join hong thai, you got good meal almost every day, almost all our meals are multi course meals or mini multi course meals. Sashimi, tempura, soba, and even sea snail (at least i think that shell thing is a snail).

The travelling is well arrange, there is toliet stops every 1 to 1.5 hours, of cause there is always a shop. But this is not china, if you dont buy anything and just use the toliet not one would say anything.

If you want to visit kyushu avoid visiting this period, it is hot, and rain al lthe time and fog cover your face, at some pt fog is so thick you cant see your hand if fully stetch.

Desprite the bad weather, I enjoy trip, although i very tu lan the damm fog. Oh ya i did not see seagull too, since the weather too hot seagull are all gays. We did see a lot of dolphins, and yes a lot more than 30.

I seem to realised that tour guide and tour leader make the diffence in the tour, but to be honest a very good tour guide and leader is hard to find.

Both my trip to japan one with sa and now with hongthai are blessed with good tour guide and tour leaders, I dont know if I am lucky or if I am just easy going, anyway if you take it easy, dont expect anything and treat everything you get as an extra then almost any tour would be enjoyalbe, except a tour where my friend tour guide in china does a mini strike because the group refuse to buy any thing from a famous chinese medical hall (ok the chinese medical halls are famous, no need expain).

Of cause just one tour is good does not mean all tour from the comanpyn is good.
If u get a shit tour guide then no matter how wonder ful the itinery is it sucks, of cause there are shit tour guide in all tour agents.

Please note Chan Brothers Travel cannot allow reviewers to review nor does it allow reviewers to give thumbs down.

My family and I have a wonderful and memorable time in Korea from 7th June to 14th June 2010. We would like to thank the tour guide, Michael and assistants, Jackson Lee and Jocelyn Ten. They are friendly, approachable and professional in handling all details. We hope that Michael will not retire soon as we would like to have him as our tour guide for our next trip to Korea.

My husband and I joined the All-in 8-day Deluxe tour to Jeju Island and Korea in April 2010. We had a terrific holiday.
The tour leader, Angela was very helpful n the Korean tour guide, Michael and his assistant, Jackson were knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and hospitable throughout the entire tour. Though we had to pay 'extra' for the seafood meal and the photos taken by Jackson, we felt that, overall, their service is superb. Thanks for making our holiday so memorable.....

Ok, i have book a tour to kyushu this june. At first it was 12 june but tour cannot be form so change to 30 june. Ok la no problems with that, but do hope they can call earlier and not wait for people to call and ask them if the tour is formed.

I have not go japan yet, but reading the negative reviews I abit worry, no doubt they have one of the most valuable iteneries and accomodation around, but lets pray for me that I have a pleasant experiecne with them.

I went to japan last year with sa TOUR, there is no tour leader (not enough ppl), the hotel was not the best, food so so, itenieries so so but we like it because we have good tour guide. She da best she recommend product but hten she say u go shopping buy urself lol. A good tour guide can make even a very lousy tour look good.

From my experiecnes to japan and my friends i can conclude, for chinese speaking tour only. If ur tour guide is from taiwan or hk or japanese then most likely u get good. If ur tourguide is from er... china then good luck and hope he/she dont try to sell u products. Of cause in japan they not as persusive as china, if u go china b4 i dont even have to tell u how many people get frustructed about going to their "chinese medical center"

anyway lets hope my actual tour to kyushu is as good as the brochure.

I do not wish to banned another tour agency beside CTC. Well that time very long ago, got this australia anti chinese riots so we decided to change venue or date and they took all our money, comnon is a riot, of cause if small think like temeprature change, some hotel cannot book we dont mind, but riot cannot la. Like now u ask ppl go thailand and see their reaction. But then of cause the riot in australia turns out to be more peaceful then we thought.

Hong Thai is not the worst already although they are bad. Chan Brothers is the undisputed worst of the worst. Yeah because they removed all the reviews of passenger's testimonies simply because they are overwhelmed and could not handle all the negative reputation. I've tried Hong Thai tours to Taiwan and felt they can still do better but after trying Chan Brothers trip to Italy, I give up completely. Claim themselves best guarantee for prices and best tour experience. Complete bulls. Out of Hong Thai and Chan Brothers, I rather give Hong Thai a chance to redeem themselves.

After reading Not a STUPID Traveller... really not very stupid but just a pure Singaporean... it's never your fault it's always other people does this and that... in which sector of customer service dun know compliant? the answer is how the agency deal with this compliants... like CHAN, just contact this web host to remove the review... Good, smart or too much for them to handle? So why are we still here to do so much for the benfit of others to have a good holiday? And CHAN ponits will only kept going up no matter you up or down their points... you call this fair for other agency?

I fully agree with 'Not a STUPID travellers'..I think sometimes in Service sector , is everyone facing the same problem. Example , someone tell me M1 line is not good but I using M1 which I have been using for around 6years le. Different kind of people have different character , one itinerary cant suit all the people. I agree that some people like to fussy even a small matter. Paackage tour have alot of restrictions, let say if tour not confirm , or China tour alot of optional tour or group size is too big , kindly go Free & easy cos Free & easy is opposite of Package tour. Dun expect a good service if you are a bad customer. Chan Bro , SA , Hong Thai all the travel agency is the same if dun change the mindset.

wow....jess....i like ur style!damn good!

IF YOU PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO JUST GO ON A HOLIDAY AND ENJOY YOURSELF INSTEAD OF SCREAMING AND TAKING NOTE OF EVERY SINGLE TINY DETAILS. YOU WILL BE HAVING A GREAT HOLIDAY. I have seen some Singaporeans fussing over the smallest issue ever just because they have the stupidest mindset of "customers are always right" and "You should do this since I have paid".

I have booked Hong Thai for Hokkaido May 2010 trip during Natas this year without hestiation. However, I greatly disappointed with the customer service provided by the agency. We was told that full refund if the tour cancel because of insufficient head counts. However, thing didn go smooth as imagined. The staff informed that we have to change another package which we are reluctant to take. Now, we are in the mist of considering to pay them our deposit to take with another agency on the similiar confirmed departure package.

I used to have good experience with Hong Thai so much so that I cancelled my package with Chan Brothers (when there isn't enough pax to form group), and signed up with HT instead.

However, I am very upset with the after sales. I've given them many chances. I am not one who barks at people without giving them chances to prove their innocence.

I was anxious about my NZ trip as my mum has been disappointed once so I wish that this time round it's gonna be a GO. We were told 10 pax have already signed up so plus us 2 will make 12 and we need 3 more to go. Given it is the Natas fair, this should be quite easy.

I called up 2 weeks after the fair to check with them. They tell me only 12.
So ok. Another 2 weeks I called again, they tell me only 7. I asked how can it be? Then the person said ok ok it's 12.

A month has passed. I waited a while to call and check again. This time they tell me it's 2pax only!!! What the ???

And the staff doesn't seem that she is concerned at all?

HELLO. We paid for it... in the hope to take a break from this place called Singapore. We are not asking for a lot, but at least a little concern and enthusiasm in serving us?

I don't know. But I am really disappointed.

Who should I go to now?

I seond with you Traveller, Hong Thai did gave me a wonderful trip to Japan by providing a good tour leader and guide, Andy.

