Avgtravels Reviews 792

I am looking to book a 10 day China tour for £299 . Flights to and from china are at my own cost. What surprised me is that they want me to pay additional £7 per day per person for tips !! That works out at 23% in tips !!! Has anyone else had this ?

We booked the 10 day China tour, which is advertised at $999. It was well worth the money as you can pay for the extra tours if you want and choose to spend money at the overpriced “shops” they take you to. Eg, Jade and Silk factories and the Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic.

I gave 4 stars because of the Peking Duck dinner and the far distance we needed to travel to and from the hotels. I guess if you book the more expensive tour you might stay in closer hotels, but who knows.

**** DO NOT BOOK the Peking Duck dinner ***** It was $50 per person and we only got 2 pancakes each and even had to ask for the 2nd pancake. The rest of the food was like bad food court Chinese food. At least drinks were included, but even then we had to ask for another bottle of Coke as they only gave 1 for the whole table of 10.
The Kumtai Hotel, where we stayed in Beijing, was offering guests a 2 for 1 Peking Duck dinner deal for $27 pp and they got 2 whole ducks each.

*** DO NOT BOOK the Canal tour as it was boring and you do not get much time in the fun laneways where there is a lot of shops, restaurants etc.

If you do book the Shanghai night cruise, spend the $8 AUD for the VIP level (level 2) as the boats are so crowded and getting a seat is next to impossible. It’s hard to get good photos as so many people are in your face and don’t care about pushing in front of you to get their photos.

Didi’s are super cheap, so don’t feel bad not doing the extra tours if you have to make your own way back to the hotels. The tour guides really push the extra tours while you are on the coach. But if you do book the extra tours before you leave, keep a copy of the confirmation email as our names were not on the Forbidden City list and the guide tried charging us, but I was able to show her the confirmation.

Overall it was a good, but tiring 10 days. It was really nice having a free day in Shanghai so we went to the zoo on our own (catching the train). The tour guide was charging $80 AUD to take people as a day tour, but it costs $8 AUD entry fee and train was like $2. We then went to Nanjing Rd and had a great time on our own.

We booked 11 months ago from AVG Travel in Melbourne for 11 days China Tour Package start 18/03/2026 to 29/03/2026.
We were exausted and disappointed on the first day that we have to wait for 2 hours at Beijing terminal airport from 11:30pm to 1:30am for Tour Guide to pick up, and end up check into Hotel about 3am then have to wake up at 6:30am ready for next day. was it a wonderful holiday vacation?
Surely, should it be better organised, no excused.
Please treat your traveler as a guest, not a cheap package. I would be hesitated to recommended it.

From the get go travel consultant daisy le was amazing did all the work so fast efficient. Very organised. Arrived in china omg cant complain perfect service still very organised. Tour was the best . our guide Fred and lily wow the best would definitely use Avg travels again highly recommend

This company is extremely difficult to deal with and have been avoiding correspondence when we inquired about ANY details relating to the trip we booked for 14 Days in Japan. Eventually got fed up and discussed a refund (mind you within the 7 days) and they straight up denied us! We have had no response from these guys whatsoever since and we feel betrayed honestly. This travel group are a straight up scam company in and out. Read the other reviews on here about tours being cancelled and no details being provided at all, that is the standard experience with this fraudulent company. Extremely disappointing to deal with and saddened by our experience with AVG.

I've just completed sri lanka 13 day trip. This was my 3rd trip with avg travel.
Thus trip was seamless, everything went according to itinerary and quality excursions. We have the best accommodation, services bus and experience.
Our tour guide Rajith was brilliant, he was all about everyone having the best holiday adventure.
The young driver Rapuna and co driver chamika, were delightful and very charming.

Would NEVER book through this company again. We booked 10 days in china and they have already cancelled one of our optional tours and offered us a very poor alternative. We were given no other choice . All through the process we were told our departure day was 25th march but 3 days before they changed our flight carrier, told us we were leaving on the 24th and had a 12 hour layover in Xiaman. All our connecting travel to Sydney is for the 25th. As I write this, we have 8 business hours left before we leave and we have not received an itinerary, no hotels, no details at all. AND no e- ticket . This means we cant do our online checkin and when I called the airline, they have NO record of our booking at all. So, if we turn up at the airport day after tomorrow we are going on a magical mystery tour where we don't even know if we will get there or be picked up for tours or accommodation. We honestly don't know what to do.with extra tours, we spent a lot of money. Have never felt so angry or disappointed.

