Lassen Tour & Travel Inc

I took a trip with Lassen recently; I agree that this tour is ideal for Mandarin speaking (Chinese) tourists; not so for the rest. The driver for the San Francisco tour (which is done in a shuttle) speaks with the Chinese tourists in Mandarin loudly to a point where it gets unbearable for everyone. The guide too, speaks with the Chinese tourists in their language most of the time. At the end of the trip, the guide demands a tip of $6/person. Tip should always be voluntary; Lassen tour guides force tourists to shell out $6/person. I found this frustrating. If you are not Chinese, I would take one of the regular tours for San Francisco; you can find them online.

That being said, Lassens Monterey tours in California for enjoyable; they are done in a bus, the driver does not sound loud, many locations are covered in one day and the guide translates everything in English. However, you are forced to pay the tip here as well.

Posted 11/21/09 | Report Abuse

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We went on a 7 day tour to YellowStone National park, Mt.Rushmore trip which concluded almost a week ago.

The trip was so well organised and our tour guide (Mr. Mike) and the Bus driver (Mr. David) were so friendly and helpful.

My family and there were 3 more families who did not understand chinese, but Mike was fluent in explaining details in Chinese as well as in English during the trip.

Overall I recommend Lassen Tours.

This was my first experience with Lassen and I truly enjoyed their punctuality/time manners and cooperation.

Will not hesitate in recommending this tours and planning to have another trip with this travel soon.

Cheers,
Sree

Posted 08/28/09 | Report Abuse

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We just came back from a 7-day Yellowstone tour with Lassen Tours, it was my 4th bus tour and it was the most rewarding experience. I never thought I could enjoy the tour so much;instead of having "home-sick" and I still got "tour-sick". The person who makes the difference of our tour was our tour guide: Hans K. Vilaivan.

He has the complete package of being a great tour leader: fun & likable personality, courtesy with manner, extensive knowledge in every aspect, good sense of humor, great taste for music, and he plays guitar on the bus. The most important of all, he becomes every tour member's friends. I would strongly recommend Hans to all my friends.

Posted 07/27/09 | Report Abuse

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My family recently had a 7 day bus tour with Lassen Tour. The trip covered Yellow Stone, South Utah, Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. The tour guide, Hans, and driver, Alex (nick named Arnold), were very friendly. Hans was knowledgeable and very well balanced in speaking English and Chinese. Alex kept the bus clean and comfortable throughout the whole trip. We learned a lot about the places we visited. This trip was worth much more comparing to another bus tour we took with another company a year or so ago.

Posted 07/20/09 | Report Abuse

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We took the 7 Day Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Los Vegas, Mexico Bus Tour in August this year. First night's stop - Fresco, shower didn't work, had to change rooms, second and third night in Los Vegas - toilet was non operational - had to change room, fourth night in LA, thank god our room was okay - but ... yes there had to be a but, friends we had made on tour, their toilet overflowed during the night forcing an emergency room change - Next day off to Mexico (yippie) NOT! Two hours of travelling just to drive past the hotel we left .. two hours ago - the trip was NOT what was advertised! Why bother issuing an itinerary if they don't follow it? Extremley disapointing :-(

Posted 10/07/08 | Report Abuse

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We recently had exp. with Lassen tour and I will definately recommend whoever want to visit LA. Everything hotel, bus, guide, management was very well planned.

Posted 09/12/08 | Report Abuse

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We recently had 4 tour LA tour covering Disney, Universal, Hollywood and solvang. Our guide was Albert and gave his best in sharing whatever information he has. Bus was clean, day tours are well managed, guide showed us all the good rides in Disney and Universal. Ramada Inn Hotel was also good. Only thing was that there were 80% chinese and I am Indian. He stopped on 1st day at Chinese place and we had tough time to find something veg to eat. But when we complained about this, he took us on one day to an Indian village where lots of options to India to dine.

Lassen tour is definately worth its costs. I will definately recommend !