Our journey could be spoilt even before we start as our flight was postponed till 5 in the morning due to typhoon.

However, Andy's cheerfulness make our day. He was great during the whole trip as such, I can say all 16 tour members had enjoyed our stay.

Keep up the good work Hong Thai

So far, i seems all the review & rating are from those small travel agents as they have so much free time during thier office hours and then do all those negative review to attcks the big travel agency such as Chan Brothers, Five Stars, Hong Thai, ASA & etc. SO, if i am a SMART & INTELLIGENT travellers, i won's believe such review from this website. I rather to believe myself to visit to thier respective office to judge myself.

i just came back from hong thai travel\'s 8D hokkaido/tokyo trip and i am indeed very satisfied with what hong thai offered me.

My tour guide, Dorothy was one of the best i have experienced. She doubled up as the tour leader and tour guide but did a superb job and had a lot of experience. Moreover, there aren\'t any photographers (which i feel is a good thing).

Food in Hokkaido was really great. I enjoyed most of the food there. We had lots of fresh scallops, prawns, squids. Hong thai offered really great food.

The tour guide, Dorothy was definitely not a suck up who always tries to please only the seemingly rich people. She communicated with everyone in the group and gave out clear information. She is really caring (my sister\'s lip was cracking and she asked her how she was).

However, i feel that accommodation could be improved on as the hotels they gave us were really cram.

Nonetheless, my family had a wonderful time both in hokkaido and tokyo even though it snowed only on the last day of our trip. Dorothy even reminded us many times that we we paid so much for the tour to seek happiness and the itinerary was planned in a way that saved travelling time without being shortchanged in any place.

The last day of free and easy was also great. We stayed in Sunshine city prince hotel on the last day where there\'s a shopping street with almost everything (its a four way street i think) nearby.

I strongly recommend hong thai travel to you.

sad to say that people only look at the ugly and imperfect part of every tours.there is never grateful and appreciation.

singaporeans,we are too pathetic and realistic.what a pity community...

never enjoy life, even in vocation,poor travellers are still in moody and stress condition.in your world, there is only black and grey?

pls read the top travel agents, you will find that all the votes for the agencies is lesser than one worst travel agent\'s votes.

life is short and beautiful. we have a peace and great living environment.pls notice this and be thanksful to god of what you have.

put away all your pride and selfish.what are your expectation for everything you paid?do you really think thats is a lot of money?you should get best of the best?pls hv a clear look of it.

doubt,

talk more...i wish to listen!i know u are smart but suck person...continue ur topic and continue go to check my history...ok!welcome....haha

To all lousy singaporean ( like to complain and make noise ) :

Please don't travel , stay home ! Or don't ever join the tour package.......! Go wherever you want own your own! Don't join the tour and keep complain everything during the trip . Don't spoilt other traveller mood and holiday! Your business is not a big deal ! wake up now ! Don't ever think without you , all the group cannot departure. without you , other traveller will feel happier and enjoy their trip. Don't expect everything is free and included ! All the losers ! better stay home !

Hi KK
It seem like in every travel agency got yr review & feedback. I hv doubt with yr comment & complain to those travel agency now? Izzit a make-up story or nuisance rumor from u. U let me feel that u r a complain king & kiasu king in Singapore. I think it is bcos yr emotion & heart is unbalancing. sigh!

to uneducated person,

awesome!im feel proud singapore have educated person same as u!

After review the Top worst 100 travel agency.. haha i find out that all those top 5 agency is the top 5 biggest travel agency in singapore. But when reviewing the top 100 best travel agency ooh my god .. i din even heard it before(for me only).. if really all this top 5 travel agency that provide u bad service, bad itineries , bad experiance and make you holiday a nightmare why still join travel agency tour package. Please go free n easy by your own since you think the service and itinery is not worth money.

People said singaporean are very demanding but who in the world dont? But if you said that singaporean are not educated, i also dont think so because as i know that all are at least O-level or will understand english as we are english educated all the while. But when comes to book tour all the english word they understand. But when comes to some adjustment they act like they are not aware or they dont even know what is the contract meaning are and they also can acknowledge and sign it. Do you know this is a contract? If you feel something wrong and is not fair to you then you dont agree and dont acknowledge it or buy it..

I am also a traveller that books package tour since 1990. All the travel agency are the same if you dont like their service just book your own flight online and hotel also.

Like today, this is also the 1st time i join hongthai.i also join hong thai travel package tour at the natas fair. So since there are no one contact me and the phone line are always buzy, i really feel piss off and mad so i make a trip to their office. But when i was at their place..huuh..their office is pack with people and i dont even can get a place to sit. Suddenly heard an uncle shouting with a staff over there and the uncle is complianing that the staff dont do the job correctly and let them wait for 1 1/2hrs to just to pay the balance. From what i can see from the staff face is very innocent..I feel a shame with the uncle. everyone is also waiting there and why you wanna shout like a crazy dog as you can see the situation there? Do you think that shout can solve problem and can make you settle you thing more faster? If i am the staff, i will not serve him. Is because if the staff serve the uncle and cut que then the next person will also do that and just make the whole que jam and more time will be taken.At that time i really know and understand that why they cant pick up the phone when they work, is because they are serving to all the unhappy customer. For me i think is not the service or the staff problem but the company management really needs to look into it as the bussiness is so good. Need to maintain your own image and impression with a better system. Please wear on those staff shoe and you will know that they also hate us like we hate them. Because we are really NOT UNDERSTANDING. Is the company management that we need to shout to but not the staff infront the counter because is useless.

Please remamber, you even need to wait for 2hrs in the general hospital when you are sick and just to meet the doctor in around few minutes time and again you need to wait another at least 30min to get your medision and pay the bill. So do you think you will go in and shout to the doctor or the staff in the hospital? I really feel a shame to said i am a singaporean when i saw this situation.

Do you all feel a shame on it? Always said company cheat u this la , that la.. hahaha i just wanna ask.. are u so easy to cheat? since you are so well educated.

Is this our style of living? As i am a singaporean i really feel a shame to those people that does that.

For me, i think forum is a place that lets you give some comment on the web either is good or bad. But when comes to some good comment and some will just said that that people is from that company la this la that la... hahaha very funny.. But when comes to bad comment then you feel pity to them. Is the way of writting forum?

Demanding is correct but over demanding i think it will just make your own mind spoil and get nothing but unhealthy life.

Dear pretty irene,
do not use ur *GUESS* to destroy my personal image and just want to let u know,im a sales executive from IT company.....if u need a discount from Brand *GUESS*,just let me know,get 50% discount for u this cheapo person!

hard to call them is because there are too many walk in customer. i even ask one of the staff. they said too many walk in staff to serve. thats why no time to pick up call.

horrible travel agency. i believed jocelyn is from hong thai. how can they react so rudely & ans back customers in this way.

Most of the singaporean like to travel. However , 80% of them won't enjoy the trip. 1st reason , they like to complain , 2nd reason , they like to complain , third reason , they like to complain. Nowdays , when people talk about singaporean , they will describe as difficult to handle , self pround , like to complain , "kia su"
, disgusting......... please don't advice all these customer even go genting , camaron or free and easy......ask them to stay home......! however 20% of Singaporean are very kind , easy going , helpful, friendly, sweet and cheerful...........same as me!

