I made a phone booking for a holiday next year , the booking was dealt with efficiently and the experience was easy !

Excellent tour. Singapore- fantastic but would have liked another 2 days there. Malaysia - guide did not always communicate information clearly, in fact did not know his name until 3 days into the tour. Batu caves, toilets were payable by local currency and guide not helpful. Luckily one of the other guests had a small amount of change and helped us so that we could use the facilities. The local guide really should have a small amount of change to help in these situations (we are talking about the equivalent of 10p English money). Thailand, Olivia the guide was excellent. Knowledgable, enthusiastic and caring. Most of all she shared her own personal experiences of life in Thailand on a rice plantation, which is always appreciated. Loved the Elephant Sanctuary and pineapple plantation.
Negatives - the information from Wendy Wu mentioned taking American Dollars and credit cards. I would say that American Dollars were useless. Need small amounts of local currency as many places on the tour had local markets to shop in, where they only took cash.
This is our 5th Wendy Wu tour and we missed the use of a Whisper and a National Guide. We understand that 3 countries were visited but still missed someone who would take overall responsibility for the group.
However, overall really enjoyed travelling by train. Would do it all over again. Experiences that we will remember forever.
The war in the Middle East obviously gave us some worry as we were travelling back via Dubai. However, the team at Wendy Wu found alternative flights, although we had to change twice in China to get home. Because of our inconvenience that send a beautiful hamper. Thank you.

Outstanding, prompt and very accurate.

Absolutely brilliant, cannot fault the tours in any way

Holiday booking service excellent. Operator provided clear explanations of options.

This is the fifth time we booked our travel with Wendy Wu. This speaks volumes as to how satisfying we are with the services that we received. From booking to touring, the operation was seamless. We met wonderful guides and made friends with many travellers.

Arti was very helpful when I made my booking. I always experience great service with Wendy Wu Tours.

Prompt and no fuss booking

Overall there was just too much travel, which may have been better if we had just gone by 'plane (although this may not have been possible)

The booking agent, Cheryl, was knowledgeable and friendly. She answered all my questions about the trip we wanted to book and found the best flight options for us. She offered to ring back the following morning to give us overnight to think it over. The following morning she rang back and booked the holiday for us. Confirmation arrived by email within a few minutes.
Now looking forward to the trip!

Saw some amazing sites and enjoyed travelling through three very different countries. Our guide in Malaysia was fabulous and really made the trip for us due to his enthusiasm for the culture and food of Malaysia, his never ending energy, and his brilliant organisation - he also added in some extras such as the boat tour on the mirror lake number 2 which was a beautiful hidden world and should be part of the core trip in my view. However the trip was heavily mis-sold as it was not a rail trip at all - whenever we were on the train our bags were being taken by the coach to the next stop (and often getting there much quicker than we did), so for those booking a rail trip for environmental reasons this was disappointing. The Thailand part of the trip was not good at all, with a number of excursions detailed in the itinerary being cut short or not possible due to lack of time, not helped by the Phuket hotel being on the opposite side of the island to the excursions, resulting in the requirement for 3-4 hour round trips each day and multiple very early (5am, 6am, 7am) starts and late finishes on consecutive days resulting in the group rebelling and adjusting the itinerary and a number of people being so exhausted they opted out of a couple of days trips to sleep and recover. Finally, the FAQs stated an average age range of 40-65 but all but 2 travellers were over 70 so may be an important consideration for some younger travellers.