Posted 09/12/08 | Report Abuse

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i am writing in the middle of 7 days tours to yosemite, las vegas , grand cayon and then to LA , Disney land and Universal studio.First i would like to thank to carol ( travel agent )for 7 days tour booking arrangement smoothly via email, international phone call .My first impression was a very good communication .Hotel accommodations throughout the trip were excellent three stars even in Las vegas , circus circus hotel..Both tour guides are knowledgeable in chinese establishment in califonia , current economic situation in general plus usual tour topics . They are very helpful and well organised planning and speak madrine, Cantonese and English, especially special thanks to kenny, a nice cantonese tour guide with global travelling experience.
Both tour bus drivers are punctual, reliable and very assisting.The bus is clean, air conditioning.I would strongly recommended to everyone who plan to visit to California.

Posted 09/07/08 | Report Abuse

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Just came back from an LA tour with a young tour guide named Patric. The tour was excellent. We could not have covered so much without him guiding us into Disneyland and Universal Studios. I wished we had more time in Universal Stuidos, but we we able to cover all the major attractions without any issues. The guide was courteous and kind. It isn't often you get a guide who can talk indepth about United States monetary policy in detail and have a clear understanding of the economic situation. His knowledge was impressive. The bus was clean and comfortable. This tour included Disneyland and Universal Studios tickets. That alone is very good value. I would reccomend Lassen Tours since it is good value.

Posted 09/06/08 | Report Abuse

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One thing I remember about Lassen is their late pick up at the airport.It was 3 hours late. I almost thought this travel agency was a scam. I called the guide, the office, no one answered the calls. Finally around 2am, somebody showed up without apology saying that he was from Lassen to pick us up. So much for hospitality. really really really bad first impression!

Posted 08/20/08 | Report Abuse

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We just came back from a 7day tour including Grand & Bryce Canyon, Yellowstone, Zion and ending with Las Vegas. The trip was marvelous! Our tourguide spoke fluent english and chinese. He paid as much attention to the Asian people on the bus as well as the English speaker. His name was Hans, and our bus driver's name was Pat. They were fantastic! My auntie is on another tour now, also with Hans and she also very much enjoys it. It is true that most people are Asians, but just make sure your tourguide can speak english. Ask for Hans , they are both excellent! Hans taught us so many things and was warm and friendly, and Pat the driver made the hours on the road seem much shorter!

Posted 08/05/08 | Report Abuse

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I joined 2 trips with this company and reading the reviews, I also wanted to add my thoughts. I think each experience of the tour on depends on tour ethinc make up of on that particular departure date and the tour guide. These types of tours seem to have people from various backgrounds and various nationalities. I was on the Los Angeles Disneyland 3 Days this year with a fairly young tour guide and there were none of these language issues mentioned. The guide spoke perfect English as the entire bus were South Asians. That was actually a well conducted and excellent trip.
On another trip, I joined with my family, that day happend to have more the chinese and vietnamese with a few spanish on the bus, and so I understand the posts where some travelers may feel the tour guide was biased towards using one language over the other. I guess it is quite difficult to balance various languages when you have such a diverse ethinc mix on one tour, but personally I see it as a part of the fun becasue I have kept in touch with some some the travelers we met on tour.