Booked an 8 days hokkaido/Tokyo trip with them during NATAS fair. Hope they don't disappoint me :( i have to admit though, their phone lines are always engaged and the staff are not all amicable and experienced. Keeping my fingers crossed...

After read for all the review from this website, i was so doubt for all the complaint nor compliment are genuine?
if you guys really the dissatisfactory or happy with Hong Thai nor others travel agents! Please provide the proof or the photograph to prove yourself. Or else, i think maybe all those complaint might be from the opponent travel agents to spoilt the reputation of thier opponent.

After read for all the review from this website, i was so doubt for all the complaint nor compliment are genuine?
if you guys really the dissatisfactory or happy with Hong Thai nor others travel agents! Please provide the proof or the photograph to prove yourself. Or else, i think maybe all those complaint might be from the opponent travel agents to spoilt the reputation of thier opponent.

After read for all the review from this website, i was so doubt for all the complaint nor compliment are genuine?
if you guys really the dissatisfactory or happy with Hong Thai nor others travel agents! Please provide the proof or the photograph to prove yourself. Or else, i think maybe all those complaint might be from the opponent travel agents to spoilt the reputation of thier opponent.

Ron. the way u talk really can see u have not travel before. Sometime airlines do cancel the trip.Maybe u really can go genting for your honymoon. its 100% confirm trip.

Most of the singaporean like to travel. However , 80% of them won't enjoy the trip. 1st reason , they like to complain , 2nd reason , they like to complain , third reason , they like to complain. Nowdays , when people talk about singaporean , they will describe as difficult to handle , self pround , like to complain , "kia su"
, disgusting......... please don't advice all these customer even go genting , camaron or free and easy......ask them to stay home......! however 20% of Singaporean are very kind , easy going , helpful...........

Ron u act like you have nv travel before.. Dun be a disgrace over here.. if you book on SQ they cancel the flight and Hong Tai book you
on jetstar will you want it? Think before you write.. go pulua ubin for your honeymoon la! Silly and immature gonna grt married guy.. pity your wife

i think camaron highland is more suitable for you Ron,save money and easy going,still can honeymoon eat strawberry...

pok...support u!damn cool!the best answer to the fellow!

To Ron: just be objective and fair over here.. I think you have not travel before and just a
mountain tortise travelling for the 1st time after your wedding.. of cos if airline cancel their ticket, you cannot make the trip.. and what if 1 mtg before your departure a big family of 5 cancel their trip? That would make the group too small to cfm.. if you wanna ban yourself frm this travel agent becos of this.. I suggest that you do not book with travel agent again as all of them
works the same way..
Confirm tour for your honeymoon? Try genting? sure confirm no worries!

My family and myself have joined a 8-day Korea tour on 4 Sep to 11 Sep 09 with Hong Thai Tour Agency and we would like to pay compliments to the tour leader Mr Eddie and tour guide Mr Michael for their excellent service provided that made the tour experience in Korea highly enjoyable.

Mr Eddie is knowledgeable with his work and took pride in carry out his excellent service including luggage handling, arrangement of hotel accommodations and ensuring the safety of tour members when alighting from the tour bus, among other things. He also fond of kids and mixed well with them.

Mr Michael is the best tour guide I have ever encountered in my tour experience. As a tour guide, he is not only very knowledgeable and experience in his work but also helped out in luggages handling and food serving. However, his greatest strength lies with his humourous nature and he made full of this strength to entertain the tour members throughout.

I would to congratulate Hong Thai for having such a excellent tour leader and tour guide and I believe they will be a great asset to your company.

Thank you.

Would like a write a note of appreciation for the great help that the tour leader Eddie has given to me, my wife and my mother in our 7 Days Touch Your Heart trip to Taiwan from 20th to 26th Sep 2008.

All of us have enjoyed ourselves for the 7days. Eddie is fun and lively which make us enjoyed the trip with him. He has great knowledge of the places that we went during the trip. He willingly and sincerely answered our questions. In the future if we going to Taiwan again, I would like to join the tour group lead by Eddie.

I would recommend my relatives and friends to join the tour to taiwan lead by Eddie. I'm sure that they will enjoy the same as we do.

We have joined the 8 days "All In" Korea package tour with Hong Thai Travel Services on 2 Jan 2009, and would like to thank Ms Sally Lim, our tour leader, whom has provided us with the excellent service during our stay in Korea. She has made an extra effort to help us. Not forgetting her concern and care. Again, she has made our holiday an enjoyable and memorable one.

Sally really deserves an outstanding service!!!

Also we hope that she can be assigned to be our tour leader on our next trip to Korea again.

Tan,i think u should directly tell HT GM coz i feel that u are the most clever person,no need to wait other person help u to inform him..right?try ur luck to get thru him and ask him to giv more discount for u....haha

Some one must tell the GM, Alex Chan of what is happening in his company. Such a bad sevice is really bad for the NATAS Travel Fair in the future and his position as a committee member of NATAS. This agency should be barred from future fairs. Don't spoil the industry good name. Do a house cleaning and be fair to customers who trusted you when we accepted your fare.

Want me to rate this agency??? Minus ZERO! Booked a tour package at Natas 2009 for my wedding anniversary in Nov. Paid deposit $1K . Since Aug till today, nobody bothered to update me on the trip. Calls to the office is very frustrating becos each call will be cut off if the party is engaged, doesn\'t allow you to hold the line till someone is available to answer. Feedback to the staff, Carine, very arrogant. Told me the managers don\'t handle complaint, want to feedback, email the complaint. Went to office today to get update. During Natas, was told 9 paxs, the tour will moved. Me and my wife already the 9th and 10th. Today, they told me they have 12 paxs but still cannot confirm. Staff said air ticket cannot confirm as the airline can cancel the air ticket anytime. Must wait till 2 weeks before departure. Strange, is it the customer\'s problem that airline cancel the ticket? I accepted the tour fare rate and it is Hong Thai\'s responsibility to find an alternative airline ticket for the customers. Isn\'t this their responsibility to make sure they live up to their words when they sell their packages? Want to D24, sure makan biz?? Now my wedding anniversary celebration is at their mercy! Want to cancel the trip, was told to pay a penalty $250 becos less than 35 days. They cannot confirm trip, still want to charge penalty. A real bully. Very customer - UNFRIENDLY!!! I am going to ban myself, family members and biz associates fm this agency for such bad, lousy svc!

"dun expect to pay crap and get diamonds..same for everything in life.GET REAL." I seriously suspect that the person who wrote this is HT's staff... wat do u mean by we pay crap.. for instance, the korea trip that i went, we paid definitely much higher than the other companies because HT promote it as a deluxe tour but end up it's nothing deluxe at all!! besides that, whatever 5 or 6 stars hotels that they wrote in the itinerary were changed to some 3-4 stars hotels! we didn't expect diamonds, we just want what is written in the itinerary... tat's all!!!!

I just pay out my balanced from Hong Thai People park Complex today. I was served by one young male staff. His attitude was really rude, very impatient with any of my questions when I wanted know more about my trip. I almost wanted to cancel my trip but had to tolerate as I will not be getting the full refund if I were to cancel the trip. I have been travelling at least once per year for past 20 years joining different tour agency and had never come across so poor service before. This is my first time with Hong Thai and will also be my last.

