Thailand, Australia, the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Vietnam's Danang and Shaanxi province's Xi'an are among the favorite foreign and domestic destinations for customized trips by Beijingers who book through China's largest online travel agency, Ctrip. (Photo/China Daily)
Lei says prices are roughly equivalent to group packages.
"Our customers give us a budget and some specific requests for certain tours. We use our resources to help them get a good run for their money," he says.
Customers don't have to bother researching and booking flights and hotels, let alone visa applications. Plus, the company crafts their requested travel itinerary, Lei says.
They don't have to search for travel tips - that may ultimately be inaccurate.
"Some sites' tickets are available for only a short time. Some are much cheaper online. These are available for customized tours."
Lei's company also offers a book of tour tips targeting specific destinations and 24-hour on-call service.
Ctrip developed its tailored-tour platform in late January. It offers about 4,000 trip customizers.
Users and customizers can choose each other. The match rate has reached 93 percent, Ctrip claims.
Cost breakdowns, covering plane tickets, hotels and transportation, will be shown to each user.
The company plans to offer customized-tour guests real-time updates of specific scenic spots and nearby shopping and dining, Ctrip's tailored tour service's general manager Xu Zhiyun says.
It will add recommendations.
Indeed, it seems travel customization will likely continue to accelerate specialization in services - in every sense.