Posted 07/29/08 | Report Abuse

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I completely agree with the negative experience of others.
Last year I went for the tour with my daughter. We booked our tickets through Tours 4 Fun company which turned out to be a "middleman" and we ended up paying much more than everybody else.This was, of course, not the "Lassen's" fault, just lack of knowledge on our part.
The bus was full of Chinese-speaking people except us, another family of three and a Vietnamese couple. The guide at first seemed to be friendly and apologized for bad command of English. During the first day he did try to speak both Chinese and English (Chinese always first with English translation much shorter), and we were thankful for the effort at least. During the next two days, however, he stopped even trying. He was rambling in Chinese from morning till night, exchanging jokes with his fellow countrymen, laughing with them and didn't pay any attention to us at all. It was sheer discrimination.The sound was magnified by speakers right in our ears.One of the passengers privately complained to us that her granddaughter wasn't happy also because even being Chinese she didn't know the language.
Of course, the toilet on the bus was never open. The whole bus had to do it quickly on the stops.
If it wasn't for the scenery, our trip would have been a very bad experience.
At the end of the tour the guide blatantly required $15 from each person as a sign of appreciation. When he approached us for the tip, it was the first time during the last two days that he acknowledged our presence.
The driver of the bus who was sympathetic to our plight during the whole trip, secretly gave us the names of other guides, those who use English, for future.
When we arrived to San Francisco the lady from the the company happened to meet us there and I addressed her with my complaints.I asked her where does it say on the website that the tour was essentially for Chinese-speaking population. She didn't have an answer.
I didn't write at the time because I hoped there would be some improvements, but after reading current comments I understood that nothing had changed.
I guess that because they have enough Chinese-speaking clients, they really don't care. They'll get their money anyway.
Victoria

Posted 07/28/08 | Report Abuse

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I booked a 4-day trip for my parents from San Jose. They were pretty excited about it from the beginning.

First of all, the guide was chinese who could hardly speak any English and was completely blabbering in Chinese all along the way. When my parents asked him to explain in English, he supposedly said 'ok ok ..i will' but, continued in Chinese. The same guide at Las Vegas took the rest of the crowd up the stairs in one of the buildings and didnt wait for my parents (who are old and slow in walking). When my parents reached the top of the stairs, they could not locate the guide at all. They had to call me from the cell phone and I had to call the travel agency here from San Jose to help locate the guide and pick my parents up from that spot again.

The travel agent (a1 world travel) in san jose was apologetic but that wouldnt help me feel any better since my parents were out there at such a long distance away and helpless!! This is truly outrageous.

There was a different guide who came in later and I heard was a much better guy.
The earlier guide returned for the return trip back but did not cause any issues, whatsoever.

Since we are vegetarians, my parents had difficulty with the food all along the trip. The bus stopped at sea food places and chinese places due to majority of people in the trip, being chinese.

Please avoid this trip if you're NOT a chinese. I don't think these people care about any one else.

Posted 07/28/08 | Report Abuse

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I had taken a 6 day tour with Lassen for east coast, who subcontract these to other local operators (Paradise). From start, the tour was doomed - chinese speaking only. Waited 1 hour for pickup and reached in 4 hours to hotel, which was in NJ not NY. Then tour guide Jude Hon didn't make proper stops for veg food. Survived on bread butter for 5 days. Only tourist places shown were those with some chinese significance. Sheer waste of money for anybody other than Chinese. Recurrent quote from tour guide when we raised a complaint - 'I dont care'

Didnt meet any expectations. Raised a complaint with Lassen and there hasnt been response for last 2 weeks. Go for this tour only if
1) you want to sit in bus for most of time
2) want to get up at 6 everyday because hotels are out of town, and tour has to compensate for additional travel
3) Speaks chinese and can eat non-veg/sea food
4) Got money to waste (cheap offerings)
5) Got extreme bladder control (can go without toilet for hours)

They are not a good deal. My advise to others would be to stay away (especially anybody from Indian subcontinent)

Posted 07/14/08 | Report Abuse

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I am not a native speaker. I can't write good english ...please understand my english. =)

It was 12days tour. Started from Bangkok(Thailand).

I was with my boyfriend and in the bus, there were another about 30 people who I had never meet before. But after one day, I could make friends with everybody. Everybody was very very nice...

Except for Thailand..we should move everyday. It made me quite tired but at the same time I loved because I could see lots of sightsee. One day in the restaurant we sang a song and dance together. It was very happy night.

My tour was standard. But hotel was great and food was o.k. Especially I loved malaka's hotel. =) Most of food was chinese... it was a bit awkward for me but O.K.