This company is so dishonest and incompetent. I paid $900 to change the return flight from China, confirmed the date by email, booked accomodation and then they changed the booking to the day before without consulting me. The owner Tiem Dao or David as he calls himself wouldn't take or return my calls and the support team in Vietnam are a joke. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!

My AVG experience so far! Can it get worse? Afraid so!
Pros.
On the surface, Web Site is interesting, Prices are attractive and flexibility, (flight upgrades/hotels, etc.) are offered at, quote: "at special rates". They now, apparently, respond a lot quicker than previous reviews, often detailed. However this all after we paid upfront and needed an upgrade!
Cons.
Five Post-paid experiences, and pending, (so far):
1) Two Quoted cost of Upgrade from "included Economy" flight to "mixed Premium Economy” or Business Class (@ those “advertised Special rates”), include
A) Flights of $5910 PP (Copy/paste actual here “flight surcharge of AU$5,910 per person will apply”. for Premium Economy extra, for return flight to China.
B) Business class Flights of $3180( Copy/paste actual “revised flight surcharge for Business Class is AU$3,180 per person”. Yippee! But Oops!, the 11hr overnight flight from Melbourne to Chengdu Tianfu Intl Airport is actually Economy (“Sardine”), class, as traveller in our 80’s, (we informed AVG upfront of our ages and needs), not attractive or possible to endure!
Footnote: Interesting China tourist flights are normally subsidised I.E. Trip a Deal does 12 days package to China including flights for less than $1000PP!?). So, “what’s da story” here??
It took three+ weeks and 50+ Emails to get to this stressful exorbitant, impasse!
2) After some weeks of delays and false promises, (see item 1 also)), any attempt or request to “go up a level”, i.e. speak to or have correspondence with a Senior Customer Service person or Supervisor is denied/impossible, apparently?
3) Having personally found, (easily online) acceptable Flight options, @ more reasonable rates, a request to convert to Land only, (this is advertised as an option with a $800PP difference) compared to “included “return air fares., the reply received was Copy/ Paste “you cannot request to change a full package to a land tour only”. Uhm! Maybe affects AVG’s attractive margins on upgrades?
3) After paying up front for the “boldly advertised” package, you find that instead of tipping for good or acceptable services as it eventuates, you have to pay $12PP/per day, on the day you land, (that’s around another $400 average for a couple on a two week tour). And then hope for the best.
4) AVG charge AU$ 150 for extra night at a tour hotel, but same listed on booking.com, (on the dates required) at AU$86/98 per night, (before AVG group discounts).
5) I initially thought some of many negative reviews were a bit harsh, or result of customer’s own lack of due diligence and therefore “sour grapes”, but it seems they are factual and regrettably, accurate, (to our determent and despair!)!
All this when AVG were fully aware they were dealing with an 80yr+ senior, customers couple. (Poses the Question: Are Elderly Customers considered “Easy Pickings/Soft targets”?).
PS, Emailed AVG with copy of above for their review and clarification before posting here. No feedback received!
A week later (with Iran War in full swing and ir fare risse looming), AVG booked us a BC fare @ $600PP more than we found later, on line, (that should have been a lot cheaper as we had book tour with included airfars! So the appertently "pocketed" the included air fae paid? .

Steer away from Asia Vacation Group! It's a scam
Advertising for 10 day Incredible China. The trip was only 9 days in China not 10 days.
If I have to do it again, I would take my money to a full 10 day China tour supply by others, such as Flight Center, Tripadeal...
Very low quality, unorganised tour. Hotels located very far away from the center. For example, It took our bus 2 hours drive from our hotel in Shanghai to Shanghai CBD. Tour guiders confirmed that there's nothing to do around the hotels where we stay, so that, all of us should buy optional tours.
Older people and little kids beware! Constant extremely late checkin. During first day in China, we have checked in the hotel in Beijing at 1:30am (yes 1:30 in the morning of the second day). It meant we didn't do anything on the first day.
On other day, we checked in at hotel in Wusi at midnight, 00:30am. Bullet train arrived on schedule at 10:40pm. We had to wait 45 mins under the rain to wait for the bus coming to pick us up.
Took money, did not provide the service. We bought optional tour at the same time with booking in Australian. When we were in China, local tour said they didn't received the money for those optional tours. We had to pay again. They promised a refund when we got back to Australia. After almost 2 months, no refund has been made.

