Customer Reviews

Trip Connoisseurs prides ourselves with positive feedback. Our connoisseurs take pride in planning each trip meticulously. Our attention to detail and the time we take to understand our clients translates into captivating travel moments well delivered! Yet, we always strive to improve what we can do.

Hearing what you have to say, both positive and negative, plays a vital role in understanding how we can enhance our tour programs and services so we can better serve you in the future.

Trusted travel advice

I’ve worked with Chris Wang on travel for more than five years and can’t speak more positively about my experiences. He’s arranged travel to Asia as well as to Europe for my groups and we’ve always been pleased with his attention to detail and advice.

In some cases, he recommended we do something we didn’t think we wanted to do and he’s always been right. He knows Asia and he knows Europe and he knows best.

We’ve also been happy that Chris didn’t want to dictate a specific hotel but would offer us some choices, locations and prices and worked with us to select what we need. He definitely works within a budget and gives you the best deal for your money.

Chris is a pleasure to work with for any travel and I look forward to the time when my groups can take advantage of his travel expertise next.

Sharon Herman

AMAZING THAILAND TRIP

My clients had a fabulous 3 week trip planned by a Trip Connoisseur advisor.
The Trip was amazing they had a fabulous time. All the details were well planned in advance. Great Hotels , guides, transfers and the best co-ordination and suggestions of what to see and do in this great country! Thank you on behalf of my clients

Maria Karmiris
Vision Travel

Tibet Culture Interlude

I want to thank you for your superb job as tour leader in Tibet. You provided an important context in which to view life in Tibet and the impact that being a Chinese territory has on the people. Your personal stories of your family’s experiences during the cultural revolution were both enlightening and heartbreaking.

When I travel, I am interested in museums and historic sites, but I am most interested in the people, and how they live their lives. The structure and content of your tour gave me lots of opportunity to observe and try to understand life in Tibet.

I appreciated your calm approach to dealing with people, and the way you provided support and solutions to those in need. You managed the many personalities on our tour with aplomb.

I have many happy memories of our trip. Thank you for making it happen.

Angie

Angie Hains

This was a most educational, emotional and exciting tour we had and the experience will always stay with us.

Right through the trip we had guides and drivers who truly cared about us and accommodated us in many ways even when it was not part of the itinerary. Our trip started from Vietnam to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and finally Singapore. Each place offered its own unique culture, history, food and landscape. We were fortunate to visit our Sponsored Child while we were in Hue, Vietnam.

It is hard for me (to) describe everything. Photography being my hobby I have taken over 4000 pictures.

Once again our many thanks for this wonderful trip.

Mr & Mrs Tailor – Mississauga

Perfect trip – On The Trails of The Khmer

I had a very nice trip organized by Trip Connoisseurs. Everything went smoothly from pick-up to final drop-off. The tour guides were very professional and knowledgeable. The guide in Phnom Penh was a perfect fit for me: a former journalist whose family went through the Killing Fields, with some surviving and some not.

I was pleased with the hotels, too. The rooms were all comfortable. The breakfast at the hotel in Phnom Penh was quite good. The other two were adequate. (It was Cambodia.)

I appreciate the agenda that was tailored to my tastes. I feel like I got a lot out of the trip. The pace was perfect for me – lots to see, but not dawn to late night.

I’m looking forward to working with you again in coming months or the next year, possibly with Yunnan and/or Tibet. I’m hoping to do both of those by the end of the 2019-2020 school year (16 months from now). I’d also like to see Laos, Burma and Thailand at some point, separately or in combination.

Thanks again for everything. Until next time.
Best,
Rick

Rick Dunham
Co-director, Global Business Journalism Program, Tsinghua University

Expectations Exceeded

I had lost touch with Chris Wang for a few years but ran into him at a presentation a couple of years ago and forged a wonderful business relationship since that time.

Chris and Kerry are both excellent Travel Advisors and know their business through and through. They are extremely thorough in the preparation of quotes, even though the requested quote was sent to them only the day before. The finished product is exactly what my clients had requested.
No question is ignored and answered graciously.
Nothing is too much for either of them to tackle and they understand the needs of the traveller and the agent.

Trip Connoisseurs is a 5 Star Company and I recommend them highly for their professionalism.

