Tour Guide - Jimmy Guo

I am Jimmy and my Chinese name is Guo Feng. Since I started to work in 2004, I have served as an English tour guide for almost 9 years and I have already accompanied about 1,000 different groups finishing their traveling in China.

I joined TravelChinaGuide in 2005 and was in charge of FIT and big groups for the company. Since I was rather inexperienced with these kinds of group tours at first, I was not always able to meet my clients’ requirements and leave them with the best memory. At that time, I was really frustrated. Later, with encouragement from my clients, I gradually improved and got accustomed to these groups. For FIT groups, I always try to satisfy the guests’ different requirements, and to make their tour more interesting and flexible!

One small group of a mother and a daughter from the US left me with a deep impression. Both of them were dynamic and active, and during the tour, they always made jokes and laughed in the car. On a visit to a local house, they both sang nice songs to the family. But when I met them on the last morning of their holiday in China, the mother looked upset and she told me she could not find their plane tickets.

They had looked for them everywhere in the room and could not find them. They thought that the housekeeper might have taken the tickets by mistake. So it was an urgent matter, I contacted the hotel manager immediately. After checking with the housekeeper, we still couldn’t find the tickets. The mother and daughter started to get a little bit agitated and to cry because they didn’t have credit cards or enough cash to buy replacement tickets.

I tried to calm them down first and asked for details about what they had done in the room, hoping to get some useful clues. They said the last time they have seen the tickets were in the room safe, next to their passports. Later they only found their passports but the tickets were missing. So they searched the safe and the room thoroughly, but nothing could be found.

I then came up with them to the room and helped them check the safe again. A bunch of papers sticking to the inner wall in the corner of the safe attracted my attention. I pulled it out and found the tickets lying there. What a careless family!

I learnt a lot from this case. Keeping calm is the most important thing to bear in mind, and not being affected by the guests’ emotions when emergencies arise. Then I need to help my guests calm down and solve their problems properly.

For big groups, it is not always easy to make every individual happy, but I am prepared to give each gust the best service possible, because it is my job and responsibility. Although it is sometimes hard for me to keep every little detail during my workday, I strive to improve, because I like my job. I am here waiting for you to come and explore China!