As a former Executive Corporate Travel Agent, I would be VERY hesitant to book a trip with AVG.  I have been to China 22 times now.

We got off to a bad start.  I booked my trip & paid $300 deposit.  Credit card surcharge was 3% and I didn't object.

I booked Land Only as it was MUCH CHEAPER to book my own flights.

I emailed AVG & asked what time on 15 October I had to be in Urumqi for start of the tour.  They didn't know.  How can they NOT KNOW what time the tour starts?

When I looked at my Amex statement, I had been charged 7% card surcharge!  I emailed asking for a refund of the difference.  I waited over a week and NO REFUND!

I then booked flights to arrive in Urumqi nice & early.

Then AVG emailed asking me to leave a review, so I left a FAIR, HONEST review detailing issues with surcharges & them not knowing what time the tour started.

The next morning, I woke up to find they had KICKED ME OFF THE TOUR and refunded $300.  They claimed I was going to be a "troublesome" passenger.

NOTE:  THEY NEVER REFUNDED THE CREDIT CARD SURCHARGE!

I called AVG & told them I had booked my flights so we would have a major problem if I was booted off the tour.

After much discussion I was BLACKMAILED into removing my review & only then would they reinstate my place.

Then I was told "LAND ONLY" does NOT include a transfer from airport to the hotel EVEN THOUGH I WAS ARRIVING ON THE SAME FLIGHT AS EVERYONE ELSE!

I would understand this if I was arriving hours earlier or later than the others, but how is a transfer not considered LAND component when I am on the SAME FLIGHT as the others?

AVG asked me to pay AUD 140.00 for a transfer to the hotel.  I got my own taxi for 10 bucks!  Did they think I was crazy?

I have done 4 or 5 organised tours to China in the past.  We always departed Oz in the morning & arrived in China late at night.  Off to bed, then hit the ground running the next day.

I was DISGUSTED to see AVG had everyone on OVERNIGHT flights from Oz, a long transit upon arrival, then another long flight to Urumqi.

After UP TO 21 HOURS OF TRAVELLING, we were expected to get on the tour bus and do half a day of touring.  EVERYBODY WANTED TO SLEEP!

It has to be said the photo AVG used of the Rainbow Mountains had been SEVERELY PHOTO-SHOPPED!  We saw those mountains in brilliant sunshine & they looked NOTHING like the pic on website.

There was complete disorganisation when getting off the bus.  We were rarely told WHERE to reconvene or WHEN!  At one place, we waited hours for 2 people who had wandered off and had no idea we were waiting to leave.

Dunhuang was the cleanest city I have ever visited with a brilliant night market but that was the most disappointing hotel.  Clean, but very dated.

Some of the cities were very boring and I'm not sure why we stopped there overnight.  The next city wasn't that far down the highway.

I will NEVER understand why AVG do not include "tips" as part of the tour cost.  BEDLAM!

For TWO DAYS on the bus, the guide had to explain that "tips" were mandatory & had to be paid as part of her income and for people behind the scenes in China who booked hotel rooms, purchased attraction tickets, booked bullet trains etc.

Some argued "tips" should be optional otherwise they should be called a surcharge, levy or a fee.  I had to agree with this.

Some wanted to pay in AUD.  Some wanted to pay in NZD.  Some wanted to pay in Chinese yuan.  Everybody seemed to have a different exchange rate.  CHAOS!  One woman across the aisle argued for around 2 hrs over 8 yuan ($1.60).  I ended up paying the 8 yuan to shut her up.  Tipping arguments really did leave a BLACK MARK on the tour.

Throughout the tour, we had 3 guides.  I have kept in touch with 2 of them.  BOTH have confirmed they NEVER RECEIVED A CENT FROM AVG IN TIPS!

At the end of the tour, we didn't get to the Wild Goose Pagoda.  When I got home, I asked AVG for a refund of the entrance fee.  I was told I would receive a reply in a few days.  Nobody ever to get back to me.

Would I recommend AVG?  Not really.

The tour was at times very disorganised & 2 of the guides were very challenged by English.  And I think there seems to be complete disorganisation in the AVG office.

One good thing about this tour was there was only ONE optional extra activity. But this tour was expensive to begin with.