My mum and cousins joined Hong Thai\'s Hokkaido tour last december. From the way they described their trip and the praises for their guide from Hong Thai- Angela Lim, I can sense that Hong Thai had done a great job!!! Cheers.

Your review
For me Hong Thai Travel is a Quite Good Travel Agent, The services and the tour package is considered very professional.

The tours in Hong Thai are pretty alright...the previous korean tour package that i joined,very satisfied with the tour guide,tour leader and the services..though i am pretty annoyed with some of my group members for always complaining about everything...being a singaporean,i am ashamed that we sometimes get irritated over the slightest issue..people who complain so much should really know what they are getting into before book a package..also we should always know that what we pay for is what we will get..dun expect to pay crap and get diamonds..same for everything in life.GET REAL.

i join hongthai taiwan tour during the june school holiday. me & my family really enjoy the tour as the guide explain the culture there. i will join the japan tour next year

thank you hong thai travel. my family enjoyed our trip to taiwan very much. will recommend the tour to my friends. keep it up

i feel sorry for you guys, u guys should join An An Travel, look for Sebastian to know what is good service

8 days 6 nights Korea All In "Deluxe" tour (departure on 20 Sep 2009)

The tour is not deluxe AT ALL!! The hotels sucks (except the courtyard marriot hotel can be considered as "deluxe"; 2 of the hotels stated in the itinerary were changed- Sheraton Walker to Marriot and Koreana to Lexington; Lexington hotel is sooo old and i think it is only a 2-3 stars hotel) and the food sucks too (almost everyday is steamboat and BBQ pork!! We have to pay another 30000 won to upgrade our korean steamboat to whatever seafood meal). So we paid almost $1600 for what????? it's not that the tipping has been added in the tour fees, we have to pay another 40000 won per pax somemore!! It's not fair at all!!!

Our group was initially 18 pax but just to make the travel company convenient and I supposed to save money, another group of 12 pax was added to our group the next day. Because of that, our itinerary was messed up. Most of our time was wasted on the coach instead.... This is called the best itinerary?? my foot!!!!!

Besides that, the tour leader, Ai Leen is really cannot make it. I don't think she even know what is a tour leader supposed to do. A tour leader is not only to help the tour people to check in and check out, he/she supposed to help or concern if any of the tour people have problem. She only follow the tour to shopping, eat and blame the tour people if anyhing goes wrong. We have to pay her $10 extra for tipping????? She doesn't even do extra job.. why do we need pay her????!!!

Besides that, I don't like the way that they forced us to buy the photos, we can buy the group photos but the other photos, they should let us to choose photos that we like.. no cheap somemore, 4500 won per photo!!!

Overall, the tour doesn't worth $1600 at all!! Somemore now the Won has gone down, we supposed to have better accomodation and meals but no lorr... don't even know where the money goes to also...

The travel company shouldnt' cheat people that this is a deluxe tour because IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!

I booked a tour to Japan. This is my first time with Hong Thai and will be my last time with them. When I first called in for enquiry, different staff give me different price for the same tour and same dept date. I will very annoyed and decided to go to Natas show to meet them. At the show, I was directed wrongly 3X by their staffs, and had wasted alot of time at the wrong queue. The frustrating part is the staffs have the "can't be bothered" attitude. When making the booking, I was told that they will call me 2 weeks in advance for the balance payment and briefing. You will not believe that no one called! I was the one calling them up instead. When I called, they told me that my balance payment was due on that day, and I had to go down to make payment immediately. They must be mad! Furthermore, the balance payment does not tally with the Invoice I got from them! When I was there, the staff told me that balance payment to be made at the Cashier. At the Cashier, she told me "this is only Cashier, I cannot tell you much about the tour. The tour guide will call you soon to give you a phone briefing". Until today, the tour guide has not called. The tour is departing 30 Sept 2009. Look at their irresponsible act and lousy service. Will you book a tour with them ? FYI, their hotline is engaged or no one answering most of the time. There will be a recorded message ".... your call is important to us" After which they will cut off your line. I don't know what will happened during the tour. Good Luck!

only cheapor customer will always complaint the guide promote their product or force them to buy thing....pls la..dont so cheapo ok!

Hongthai Japan itin and price may look appealing , but their tour guide in japan Sucks. Never introduce their culture, never adv much , but just keep promoting their local products to sell to us .i Will never travel wz them again.Beware

i had join hong thai tour package to taiwan before. and in find their tour is good. unlike my parent went other gaency, they don seen to enjoy their trip. maybe i am just lucky to meet a good guide and tour leader. i will join their japan tour again as i noe they have a few good guide there.

your* sorry for the typo

our dear tan here must be a very cheapo person, $499 to china also interested and i bet you've never joined chan brothers before as chan brothers price range is not for people like you calibre ^^

The hong thai prices in newspaper ads are usually understated. once i called to inquire abt shanghai 6d tour quoted to be $499 and Hong Kong tour quoted t obe $699. When everything is added it, works out to >$1k. It takes so long to get through the lines too. So, i usually trust Chan Bros more who is a lot more transparent in its pricing and also tries to form the groups to hv confirmed departure and combine gps across flights to hv larger gp size so we can get better treatment

I will never go to this travel agent ever since I had went with them to 7days in Korea in end year 2007. Their service is sucks and so is their customer service. The singapore tour guide only knows do her own shopping and even required to pass her extra luggage to us coz she has more than 7 pieces of luggage. She was not helpful - dont help you when doing check-in. Completely hopeless and yet kept on saying that she has been to korea countless times.

Whoever has signed up or has plans to sign up tour packages with Hong Thai Travel, GOOD LUCK !! They charge different passengers at different airport tax rates! They will put up the lowest airport tax rates during tour fair and make you believe they are the lowest, BUT in fact, they are NOT!! Beware!!

Anyone travelled with Hong Thai to Yunnan before?? Their itinerary looks good as it includes Impression of Lijiang by Zhang Yimou, Pudacuo Nature Reserve and Jade Dragon Mountain.

I usually travel with SA but decided to try Hong Thai for 8 days Taiwan trip end 2007. The tour was alright. And best of all they are the only one who included Hyatt Hotel. The taiwanese guide was good but the Hong Thai Rep from Spore was quiet and laid back. Not very helpful. as good as not being there. However, Taiwan itself for guided tour is super boring....not much of an exciting place unless u are on F&E, doing yr own exploration.

write feedback form? ur customer service is the worst, take ages to reply *thumbs down*

write feedback form? ur customer service is the worst, take ages to reply *thumbs down*

very good leh. just see, ppl do make mistakes right? maybe you could just write a feedback form lols. :p

I do believe that all travel agencies in s'pore have a very common problem - that is delivering bad service or just average service. who's to blame?
look at or own culture. are we a nation of smiling faces? do we give up our seats in the mrt? do we treat or maids or others with respect?
the travel industry is very competitive.
most travel agents are offering almost the same itineary, the prices are just cheaper or slightly more expensive. there are some agents whose tour packages are cheaper but they have lots of optional tours and lots of "free and easy". there are tour agents which charge a reasonable fee but they cover slightly more itinearies. if u signed up on a tour package, would you rather have more free time on your own or see more of the country(ie. fully utilised your time and stay). I guess u can't please everyone. let's not think that the singapore dollar is strong. we are a developed country and we shouldn't think that other countries should not go forward. would you prefer a website whih features "the scenes of ugly singaporeans behaving very badly
while on tour". if u are not satisfied with your holiday, please write in to the company and make yourself heard.
every travel agents and every human being deserves a second or maybe third chance in life! happy national day!