Sandra Burns
Plus Travel Group

Most thoughtful and considerate tour

Most thoughtful and considerate tour operator I have ever encountered.

James McIntyre

Amazing Asia Experience with Trip Connoisseurs

If you want to see countries like the ones we went to, or other countries you have been dreaming about, consider doing it the way we did it. I know that Chris and his team of Connoisseurs will be more than helpful in setting it up for you. It was easy to set up. All we had to do was tell them what we wanted to see, and they set up the private tour for us. They also gave us suggestions of other sites we should include in the tour. Out trip included the Angkor Temples in Cambodia, Bangkok, North-Central India, and Nepal (including a flight to Mount Everest).
This is an excellent, if not the best way to see the world.

Mr. & Mrs. Stach – Edmonton

Amazing services. Had multiple trips

Amazing services. Had multiple trips done with this company. Always hassle free. Thank you!

Shuo Yang

Great job

Great job

Hello Marita, just returned wanted to let you both know that our trip went very well. We enjoyed our personalized tours. The guide was very nice and we enjoyed getting to know him, the Japanese culture, but he spent a little too much time speaking about his personal life than about the history of what we were seeing. Other than that it was good. Thanks for your assistance in making it a memorable experience for my husband and me.
Sylvia

Sylvia
Customer of Westchester Travel

Can’t wait to book again!

It has always been a pleasure working with Trip Connoisseurs and I am looking forward to being able to start booking trips with them again.
Their service is excellent, nothing is too difficult for them – even changing itineraries many times! All done with the final result of pleasing the clients in mind. Their ground operators and guides are first class – have never had a complaint from any of the clients I have placed in their capable hands.
Keep up the good work and good luck going forward – ready to get back working.

Carol Seifert
CWT Avenue Travel

Private tour in Bucharest and Transylvania

Clients had booked a river cruise from Bucharest to Budapest. The precruise land portion was cancelled. I contacted Kerry and he put together a fabulous 4 day package for my clients. Everything was top drawer. My clients could not say enough good about their transfers, accommodations and treatment. When they returned that was the first thing they mentioned.
I will definitely use Trip Connoisseurs again when the world starts traveling.

Irene Johnson
Thunderbay Cruiseshipcenters

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From Travel Professionals

My clients were very pleased!! I’m so happy that you make me look great to my clients!! And I appreciate that!!

Sheila | Travel Professional International



Trip is awesome so far, the guide Nam is amazing. Best guide ever had anywhere!!

Carol | Carlson Wagonlit

Hearing More From Travel Professionals >

I called my clients to catch up on their trip to Iceland. She sent me in a quick email: it was beyond fabulous!

Claire | Travel Professional International



I just had Anthony drop by the office. They had an amazing time on their Japan trip.

Kelly | Myles Travel Plus



They had a fantastic time by the way. Gotta love when clients return from holiday and in less than a week you have a referral out of it.

Emma | Travel Professional International



Clients were treated like a King and Queen in Singapore today! Thanks very much for doing such a great job.

RM | Travel Professional International


Thank you so much for all of your amazing help in planning this trip - it could not have been done without you!

Duncan | Travel Professional International


I am very impressed with your service and documents.

Sandy | Plus Travel Group


My clients are having a great time and I thank you very much for taking care of them.

Melissa | Maritime Travel



From Loyal Customer

Travel to South Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia | Spring, 2019

We have just returned home from a wonderful 24 day holiday in South Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

I am mailing your evaluation form by Canada Post. Except for a few ‘Goods’ everything is marked ‘Excellent’- meeting or exceeding all of our expectations. The Guides and Drivers, Itinerary, Food and Hotels were great. The Hotels were 4 and 5 star but all were very comfortable, clean, well located with an appropriate local flavour and excellent, very friendly staff. Initially we were disappointed with very poor seats for our first two entertainment events (Saigon Opera House - last row in the corner by a post), and the water puppet show in Hanoi, (a back row side). We complained to ICS through our guides (who also were embarrassed by the seating) as our arrangements had been made last January - this appeared to be corrected for the last two shows in Cambodia where we had prime seats. That is it - even the weather was perfect - only raining on our day at the DMZ.

In sum - we had a great time, learnt and saw a lot and greatly appreciated your flawless arrangements..