Lastly, I do find marketing from AVG to be non-transparent when it comes to China.  They claim to have longterm partner airlines & hotels & claim to book in bulk & get exclusive group rates.

That may be true but they FAILED to mention that a lot of the cheaper tours are SUBSIDISED by the Chinese federal/provincial government/s to attract tourists.  I just felt AVG weren't fully transparent about this.  I have NO ISSUE with my holidays being subsidised.

So, you decide if AVG is right for you.  If they ban me from future travel because of this review, I will update this review accordingly.

Happy travels!

Do not travel AVG. Their complaint management process is non existent and no response to email is standard despite several chasers and months of opportunity to answer. Beware of optional excursions- once you get there they tell you they are not optional and you have to pay. Otherwise you will be threatened that you will be left stranded.
1 of many Examples: We were made to pay $20 pp for an excursion which we didn't want to go to, on the understanding that they would take us to the location with the group on the usual private coach and they put us on a public bus which costed $0.30 per person.
Will never travel AVG again. Duty of care non existent.

A massive shoutout to Lester and Dev from AVG Travels. They were professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly caring from start to finish.

While travelling alone, my grandpa unfortunately suffered a minor stroke. Lester and Dev went far beyond their role as tour guides, stepping in immediately to make sure he was safe, comfortable, and well looked after before our family could fly over. They assisted with transport, communication, and stayed by his side during what was a very stressful time for our family.

Their kindness, calm approach, and genuine compassion gave us enormous peace of mind from overseas. This experience showed us they are not just excellent tour guides, but truly trustworthy people who deeply care about their guests.

We are extremely grateful to Lester and Dev and will absolutely be reaching out to AVG Travels again for future trips to Sri Lanka. Highly recommended.

In November 2025, we booked AVG Travels "12 Day Wonderful Japan with Hiroshima" tour departing 4th April 2026, land only, as we are leaving Japan by ship.
On Sunday 18th January, we received email notification that our trip was cancelled and they offered a departure on 29th March, six (6) days earlier. They offered to pay any penalties we would incur to alter our flights which was between $600 and $800. When they realised the costs involved, they miraculously found us a departure on 2nd April, the day we arrive in Tokyo at 11:30pm, probably by bumping two other customers. Their consultant Alex (Mr.) has advised us that we now have to pay our own way to their tour hotel in Narita at a cost of $300. With our original booking, the cost to get to our hotel in the city via subway was $5 per person. When asked to provide transport at AVG expense, they have said No. When I pointed out that we were being financially disadvantaged because they cancelled our booked and paid tour, they still said No.
Telephone calls were answered by a receptionist advising that someone would call back - never happened!
This company is registered in Melbourne but I suspect it is a cheap and cheerful overseas operation whose business ethics do not comply with Australian Travel Industry standards.
Lesson learned: If it is advertised on social media, check reviews before booking.

A small group tour through Japan. First experience with a tour group operator. Wonderful adventure. Initially bought a different tour but was informed 3 months prior due to lack of numbers would not be available. Offered an alternative tour which was slightly better for no extra cost. Tour was wonderful, only 7 people. Tour guide, Frank was very helpful and supportive. Only issues I had was not receiving the flights and final itinerary until 5 days before the tour started. Causes some stress and apprehension, especially when everything states it will be received about a month before. I was not the only one with this part of the story, the other members of the group had the same story. However, once the tour started, all was great, would do it again.

From similar experiences from other travellers, avoid AVG like the plaque. It's telling that their website does not have a customer reiew page!!!

Don't waste your time. Contacted them numerous times with no reply. Finally got a hold of someone, and they told me the tour is now closed and would NOT offer the 10% disc off their website. Go with another company!