Hahaha..if I happened to see all these 'super good" reviews of Hong Thai before I make the booking of my taiwan tour. I die die swear that I will never go to this travel agency.

The biggest joke is that on their staff counter. The agency displayed a signboard claiming that they 100% guranteed to provide Good Customer Service.

Let me share my interesting encounter with a staff named Lynn of Hong Thai. I should award her for the best "talker staff award." for being super defensive.

I booked a 8 days taiwan tour on 10 July 09. Departure date is on 1 Aug 09. Excellent service given by the staff during the booking. Ofcos, because we made cash payment instantly for the deposit and travel insurance. Nothing being mentioned to us with regard to the refund when tour is not confirmed.

On Monday, 20 Jul 09, I received a call from a Hong Thai female staff informing me that the tour will be cancelled as only 4 pax booked for the tour. She informed me that a full refund will be made to me. However, she only can send me the cheque of $1000. The insurance fee will only be refund upon the return of the original insurance certificate. I need to surrender the insurance cert latest will be 5 day before the travel date.

On Thursday, 23 Jul 09 at about 7pm. I brought there for the refund. Initially I was received by a female staff. When I was told that they have yet to sent the cheque to me. I questioned them what was the reason for not doing so. Then a short, a bit not of thin female staff overheard the conversation. Instead of handling a cuople booking a Japan tour. She intercepted and said that she is Lynn. She was the one who contacted and informed me about the tour cancellation. She even said that she did not tell me that she will mailthe cheque to me. It is the company policy not to mail the cheque to customer. Then I requested for the cheque to be given to me now. She then pointed at the writen condition of the receipt ans said that it was stated clearly that refund will be made after 3 working days. I explained that she callled me on Monday, I came on Thursday. It already more than 3 working days. She then changed her statement that refund should be 3 to 5 working days. I asked her why they need to take 3 working days to prepare a cheque. Especially so knowing that the tour already cancelled since Monday and refund has to be made. She kept quiet.

Then I asked her about the refund of the insurance. She said I need to wait for 3 working days for the cheque to be ready for collection.

What really annoyed me was that she was very defensive in answering all the quries raised by me. Once she could not expalin, she will say it is company policy.

I was still not happy with her explaination. At home, I went true the written contract behind the receipt. I noticed the following:

1. Full refund will be paid in cheque within 3 working days and not 3 - 5 working days a mentoned by Ms Lynn.
2. There is nothing to state that customer have to collect the payment personally or the company will not mail out the cheque as mentioned by Lynn.

So, what is the company policy now. It is up to the staff to add and interprate.

With this kind of counter services being provided, I am wondering the meaning behind the company policy of providing "100% good customer service."

so sad poor boy not happie, nxt yr join hon tai i bet mummy wont cry again k?

Hello all, my name Eugene 9 yrs old. my daddy Eddie bring us to korea for holiday. The agent Hon Thai, not so good, made my mummy cry. I so sad also. Uncle & Auntie at Hon Thai, next time you must do a better job. otherwise my mummy cry again. U peopl not good.

I travelled with Hong Thai recently and was very disappointed with their after sale/travel service. The friendly faces during the pre-sales period was no longer present when I presented my complaints to them. What a shame!

In a recent trip to Korea. The local guide Andy poured out his hardship and told us how diffcult it was to be a tour guide now. Previously only both him & the driver will share the tips that we gave them, now the company also takes a cut. We felt sorry for him. Perhaps can the company Hong Thai not take away some percentage of his tips, so that we can hear less of his complains and concentrate on the places of interest instead.

I really have to give 100% thums down to Hong Thai. Let's not talk about good service, etc. Imagine that your vacation turns out to be your worst nightmare. If travel agent like, Hong Thai, had done it correctly, I would have enjoyed the trip like anyone else, but they didn't. No good agency will leave their pax to fend for themselves in foreign soil, without even a local guide at all.. If they understand the pax's anxiety, a swift solution should be taken and not "next working day". And end day, still nothing concrete or even a good solution came thru. Otherwise I wouldn't need to incur $700plus for IDD calls for help. No joke man!!! Fortunately for most pax who previously travelled with Hong Thai, their trip turned out to be "enjoying", cause there wasn't any mishap. But if...should any urgent matters arise, we shall live to see if Hong Thai is even there for you. (PS pls remember to bring your HP at all times). I had encountered and do not wish my fellow Singaporeans to suffer same fate as me.

Its so true that all tour guides are really pushy to get pax to buy more. More commissions. Isn't it time for Hong Thai to increase their pay. Cause they are really so desperate, had to pull pax's hand and drag them into the shops. Scary!!!

When we travel overseas for holidays, we hope to have a relaxing, enjoyable and pleasant experience. Our recent travel with Hong Thai Travel Services Pte Ltd was far from that.

We booked a packaged tour to Jeju and Shanghai with an established travel agency, Hong Thai Travel Services Pte Ltd during the NATAS Fair. On 10 June 2009, we reached Shanghai. Two passengers in the flight were running a fever. The local health authorities ordered the three front rows and the three back rows of passengers to be quarantined. Three families in the group were sent to a hotel for quarantine while the rest of the packaged tour members, who were not required to be quarantined, took the transit flight to Jeju. Our tour leader informed Hong Thai about our situation but he did not stay with us. We were in a foreign land and the sudden turn of events was unexpected and shocking.

At the quarantine hotel, we were separated from our family. Every adult had to stay in a separate room and was not allowed to step out of the room. The hotel room was extremely dirty. We felt very helpless, worried and had no idea of when we would be released. Throughout the quarantine period, Hong Thai did not call us to give words of comfort or advice. We had to use our mobile phones to call friends and relatives in Singapore for help. We even called the Singapore Embassy in Shanghai. We were finally released 14 hours later at 7.30 pm. Before our release, we called Hong Thai numerous times to find out the plan for us after our release. We were told to go to Pu Dong International Airport to change our air tickets to Jeju to the next day’s flight. With heavy luggage, children and elderly in tow, we reached the China Eastern Airline counter. Our happiness turned into disappointment when the counter staff told us that the flight was cancelled since 5 June. How could Hong Thai not know that the flight was already cancelled? How could they lead a group of distressed and tired customers make a futile trip to the airport?

We stayed the night at the hotel provided by China Eastern Airline. The next day, 11 June, the hotel staff told us that we had to check out by 12 noon. We absolutely had no idea of what was going to happen to us. We called Hong Thai at 9.30 am. The senior manager that spoke to us asked, “How can I help you?” We were astonished to hear what she said. We were expecting solutions and well-coordinated arrangements but Hong Thai did not do anything despite our several calls to them on 10 June. The senior manager asked for half an hour before reverting to us. When she called us back, she proposed that we would fly to Jeju on 12 June and fly back to Shanghai on 14 June. We would lose one day in Jeju. We had no choice but to accept her offer because Hong Thai refused to refund if we decided not to go ahead with the trip. The proposal was only finalised at 11 am when she called us back again. She told us that we would be having a half-day city tour in Shanghai for that day and a local guide would pick us up at 1.45 pm.