To conclude, I am very happy to use Lassen tours again and recommend Lassen tours to my friends. =)

Posted 05/04/08 | Report Abuse

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I was reccomended to the company by a friend who had joined these types of tours before. I booked a 4 Days Disneland Tour for my parents in Jan.08. The tour guide Kevin was very responsive and friendly. He did his best to take care of my parents thoughout the trip.

The hotels used are standard but clean. Meals are not included so you may need to prepare some snacks. The food throughout the tour was mostly fastfood.
The bus used was very new and comfortable.

Overall the tour provided good vaule for the money paid. I would reccomend them if your are looking for a value budget tour.

Posted 02/25/08 | Report Abuse

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Lassen is a very bad Tour & Travel Company

Four of us took a 4-day Lassen Tour & Travel Inc's bus tour in January 2008. We are very unhappy about this tour. The bus is dirty. The tour bus driver did not allow the travelers to use the toilent on the bus. Except us, most of the other travelers were from China and Taiwan. They did not complain about not be able to use the toilet in these 4 days. Also the tour guide demanded a tip ($6/day for the guide and the driver) on the third day of the tour. After the tour quide got the tip, the service went down hill from the point on. We would not recomment any one to take a tour from Lassen. If you do, you will be regretted.

Posted 01/31/08 | Report Abuse

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We went for one day SFO Tour on 25/11/2007, The Tour was OK but the driver has spoiled all the good experience. At the end of tour he asked us to give him a tip of $30. Though we were running short of money at that time but he started arguing with us. Hi behaived in a very bad manner and did'nt looked for any compromise. This tip was not part of this tour but we were forced to paid a tip of $30.

He charged $72 from twelve passengers which is very..very bad part of tour. In this way they have cheated us with extra money.

Posted 11/25/07 | Report Abuse

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I took my 3-yr old boy on a 7-day "Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Disneyland, Universal Studios" Bus Tour with Lassen Tours in April 2007. On the 4th day, the bus was supposed to take us from Las Vegas to Los Angeles directly. But instead, they took us all the way back to high way 46, and sent us to another bus coming from San Franciso that day, and then took us to high way 5 back to South. It took over 10 Hours for us to complete the trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles...... I wasted the whole day on the bus just to travel between these two cities. Later after the tour, I called the company to raise the complaint. The company said they would offer me $10 coupon per person, total $20 coupon for me and my boy for my next trip with Lassen tours, and in the mean time, I will have to sign a confidential letter, acknowledging that I am aware and completely OK with its way of running the business and treating the customers...... I rejected the offer...... And the next response I got from the company was that "We cannot do anymore. Go to court and suit us". Lassen Tours cheated on me and other customers like me for its profit, and I cannot do much cause I cannot afford the time and expense of going to the court... So the Lassen Tours is off the hook. But I can, at least, write this note to share my experience with you.....

Posted 05/10/07 | Report Abuse

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This tour is great for Mandarin or Cantonese speakers. Your tour guide will speak those two languages, but they will speak very little english. I took the Oregon/Northern California Tour. The driver was very fast! The tour was ok, but we hurried through each tourist attraction. The tour guide stopped the bus for lunch or dinner at many Chinese restaurants even though many passengers didn't want to eat at these places. Thankfully, the guide allowed us to buy other things to eat. We had to walk many blocks to find other sources of food. I along with some others ate at several fast food restaurants in lieu of the Chinese food. You will see a lot of nature on this tour. Some highlights are the Redwoods and Crater Lake. Here's a tip: Don't buy any pressurized drinks/food or consume them before Crater Lake. They will pop/explode at the increased elevation.

Posted 11/24/05 | Report Abuse

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I took 2 tours from them . One for las vegas and another one for east coast. The tour were good and value for the money. the tour guide are knowledegable and courteous. Their buses are comfortable . During the trips they make stops for the convinience of the passengers for restrooms. I recommend them

Posted 08/06/05 | Report Abuse

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