I went to the Beijing tour mid April and I thought it was very worth it. The hotels are kinda shitty for supposedly 5-stars (around 3.5 stars with N. American standards)
Usually you start out in the mornings with continental (buffet) breakfast at the hotel, and they take you to tourist attractions (for us it was Tianamen square, Great Wall, etc). After a few hours you go get lunch, and then you go to 'consumer places' for their mandatory walks/introduction speeches. After that, you usually get dinner and then head back to the hotel.
Different groups will go to different places (or in different orders). This also varies from where you book your trip, apparently different travel agencies have different hotel bookings. Prepare to go to places where it is absolutely PACKED.
For us, the consumer stops were for silk, jade, pearls, tea, massages and chinese medicine and the counterfeit good malls
I think if you've never been to Beijing, it would be an excellent first trip because they do take you to popular tourist attractions, and the guide usually goes to get the tickets and does all the work.
@winson604 - actually different countries have the trips offered at different prices. IIRC Australians have to pay more (even tipping they were recommended to pay more than us). I was in a cantonese group, and the guide mentioned it 'should' be $399/person for an english tour group. There were a few people my age that went but had their parents translate because their cantonese was pretty bad.
I had to pay more because my theoretical spending would be more than my that of my parents, I think I had to pay an extra $100cad to cover that. The benefit though, is that I had my own room for the entire trip, even for the hotel at the other city we stayed at.
Oh and what my guide told our group is that you aren't forced to buy anything from the places they bring you, but what is most important is the head count. Take the card/coupon that they give you at the front door, and then feel free to zone out during the tour of the jade factory and stuff