We set off at 2 pm with the local guide and were told that we needed to go to the airport again to change our air tickets. We waited for 1 hour and 45 minutes before we embarked on our city tour. It was already 3.45 pm when we commenced. What kind of half-day city tour is this?

On 12 June, we arrived at Jeju at 12.30 pm. We went to many places of interest that day, on 13 and 14 June. However, we stayed only 10 to 30 minutes at each place. We only had our dinner at 9 pm on 13 June. We did not enjoy this ‘touch and go’ sightseeing at all. We were rushing about instead of relaxing. We missed 4 places of interest in the itinerary, 3 meals and 1 night’s accommodation in Jeju.

We arrived back in Shanghai at 2.30 pm on 14 June. We could not catch sight of the local guide who was supposed to pick us up. After a good 35 minutes, a man finally approached us and asked if we were from Singapore. He was not holding any “Hong Thai Travel” banner. He was trying to find us by the number of children we have in the group. By the time we reached the hotel, it was already 4.30 pm. We had no time to wander further for our free and easy shopping. We had to stay near the hotel for the rest of the day.

Can you imagine the turmoil and distress the fourteen of us had gone through? We understand that the H1N1 regulation by the China authority is out of Hong Thai’s control. However, Hong Thai did not come forth as a professional travel agent to comfort and lay immediate contingency plans for the customers once the quarantine was lifted.

When we signed up for the packaged tour, there was no fuel surcharge in the invoice. Hong Thai informed us later that we had to pay fuel surcharge. During the trip, we found out that some group members paid a higher amount of fuel surcharge than the others.

When we came back to Singapore, we met up with Hong Thai to seek compensation for our losses and explanation regarding the fuel surcharge. They sent us an email recently addressing the points that we raised unsatisfactorily and without any mention of compensation and explanation regarding the fuel surcharge.

REFERS TO WWW.HONGTHAISINGAPORE.COM

A recent trip to Shanghai/Jeju last month made me wonder whether local travel agencies are adequately prepared to deal with an emergency when the H1N1 virus is spreading rapidly around the world.

It started with a 6-day package tour to Shanghai/Jeju which we booked with Hong Thai Travel during the NATAS fair in February 2009. Upon arrival at Shanghai on 10 June by China Eastern airline, 2 passengers were found to be having a fever. The Shanghai health authorities took at least 2 hours before deciding to quarantine passengers sitting 3 rows away for half a day while they conduct medical observation on the 2 passengers. 14 members of the tour group of 25 were to be quarantined. Our Tour Leader, unable to help us, proceeded to take the 11 unaffected members to Jeju, leaving the 14 of us behind with the promise that he will consult Singapore Hong Thai office for instructions.

Every time we made IDD calls to Singapore Hong Thai office, we had to repeat our ‘story’ to different staff. We were extremely frustrated by the lack of initiative, concern, urgency and co-ordination by the staff we contacted. We started to panic. After numerous IDD calls to Hong Thai, it dawned upon us that Hong Thai did not have an emergency plan and thus clueless what to do next. More IDD calls! We called AIG (travel insurance) and Singapore Embassy in Shanghai for help. The staff at the Embassy offered us words of comfort and asked if we would like them to arrange for flight back to Singapore after the quarantine. We did not receive any call from AIG despite numerous IDD calls to them.

The 2 passengers tested negative and we were “released” at 7.30 pm that day. Upon Hong Thai’s instruction, we went to Shanghai airport to change our air tickets for departure on 11 June but had a rude shock when we were told that the next available flight to Jeju was 12 June (China Eastern airline informed us that the 11 June flight was cancelled on 4 June and all travel agents were duly informed). Panic again! More IDD calls! To make matters worse, the rest of the tour was lined with more hiccups. More IDD calls!

We hope Hong Thai Travel will address our complaints seriously instead of just “brushing us off” with their email dated 1 July 2009.

Why singaporean like to complain this complain that?bad attitude !!!

in my trip the 3 business polices of hong thai were not displayed

I joined hong thai on a 6 day/mt sorak tour.i have to say that it was really bad and disappointing.The korean tour guide KATE was really unprofessional. She was always talking about her own family matter and hardly explaining much about the scenic spots we were visiting. Her info lasted the most 5mins b4 we were sent to the secenic spot. One frustrating thing we experience was when we were at a palace in korea. Everyone in the group could not catch up with her pace of walking. She would only slow down when the singaporean guide,jerry who constantly reminded her. So far i rate this trip 2/5

My experience with Hong Thai was bad. I booked a 8D China tour with them last year. Everyday, the local tour guide will weave stories about the benefits of pearl powder, silk blanket, tea leaves etc. we were made to stay in the shops for hours but only get to visit the tour site for half an hour! The tour guide pretended to be very caring towards the elderly, but I have observed he is especially kind to those aunties and uncles who have more cashs to spare than those who don't. Many of my tour mates, especially the younger ones agreed with me that they really all out to con the elderly. I will never join Hong Thai tour anymore.

yet another lousy customer -_-

Just came back from a 8 day "All-In" deluxe trip to Korea. This is my first trip with Hong Thai and I am utterly disappointed with it. The itinerary stated that we would transit for Jeju Island on reaching Korea. However, we were given the excuse that the domestic flight tix were sold out and the itinerary had to be amended. That's ok with me and my wife since such things do happen. But with the change in itinerary, we were stuck in traffic easily up to 5 hours between our stops as we hit Seoul on a public holiday. What a waste of time, not forgetting that we will have to spend more time on the day when we travel to airport for the internal flight. The local guide Michael offered poor service. Rather than spend much time talking about the scenic spots we are visiting, he would weave stories about how good ginseng powder pills are good for health etc., so that we will buy more ginseng related products when we go to the 'ginseng shop'. He also had snide sarcastic remarks for people who did not agree to top up for a seafood meal (coming to about S$50 per head). The photographer Jackson is really unprofessional. On the last day when we refused to buy all his photos (amounting to some $120), he demeanor immediately changed! He actually threw a tantrum by throwing away into an empty seat behind me to show his displeasure and stormed off despite my offer to 'tip' him on top of the 6 photos which I wanted to purchase from him. Seated in front of the bus, Eddie,the Singaporean guide, pretended nothing had happened since he had obtained our feedback for Hong Thai before this episode. Horrible experience.

I have travelled with Hong Thai to many numbers of trip to China.

My recent trip is a six days package to Shanghai, Hangzhou & Suzhou (from 10 to 17 May 09).

I would like to commend the tour guide Ms Kelly, she, during the trip, Ms Kelly has shown her professionalism of tour guide, taking care of all the members, provide necessary information and guidance serving the 18 customers .

The good behaviour of her reserves to be commented, once again I thank you for her good service to give us a wonderful trip..

So it is my bad luck that I got a bad taiwan guide and bad singapore tour leader who will not speak up to set things right ?

My taiwan guide is Jin. Old plumb man. Ask that you do not get him as your tour guide. Waste of time and money if you have him as your tour guide.

