Terrible Hutong Tour with ineedhotel.com

I wish I had researched my tour company more before booking my own private tour through ineedhotel.com. I typically don't post reviews but since my own experience was so bad I think it would benefit the traveling community to avoid this tour company.

I actually found my tour through SinoHotelGuide.com which had the cheapest tour for the most content which included the drum tower, a pedicab tour of the hutongs, and Prince Gong's mansion in approx. 2.5hrs.

First my guide provided little additional information to what we could read on the signs for ourselves and often times he couldn't answer our questions. We went through the drum tower and the hutongs and the tour came to a sudden end. When I asked about PG's mansion he said the tour didn't include it. Later when I contacted the tour coordinator, she apologized and said there was an event at Prince Gong's mansion and that's why we couldn't go. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, we rescheduled for another day for our tour of PG's mansion.

Since I'm familiar with the city I went to the mansion on my own and was told I just call my guide once I've arrived. When I called 10 minutes before my rescheduled tour time, the girl seemed surprised that I was already there and I therefore assumed she would hurry from wherever she was to meet us. 30 minutes later she arrives with no apology and says they're really busy that day and could only buy our tickets for us and not guide us through. Unlike most Beijing attractions, PG's mansion has no English except for the name of the building and so we went through the mansion without a clue of what we were looking at. Perhaps not learning anything could've been canceled out by enjoying the beautiful gardens however the place was packed with other tourists.

In summary (aside from avoiding this tour company) I believe the drum tower and hutongs are easy enough to go on your own and if you ever go to Prince Gong's mansion it'll help to go with a knowledgeable guide.