Visit Beijing for $788, with airfare and hotel

Winter in Beijing can be a chilly affair, and that’s why tour companies give you a break on prices then. But really, it’s not hard to warm up to $788 — or even $588, if you’re willing to pay cash — for a seven-day trip to China.

That’s the starting rate for the “China Express: Beijing Free-Style Travel” deal from China Spree, a company based in Blaine, Wash. Here’s the 411:

Deal: You get round-trip, nonstop airfare from San Francisco or New York, airport transfers, five nights at the Beijing Joy City Hotel and daily breakfast. Prices range from $788 per person, double occupancy, for departures November through January to $1,088 for departures in March. Prices do not include airport taxes and Chinese visas. Day tours of Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, 2008 Olympic venues and other sites also are not included, but at $50 to $70 per person, they seem reasonably priced.

If you pay your final deposit (due 50 days before departure) by personal check or money order, you get a $200 discount on the trip cost.

Tested: When I called the company, I was able to get the $788 price for a Dec. 6 departure from San Francisco. With airport taxes ($279) and visa ($150), it totaled $1,217 per person. A deposit of $200 is due when you book. Round-trip airfare between Los Angeles and San Francisco, when booked through China Spree, added $160 to the price. You might save by booking that flight separately; in a quick search on Kayak, I found a $119 fare between Los Angeles and San Francisco for a Dec. 6-12 round trip.

The hotel, which China Spree classifies as a four-star, or “first-class,” hotel, gets mixed but mostly favorable user reviews on TripAdvisor.

Caveat: When I called the company, I was automatically offered the discounted trip price of $588 per person, based on paying in cash. That was also the the default price for online bookings. The reservations agent who answered the phone explained that if I booked online, I would need to request the non-discounted $788 price under “Special Requests.”

Why should you care? Because when you book and pay for a trip with a credit card, you have certain rights under federal law to dispute the charge and request a refund, in the event that the tour operator doesn’t deliver on the trip. You don’t have those rights if you pay in cash.  For that reason, I recommend paying with a credit card as a general practice.

Contact: China Spree, (866) 652-5656.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

Photo: A Chinese military police officer, on duty across from Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on Sept. 28. Credit: Ng Han Guan / Associated Press

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 8:30 am by Jane Engle and is filed under Asia, China, Deals, Global, News, Tips & Advice, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.