I just returned from Hong Thai's 8 day Love in Taiwan trip. This is my first time joining a tour agency group and I have absolutely no regrets. My tour guide was a Taiwanese guy Jimmy and my tour leader was Xiao yen and the bus driver was "Xiao Mi Feng". Jimmy is a fantastic guide... not over enthusiastic or loud and not boring either. He is really knowledgeable and keeps the customers entertained throughout the bus journeys. He shared interesting experiences and stories which kept the aunties and uncles so engaged on the long bus journeys so that time seemed to pass faster and no one was car sick. Xiao yen is a young lady who was really patient and helpful with the older customers. She was suffering a bad toothache on the trip but she never showed her pain before us though her face was swollen. She was there to help us from day 1 till the last day back at Singapore's airport where she waited for all of us to pick up our luggage. I am truly pleased with the tour package. I highly recommend Jimmy as your tour guide if you are going to Taiwan. :)

Audrey Aw. audrey.aw@hotmail.com
I left my email to show that I am a genuine customer. Feel free to contact me if you would like to view my trip photos in Facebook. Cheers!

I had just joined Melbourne & Sydney Tour with Hong Thai in April. Nice hotel, nice deluxe seafood meals and nice attractions. I would like to mentioned the tour guide from Singapore who did a great job throughout the journey with told us many things about the Australia as well as conducted some games and jokes during the long distance bus journey from one place to another place. Done well !

I returned recently from the 8D taiwan tour by Hong Thai and the taiwan tour guide and their itineary is very disappointing and dissatisfatory.

The tour guide was lazy and unprofessional and did not explain much about the attractions that we were going to. We were given very little time at the attractions and brought back to the hotel very early every day. The worst day was when we went to 2 scenic destination and was given 30 min and 45 min for each place. And sent to the hotel at 4.30pm. He even tell us that the hotel has a DVD rental shop and we can watch DVD ! At attractions, he does not explain about the place but will just tell us what time to meet and leave us to roam the place for ourselves. For places which has night markets like Gao Xiong, he will drop us at our hotel at about 5 or 6pm and tell us to take a taxi there. We were not sure if the problem is with the tour guide or with the itineary and keep asking the Singapore tour leader if this is the way the tour is meant to be run or is it the tour guide is not doing his job. She says taiwan tours are all like this ie they always end very early. So it looks like Hong Thai itinaray is bad. I spoke to a friend who just returned from a taiwan tour with Chan Brothers which has almost identical itineary as ours and she says hers is not like this. They were not rushed and their tour was very well explained and leisurely and they reach their hotels by 8 or 9pm. Their tour guide will bring them to the night markets before going back to the hotel. A classic comparison is Jiu Fen where we were given only 1 hour but in her tour they were given almost half a day there.

This is my first tour with Hong Thai and certainty my last. Also had a lot of problems with my flight extension prior to leaving SG.

1) Hong Thai's phone lines are always hard to get thru (especially after 7pm and no pick up near closing time).
2) Wanted to pay the balance for my trip, but when I reached their office abt 7.55pm; they just told me "We're close" without even asking about my purpose of visit. They could have offered more customer service rite...?At least find out what I need and access the situation from there. Seeing no help being offered, I've no option but to tell the counter staff that "I'm here to PAY!" in order to get their 'service'. Geezz

Went to China with SA tour, their tour guide a lady 'Carol'. She was the best after going with other agent.

One instant, a pld couple was loss in the old town and she went to look for them also half an hour, another was a member fall sick in the midnight an she took her to the hospital and only back in the next morning with her.

We carry on our jounery smoothly.

Best tour guide from SA tour = Carol

So far after visiting so many travel agents. Have to say their customer service and liasing with the agents on the other side: the country you are going to. is quite good. even though their prices is a bit ex. but less worry also

customer services officer needs more training. Especially guy from China tour dept. Bad services

I just came back from my 8days Korea trip and it was wonderful!!! This is the second time I travelled to Korea with Hong Thai and both are enjoyable and I am really thankful for the efforts the tour leader, guide, photographer put into ensuring that our trip is memorable!

I just came back from my 8days Korea trip and it was wonderful!!! This is the second time I travelled to Korea with Hong Thai and both are enjoyable and I am really thankful for the efforts the tour leader, guide, photographer put into ensuring that our trip is memorable!

hongthai travel is the best travel agency in singapore, hongkong and some say batam!
their taiwan,korea and japan tours are one of the best i must say, i travel with them frequently so i know, you wouldnt know how good their tour is until you've joined them, trust me!!

To Lyn, why you keep saying that the japan tour is very good and awesome, i think you are hong thai staff.Please dont always say good thing is you are the staff are working in the agent.Are u \"PLP\" THE JAPAN DIVISION MANAGER?????Is it some benefit that provided by he/she???

I can only conclude that the bad experiences were more genuine. Compliments are likely to be the work of HT staff

I can only conclude that the bad experiences were more genuine. Compliments are likely to be the work of HT staff

Dear claraschumman - In Europe, DO NOT expect the chinese food to be as good as China. How could you compare Europe chinese food to China chinese food..? it is not their local food..

so true, i used to patronise from them for afew years consecutively but i realised that their old staff who we very good with customer service left and now all the new young staffs with attitude problems, really bad image for the company.

I have joined Hong Thai Travel agency for two times firs in 2007 follow by 2008. 1st time is to the Central Japan and the 2nd time is to 13 Days Romantic Europe. I can said the we have a wonderful time at central japan even though the tour guide is very rushing but overall the accomodation and the food provided to us are wonderful. In 2008, we joined their 13 days Romantic Europe tour and the food they provided to us are sux!!! Although the itinerary stated Amercian buffet for breakfast, the food the hotel provided to us are simply bread, ham, bacon and egg... imagine we ate that kind of food for the whole 13 days. The Lunch and dinner are even worst, the chinese food they provided to us are sux when compare to the food in China. It is even worst then the food i have when I am at Yunnan or Lijiang. I still can remember the tour guide called joseph know little about the country... and he like to tell us those "cold" jokes which make no sense at all and alot of places we have to pay on our own if we wanted to visit the place of interest. If possible I would like Hong Thai to improve their Europe Itinerary.

the Japan trip was awesome. The tour guide, Sai Ken made it all worthwhile!

Went to Hokkaido with HongThai, their arrangements were rather good, our guide Sam's service was good but 1 night my friends and I saw him looking for prostitutes at Hakodate, that really changed our impression on him, he even requested us to vote for him (send compliment letters to their customer service email) saying that there is a "best tour guide award" or something but we didn't. Overall tour was ok, but I'd rather join SA Tours, good service and knowedgable counter staff!

i realised many of the good comments are given by their own staffs, used to be a regular there until they gave me problems with my cancellation when my 7d central japan tour was unable to form and asked me to top up more for another tour, when asked to speak to your manager, who used to be my japan guide, guess what their staff replied? " sorry our manager will not talk to you about this kind of matter" what the hell! anyways good luck to HONG THAI TRAVEL, will never use you guys any more

I ALWAYS RECOMMEND THE TAIWAN TOUR CONDUCT BY HONG THAI AS I FOUND THE TOUR CONTENT ARE THE BEST IF COMPARE WITH OTHER TRAVEL AGENT I HAD JOINED.
VALUE OF MONEY BUT GREAT SERVICE PROVIDED.

Thanks Feng - My tour leader who come together with us from Singapore, take very good care during our trip in New Zealand (even he is felt not well also) He is really responsible one ! Keep it up!

