I'm planning to take my parents to Asia next year as we haven't really traveled together. We have family in Hong Kong and were thinking of visiting China and Tokyo as well.
One of the things they wanted to do (which they did last year) was one of those cheap $99 China tours where you get accommodations, a "5* hotel", three meals a day, transportation and a tour guide for three or five days or something. Obviously super dirt cheap, but from what I hear it's just a shopping tour where half the time you're brought to their stores and relentlessly pressured to buy overpriced stuff.
Anyone do these tours before? Any thoughts?
I'm thinking it's more worth my time to pay for a real tour and not waste time going to their shops.
Any recommendations for hotels in Hong Kong, Shanghai/Beijing and Tokyo, and any (English-speaking) tours you'd recommend?