Record fixed details before listing sights
Include start and finish dates, pickup and drop-off cities, booked flights or trains, adult and child numbers, and luggage quantities and external dimensions. Mark unbooked transport as provisional. For a folding wheelchair or stroller, send folded dimensions and a photograph rather than describing it as small.
An example brief might specify five travellers, four suitcases, one folding stroller and pickup and drop-off in Urumqi, with hotels undecided. This is a writing example, not a claim that a particular vehicle will fit everything. Ask the provider to check the actual vehicle.
Separate essentials from preferences
Make essentials verifiable: a child restraint is needed, a traveller needs boarding assistance, or the hotel must have an operating lift. Simply saying senior-friendly leaves too much room for interpretation. Describe practical walking and step requirements without sharing unnecessary personal information.
Rank preferences, such as two priority destinations, a desired two-night stay and optional sights you would drop. This gives the planner permission to make useful trade-offs rather than squeeze every request into a schedule.
Ask what each service includes
Request separate answers for the vehicle and seating, driver service, transfer coverage, accommodation, scenic-area transport and the treatment of parking, road charges and driver meals or lodging. These are questions to confirm, not a claim that every package charges in the same way.
Ask how route changes, extra vehicle time, replacement vehicles and cancellation are handled, and have unresolved items labelled clearly. When a travel agency organizes the itinerary, check its credentials and use a proper tourism contract. The brief supports that discussion; it does not replace contractual terms.
Compare replies line by line
Use four columns: requirement, provider A, provider B and follow-up question. If one proposal includes hotels and the other supplies only a car, align the scope before comparing totals. Treat an unanswered item as unknown rather than included.
Date and number the final version. Have one family contact consolidate changes so travellers, the driver and the planner do not work from different instructions.
Source and scope
This is general planning guidance, not a live access, weather or price notice. Check destination information before travel, as advised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Source checked 7 September 2026. Ministry travel advice (28 April 2026)