Michael & Sue | Toronto, Ontario



Travel to Budapest, Vienna & Prague | June -July 2019

We just returned from a customized and a bit longer version of this vacation to these three cities with a half-day private guide in each city for our party of four adults (two couples). We thoroughly enjoyed every minute, which included train travel between the cities and pre-arranged pick-up and drop-off at the airport, trains and hotels.

It was a memorable time and our thanks to Trip Connoisseurs meticulously prepared our travels to ensure a wonderful getaway.

Sharon & Ken | Austin, Texas

Hearing More From Travellers >


Malta & Algeria | Janurary, 2020
We enjoyed Malta and everything worked well without any problems with our guide Grace and the drivers. The weather in Malta was a little cooler compared to Algeria.

We also enjoyed Algeria although it is a little undeveloped and certainly don't have many tourists. In our drives to Costantine and back to Algiers from Oran we had to have police escorts. Sometimes this was a bit of a nuisance waiting for the escorts to change or arrive, but sometimes it was helpful when they lead us past traffic.

Our guide Fayeq was good, but the transportation was not the greatest. Sometimes the food was very basic but it was also typically Algerian and fantastic at a few places.

Also through Shaheen's influence we managed to go to a few Indian restaurants at various places. The weather was great and sunny most of the time in Algeria.

Shaheen & David | Toronto, Ontario



Morocco | November, 2019
Once again a fabulous trip. Absolutely everything was perfect. Thanks for your help in organizing!

Riad Dar Anika and Kasbah Toubkal and corpo Santo were 5 star excellent Our guides and drivers were fabulous- The weather perfect. We had a spectacular trip.

Joan & Richard | Toronto, Ontario



China & Hong Kong | April, 2019
Overall the trip was excellent. Bring in a group of seven was definitely an advantage as we were able to see and experience things other large groups would not.

For example our guide Jennifer in Guilin arranged for us to sit down with an elderly couple in a small village to talk about their life as farmers! Our guides were all energetic and well spoken but Li Zhang in Beijing was well off the charts amazing and we would like you to ensure China Delight recognizes and rewards her accordingly.

The tour allowed us to see the highlights, experience the local food and culture and enough free time to take in some extra sights and visit friends! Overall the hotels were excellent, the hotel in Beijing had a strange odour in the rooms not sure if it was because of renovations or the plumbing! The breakfasts were exceptional in all hotels, and the lunches were ranging from OK to excellent!

Christine Stolarik & John Scapillati | Ottawa, Ontario


Nepal | March, 2019
We want to thank you for arranging our visit which went according to plan and was well beyond our expectations.

The guide that you arranged was exceptional and very knowledgeable about the country, customs and religions. He was kind, courteous and attentive He (Kisue) managed our time particularly well given the territory that we covered.

We appreciated the visit to the Dhulikhel Mountain Resort after our time in Kathmandu. It was very relaxing and provided the quiet needed to digest what we had seen in Kathmandu. The gardener at the resort took me into Dhulikhel to visit the 1000 stairs Buddha and on another day we hiked the village trail after seeing the sunrise over the Himalayas.
Thanks to both of you again for organizing the trip and selecting the right accommodation, guides, drivers and special sights to visit.

Everything was wonderful and truly beyond our expectations.

Janny & Richard | Toronto, Ontario


Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam & Cambodia | November, 2018
We had a fantastic time in Asia, probably the best trip we’ve ever done.

Myanmar was a highlight and I’m so pleased we added it to the itinerary and that we spent the full 9 or 10 days there. Another highlight was the Mekong river cruise. It topped even our experience with Scenic in Europe. The Jahan has bigger cabins and the service was outstanding, not to mention that they had great food.

The itinerary was perfect and the tour guides themselves were great with a good command of English, very knowledgeable and able to make suggestions for local restaurants, shopping, whatever. I was impressed too that they took us to places where things were made locally rather than something touristy.

We loved virtually all of the hotels, our favorites being the Apricot in Hanoi, the boutique hotel in Chiang Mai -Puripunn, the Sunrise Resort in Hoi An and the hotels in Bagan and Inle Lake as part of our tour.

David & Jeanne | Toronto, Ontario


Japan & China | Oct, 2018
Just returned wanted to let you both know that our trip went very well. We enjoyed our personalized tours. The only comment that I would like to share is that in Japan, the gardens at the Imperial Palace are closed on Mondays that being the case, I wish the order of the tours would have been reversed that we would have done the group tour that we did on Monday on Tuesday and then the personalized tour with Seiko on Monday that way we would have been able to see the gardens.