good but required longer timescale; very rushed

Having booked this tour on 2 other occasions only for it to be cancelled, we were very excited that this tour was now running until we saw the reviews from the previous November 2024 tour. We contacted Wendy Wu to query the issues the reviewer had raised regarding the flight changes and the poor roads to the Plain of Jars and frankly the Wendy Wu representative was completely unhelpful and was either unable or unwilling to answer any of our questions /concerns regarding this tour.
We approached the tour with some trepidation; the stay in Luang Prabang was OK but as with the majority of the hotels throughout the tour the breakfast was very basic for the Western palate and the hotel was not centrally placed. Due to the tour group being split between 2 mini buses (due to UNESCO restrictions on size of vehicles) you did not always have access to the guide.
The real issues started on the journey to Phonsavan, yes Wendy Wu had warned us that the roads were not in the same condition as Western roads but not in my wildest dreams did we imagine that the journey would be this bad. For the majority of the 11 hour trip in a mini bus there was no road surface, you were basically driving on sand and rubble with regular potholes that really tested the suspension and safety of the vehicle. We wondered if we were on an episode of the World’s Most Dangerous Roads! The journey was extremely tiring and very uncomfortable. A 4 by 4 would have made the journey more comfortable and safer. It was telling that on this road to a UNESCO site we only saw one other tourist mini bus. Unfortunately having endured this journey, 2 days later we were back on the same road again for a further 7 hours.
The last 5 days of the tour were very rushed with only one night stops. We understand that this was due to an itinerary change as Lao Airlines stopped flying from Pakse to Bangkok in 2024 but why wasn’t this adjusted on the Feb 2025 tour?
In addition there was a major issue with internal flights although fortunately we were not directly affected.On 2 occasions there were no tickets on the internal flights for 9 of fellow travellers, on the first occasion people managed to fly on a standby ticket although 4 of the tour plus the guide had to endure a 14 hour minibus journey to the hotel arriving at around 5 am next day then had to do a day of touristing. Despite the guide checking with his head office and given reassurance that all the tour had tickets on the next internal flight, the same 9 passengers again had no tickets for the flight. Yet again they had to wait for standby tickets and 1 person had to go to Thailand to catch a flight to Bangkok. The end of the holiday finished on a low and the farewell meal was not enjoyed.
Fortunately our guide Pet was extremely knowledgeable and very calm despite all the challenges of this tour.
Whilst we acknowledge that on some occasions itineraries need to be changed at short notice Wendy Wu were fully aware of the issues this tour suffered in November 2024 yet allowed our February tour to go ahead with the same itinerary. Due to Wendy Wu’s inability to address our concerns and provide information when we contacted them prior to the tour and the inefficiency of the local company used in Laos we would be very unlikely to book Wendy Wu again which is a shame as this was our third trip with them.

An excellent holiday , the group was the correct size 14, and we all got on well after a couple of days. The guides were excellent and put in the extra effort that was appreciated by everyone. The venues were good , though the first day in. Bangkok was hard work after a long flight and getting used to temperate and humidity. Thailand was amazing I saw places that were exceptional. Laos was much more 3rd would and the hotels were a bit remote. Apart from the one on the river section. A super holiday which I would like to do again but to a different part of the planet !

As David pointed out in the review of his identical trip in November 2024,
the itinerary was not given enough thought in view of the road conditions.
The Park Nine hotel in Bangkok was superb. Unfortunately the trip went downhill from then on.
Hotel Anthong in Luang Prebang was geared to Koreans - very noisy and not a lot of food at breakfast for Europeans. It was also some distance from the town centre despite there being several other hotels of a similar quality much nearer.
The minibus journey described as a 'scenic road trip' to Phonsavan was anything but scenic and just a joke. There is no way 15 travellers should have been subjected to 2 x 11 hour journeys to and from the Plain of Jars. That was 2 whole days of the trip totally wasted.
The Amari Hotel in Vang Vieng was very good, especially as, if we skipped the cave, visit some of us had a chance to sit by the pool for a much needed rest.
The S2-Modern hotel in Vientiane was not ideal either. Some distance from the city centre and very little choice at breakfast for Europeans.
Somehow, and I still don't understand if it was Wendy Wu or Laos Air who made an almighty ****-up and failed to check that the whole party was booked onto the flight to Pakse. 4 of the party had to travel 13.5 hours in a minibus to the Pon Arena Hotel.
This hotel is probably fine if you get a Mekong view room but the rooms in the annex are dire and certainly not up to the required standard.
The Pakse hotel in Pakse was one of the best but as we were only there for a few hours we couldn't take full advantage of it. At least there was something we could eat for breakfast and some decent coffee.
However, once again due to someone's failing to check the flight, one of the party plus the guide had to make alternative arrangements to get back to Vientiane.
When we got back to the Park Nine hotel in Bangkok, hoping for a relaxing time before our onward flights, again we had a battle as there was no room set aside for us, as promised in the itinerary. Luckily, one of the party argued on our behalf and managed to secure rooms for all of us plus breakfast and lunch/dinner and also arranged for transfers to the airport. Why was this not supplied without argument?
The country and it's people are lovely and it's history interesting but this holiday needs serious thought. I don't think anyone on the trip would travel with Wendy Wu again, certainly I can't recommend you to anyone.
This is a shame because you had the chance to sort this after the previous comments but chose not to.