This is my 2nd time to join Hong Thai. At this time, great service still provided during my trip to Gold Coast & Sydney on Dec 2008. The tour leader - Ah Hau, always provide extra mile service to make the trip more enjoyable and memorable. Keep it Up!

I was just came back from 12 days Romantic EURO trip with Hong Thai recently, I found in terms of their itinerary, meals & hotel used are better than my last Euro trip 2 years ago with other travel agency. Recomended.

Oh yes not forgetting our tour guide (which happens to be a Singaporean) has ZERO knowlege of the history in Hokkaido. I had to "Join In" other tour groups to have an understanding of the history. TERRIBLE. Our tour guide merely brought us to places of interest and "dump" us there with no explaination of the history.

My experience with Hong Thai was bad. It was my first and might be my last. I booked a 7 days Hokkaido trip in Dec '08 with my family. And I would say this is the worst tour my family and me felt. Ok to be fair, I believe the agenda (when I was sold the package) was great but the tour guide (Mr Lee) was terrible. He has an attitude towards some of the group members which puts me off.Nothing matters more to him than commission - that's what most of the group members felt.

I just come back from the 7 days Hokkaido trip. It is well organise and we enjoy the trip. keep it up Angela. Thank you.

when i booked their tohoku trip, they told me there were already 3 pax in e tour, wif my family of 4. we juz need 3 more pax to ensure a guaranteed departure. recently, i called and they told me there were oni 4 pax who have booked. apparently, the first 3 pax had withdrawn or were "these 3 pax" cooked by counter staff so that customers r more keen to sign up. this remains a mystery. i shall wait 4 another 3 wks b4 i see wad HT will do

We just came back from a 8 days \"All-in\" Korea Tour with Hong Thai travel.The whole family enjoyed the trip tremenously. The Korean tour guide, Michael is very experienced,knowledgeable,humourous and caring. Thoughout the trip (on the coach and at the attractions), he would tell us interesting things about Korea and lots of jokes. We were especially touched when he and Mathew, the tour leader from Singapore showed concern for my girl when she was down with a cold on the first day of the trip.They got the restaurant to cook a bowl of hot noodles especially for her.For the next two days, Michael would often asked my girl whether she felt better.A big thank you to Michael, Mathew,Jackson (photographer) and the drivers who have made our trip so enjoyable, fun and memorable.

i have a very very bad experienced with hong thai, before i paid them deposit i had confirm with the staff that will full refund be granted if the tour cancel because of insufficient head counts (when i took up the offer there are only 4 headcounts-we are the early bird) they are very sure that i can get back full refund. so i paid. Past few days i ve received a call from hong thai staff informing that we have to change to another package(7 days 5 night) due to insufficient headcounts (staff insist that it is not because of insufficient headcount, it is because of airlines take back their seating so we have to change our package, giving me alot of excuses) it is extremely rediculous as the package we opt for consist of 6 nights (7 days 6 nights) that is the special attracted me took up theif offer initially. so we asking for a full refund then (guess what they said? im so sorry, there is a clause that hotel and tour are subject to confirmation) i said it is not the matter as the days changed from 6 nights to 5 nights, they said there isnt any different as we are still going to jpn) then the staff saying that there will be a surcharge of $100 per pax if we cxl the trip. keep saying that the terms and condition stated clearly that hotel and tour are subject to confirmation. and we forced to pay $200 surcharge for nothing. (just imagine if customer request to cxl the trip due to this "so call" unforseen circumstances) hong thai will earn tonnes of money for doing nothing. i trust them, and yet i received this kind of unfair treatment. good luck to you!! we had decided to boycott them for now on.

hong thai staff is indeed unfriendly & rude. i wanna use $100 ($50 x 2pcs)given by a relative for a gp of 10 pax to 8D hokkidao+tokyo trip in nov. i had seen picts & heard hw fanstinating the trip was from my relative therefore decide to go w my family. However i was not allow to use the voucher cos 4 other customer had used before me. but it wasnt stated in term & condition. one of management staff walk over and told me. " hw could hongthai earn if all 30 ppl in gp used voucher" i was so pissed off and walk away. they should honour the voucher w sincerity if they wan customer to return. hw could they turn away 26k customer because of $100 voucher. we had decided to boycott them for now on.

Hong Thai agency customer service staff is so unfriendly. I reach hong thai agency at chinatown 10 mins before closing time yesterday. One of the guys told us is closing time but when i looked at the watch. it's shows 7:50 pm and he said i'm sorry i have to ans phone calls, pls go to onther counter. what kinda of attitude is that.. bad service but after that a lady took over.. kudos to you.. i'm happy .. but guys aren't u all selfish

Hong Thai has to think of upgrading their phone line its so difficult to get thru the phone while we r so urgent to reply them bad is so bad and sometime we just lost the seat because of the phone line tat cant get thru bad

so far they have done a good job. making sure every travel needs are explained in a professional way

Hong Thai provide excellent service & the staffs are all so friendly especially corporate counter!!

I had a bad experience 7 days tour to jiuzhaigou on march with hongtai travel with 40 pple they give a tour guide fr. spore with no experience at all.Her job only count pple boarded and alight airplane and coach.happen when my hubby had a bad cough on the five days.we wanted to buy some medicine fr. nearby clinic they say no time must wait at night, when we reached the hotel,ask again, they say clinic very far .the tour guide threaten us if we go out to the clinic ,taxi wont bring us back.She say just Take any medicine u have but they know my hubby have heart attack record yet they dont care,until the next nite then they bring him to the hospital end up my hubby had to stay in the hospital for 1 nite because of his heart problem.we went there to enjoy not staying in the hospital,if they let us see the doctor early my hubby cough wont be so worse ,i feel very sad travel with hongthai.The leader only care that whether we buy thing from the shop they bring which they can get commission but i dont mind.They have two leaders one of them should bring my hubby to the nearby clinic instead of waste 1 or 2 hours waiting in the souvenir shop.In the coach.I dont except hongthai manager reply me that the tour guide lack of experience.She dont know what is heart attack.very bad experience travel with hongthai

I had a bad experience with their vietnam tours. They promised to have a singapore tour leader for our group of 21 pple but when we reached vietnam, we were only bought about by a local tour guide, who cheated us and only wanted to earn money from us.

kudos to their 7days taiwan trip

Good luck to those who had a great time with Hong Thai... We have not been luckly and our experience with them had been painful... Word of advise, get proper documentation and proof to save guard yourself. I can only take the blame for my own aging parents to suffer the mistake Hong Thai commited and denied...

Haapi customer
Before i joined hong thai for my Hkg trip, i was skeptical about their promise for a full refund if they are unble to give me the hotel of my choice. True enough, they kept their promise! I trust hong thai!

i joined hong tai to China, had a good time with their services

i joined hong tai to central japan, had a good time with their services, good food..though it cost abit more

I joined before their 7days Taiwan trip, very good & worth ...

hong thai have a lot of wonderful china package.

hong thai always offer new package to japan.. and the tour guide is vy professional.. vy enjoy :)

happy in joining hong thai tour to hokkaido (7days, during lavender season).. keep it up!!

great service from free and easy department and hong thai has lot of friendly and kind stuff.. thanks for all the services..