The group tour on Monday was so so, the guide was very nice and we enjoyed getting to know him, the Japanese culture, but he spent a little too much time speaking about his personal life than about the history of what we were seeing. Other than that it was good.

Thanks for your assistance in making it a memorable experience for my husband and me.

Sylvia & Leonardo | Miami, Florida


Singapore and Japan | Oct, 2018
We got back yesterday after a wonderful experience!!. The whole trip went off like clockwork. No delays anywhere, no rushing, no worries, no waiting, messages for us waiting at hotels, picked up and dropped at the proper counters or places. Every one involved saw to it that we got to the right spot at the right time and were also satisfied. They went out of their way doing so, we felt. But, I guess that is normal for them. Language did not seem to be much of a barrier. The personal guides were very knowledgeable and the best, with so much of patience and understanding. Very efficient.

This was a long, complicated trip, with so many steps and people involved. Our only contact was you. Yet, there was no hitch anywhere and you were always there for us. Thank you also for Chris, another name you mentioned. Thank you so much for a great time, very efficiently managed. This is from both of us.

From clients of Sheila - TPI - Clients travelled to Singapore and Japan in Oct, 2018



From Passengers on Connoisseurs Experience Journeys

Tibet Culture Interlude | August, 2018
Thank you again for a most magnificent trip. Cliché notwithstanding, it truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And it was you that made it so.

All of us were so lucky to have you with us. You, with a foot in both the Chinese and Western worlds - not to mention having personally lived through the Cultural revolution - provided context that few - if any - other tours ever luck into.

Thank you for sharing and deepening my understanding of a country that continues to intrigue me.

Nora


Himalayan Kingdoms of Nepal & Bhutan | November, 2018
Just wanted to extend my deep appreciation and gratefulness for a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip to Nepal/Bhutan/Hong Kong.

You were so great to be with (as were the rest of the gals) and the organization of the trip was second to none. I will never forget the many laughs, rugged experiences of climbing, and the overall joy we all I’m sure enjoyed immensely, during this magnificent trip!!!!!

Joan

Hearing More From Passengers on Connoisseurs Experiences Journey >

Tibet Culture Interlude | August, 2018
I want to thank you for your superb job as tour leader in Tibet. You provided an important context in which to view life in Tibet and the impact that being a Chinese territory has on the people.

Your personal stories of your family’s experiences during the cultural revolution were both enlightening and heartbreaking.

When I travel, I am interested in museums and historic sites, but I am most interested in the people, and how they live their lives. The structure and content of your tour gave me lots of opportunity to observe and try to understand life in Tibet.

I appreciated your calm approach to dealing with people, and the way you provided support and solutions to those in need. You managed the many personalities on our tour with aplomb. I have many happy memories of our trip. Thank you for making it happen.

Angie



Himalayan Kingdoms of Nepal & Bhutan | November, 2018
Just wanted to thank you so much for the wonderful trip. It was delightful and such a great group of people to hang out with.

I felt really special that I was allowed to travel on this journey with everyone. It certainly was a trip of a lifetime. The sights, people, sensory overload were much more than I imagined. Truly magical.

Christine



Many thanks for all of your work and the amazing trip you put together. There were so many high points, so much to remember, such variety. You outdid yourselves!.

I’m looking forward to the next great trek — Armenia and Georgia? The Balkans and Macedonia? You name it! I’m in!

Ellen



From Media

What a first class travel agency!

I’m a frequent flyer and I cannot stress enough how courteous, selfless, dedicated, thoughtful, professional and helpful Mr. Chris Wang was to me during my trip to Japan. He made himself available and was easy to get a hold of, always going far and beyond, exceeding my expectations.

Premium service, and Mary his colleague was attentive, really helpful as well and a pleasure to deal with.

Quality meets true dedication and stellar assistance. I highly recommend this travel agency and it would be a pleasure to get to deal with this agency again.

Thanks for your remarkable work and generosity, Mr. Wang!

Christine Elizabeth Laprade - A media professional
Collaboratrice: The Huffington Post | Clin d’Oeil | Zwivel | La Presse | Summum | Patwhite.com | Aloha
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