I was very causious and anxious before and after booking our trip with AVG Travels, mainly after reading heaps of negative reviews. The agent Fabio, whom we were booking the trip with, was very friendly and helpful, he always replied to my queries in a timely manner. Unfortunately, he then left and another agent wasn't so timely with their replies - I had to wait for days and even sometimes weeks to get a reply from her which was annoying. I had to sometimes call the agency because the replies by e-mails were not coming. Fortunately enough, our trip to China finally happened. First of all, I wish the itenerary itself was less exhausting. Three flights in a day's time were a very tiresome experience (Brisbane-Syd-Hong Kong-Beijing). I wish there were direct flights to China offered to us from Brisbane and/or Sydney. In fact, they exist but I think the agency is always looking for cheaper options. So, we were extremely tired when we landed in Beijing abt midnight, and the Day 1 tours were starting at 9-30 am next day. In fact, the guide did give us some time to rest because otherwise the tours normally start at 8-45 am. So, we were constantly lacking sleep which wasn't good. I think, AVG Travels have to work on itineraries. Same happened when we took a bullet train from Beijing to Suzhou and arrived very late with a morning excursion next day, haveing just abt 4,5 hours to sleep. I also wish we were spending less time at factories (in fact, the silk factory was good but I wasn't impressed with the pearl factory). Again, the way back was exhausting. And we were lucky to get on the flight from Hong Kong just before the typhoon hit the coast. We liked Shanghai most of all. However, we were shown another Shanghai - which we were not shown by the guides (our nephew lives and works there). So, I think Shanghai deserves more days to spend there. Chinese guides (2 Lilies) were nice and helpful, they spoke good English which is rare in China.

China & Yangtze River cruise. The China English speaking tour guides are very pushy on the optional tours. (They are quite happy to drop you off miles from the motel and don't want to pick you up again as it is too busy in the big cities, so you end up having to pay for Taxis). The cruise is great with no push on the optional tours. Great value with flights, nice motels and nice breakfast include. 2 x early morning starts to bullet train & an internal flight mean you get a crappy packed lunch instead of a nice breakfast at motel. No bus turned up 1 morning at 4.30am and the motel had trouble finding Taxi's which was stressful, and we just made the flight. AVG gave us all a nice restaurant lunch and repaid Taxi fare to make up for this. We were the last to leave the cruise and we had to ring AVG as no one picked us up to take us to the airport until a couple of hours later. The tour guide was very helpful when she arrived and helped us arrange our seating on the plane and time in the airport lounge as we had a long wait until our flight. On the flight to China my wife was on one side of the plane, and I was on the other. China South airlines have good meals, but they DO NOT keep couples and families together. One couple was separated from each other and their 2 young children into 4 different areas until the hostess managed to get people to swap around.

We booked a 10-day China tour with AVG Travels (also known as Asia Vacation Group) for four people in early July 2024, paying in full, over a year in advance. The trip was planned for September 2025 and carefully coordinated around our work and family commitments.
Then, just two months before departure, we received an abrupt email stating that the tour was cancelled due to “last-minute changes from local suppliers.” No real explanation! No accountability!
The company offered us two poor alternatives:
1. Reschedule to a later date, which wasn’t possible due to our personal and work commitments.
2. Upgrade to a 12-day tour (which included the exact same first 10 days) for an extra $1,600 per person, totalling $6,400 extra for our group of four.
This “upgrade” raised serious concerns. The revised itinerary was identical to the original for the first 10 days. Why weren’t we allowed to return home from Shanghai as originally planned? This casts doubt on whether the cancellation was genuinely due to supplier issues, or if it was a deliberate attempt to steer customers toward a more expensive product.
After numerous back-and-forth emails, the company agreed to issue a full refund. Weeks passed. We followed up repeatedly, only to receive vague, non-committal replies and no clear timeline:
“Please rest assured that your refund request is already on our accounting team’s list and will be processed when it reaches its turn in the queue.”
We were left wondering: how many refunds are they processing, and why is there no clear timeline?
It was only after we issued a final demand, giving them 48 hours to process the refund or we’d file a formal complaint with the ACCC, that the refund finally came through.
The ordeal cost us time, energy, stress, and the card processing fee, which was never refunded. We feel misled, ignored, and disrespected. We paid in good faith for a service they failed to deliver, and they held our money for over a month after agreeing to refund it.
To make matters worse, they continue to heavily advertise tours across social media, as if nothing’s wrong. How many others are still waiting for refunds? How many had their tours cancelled at the last minute?
This company should not be allowed to operate like this in Australia.
We’re sharing our experience to warn others:
⚠️ Be extremely cautious before booking with this company.
⚠️ Check other reviews! You’ll see we’re not alone.
When a company cancels a fully paid service and then refuses to return customer funds in a timely and transparent manner, that’s not just bad business. IT’S UNETHICAL.
Until this company cleans up its act, avoid them at all costs.
Finally, if only I could give 0 STARS, I would!