UTO Vacation

The stories and major issues from our group of 14 people are so horrible. UTO should not be able to exist anymore. Even our independent guide will never work with them again. UTO purposely screwed some of the group with extra charges and canceling their return flights. What a mess. We are looking into a law suit against them. We will let you know how that turns out

Company is a fraud. Fully paid for my November 2023 vacation in January 2023. Uploaded all required docs on company's website months ago just to learn that they cancelled it due to missing docs without any notification. Money non refundable but can be used as a credit toward your further vacations. Credit never issues, other travel deals are much more expensive and scam as well. Now I see other reviewers just like mine. SCAM!

Would give 0 stars if I could. Booked a trip to Japan and China which they cancelled. They did not follow their own Terms and Conditions and would not rebook me at a different date or refund me. Would only give credit (and every trip was conveniently way more expensive).They are suspended by the Better Business Bureau because they violate their own terms. DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM! IT IS A SCAM!

Everything thing that happened to me has been written about in other reviews. Communication with Uto is very difficult. Customer support is zero. Rules change on a whim. Even a dispute lodged with Citibank (the visa I used to pay Uto) yielded no results. I basically threw $2400 into the toilet, then spent many hours trying to fix the problem and ended up with two teens who took Chinese language classes for a year in preparation for the trip of a lifetime (their first out of the country) and who got nothing for their two years of Christmas gifts that were this trip. Waste of time, money, and broken dreams.

During our tour of Iceland, it organized a visit to the mesmerizing Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. The guides' passion for the natural beauty of the country was evident as they shared fascinating facts about the glacier, its formation, and the surrounding landscape. We had ample time to explore the area, allowing us to witness the icebergs floating in the crystal-clear lagoon and capturing incredible photographs of the contrasting colors against the striking blue sky. It was a truly awe-inspiring sight that left a lasting impression.

After two years for fighting and getting told we were the ones at fault and that if we pay a little more they will give us the vacation we purchased, they finally cancelled the third trip and refused to give us a refund.
If we gave them a "five star" review they said they would give us a travel credit.
They lied and stole our money - will try and get the money back on the credit card. They are a scam outfit and likely took thousands of peoples money during the pandemic.
Stay away

UTO vacations stole $4030 from my family. I was told that I had a credit then I was told, when trying to utilize the credit, that the credit did not exist. The money was used towards "UTO's expenses." This sounds an awful lot like grand theft. Use them at your own peril, these prices are too good to be true. The steal and then make it very hard to get in touch with them.

Run away from this company as fast as possible. It's fraudulent! Don't fall for the $299 or cheap deal, it's a scam and you'll loose your money! I'm still trying to get back $1,300 from them and they refuse to communicate. Once they get your money, they disappear! Don't do it.

My trip is booked out until March 2026. I decided to do the free China trip. I was excited to go. Here is where it went wrong…

This trip was booked in 2021 for their anniversary. I paid for an add on breakfast package. Mind you again, the trip is in 2026.

I like to plan way ahead and has questions about obtaining a VISA since I couldn't find info on the website. My questions stem from the requirements for a child. I could NOT get a single person on the phone. Ever.

I tried the chat they offer. I get 1 rep finally, I type my question and no reply. I'm like hello? Chat ended. I tried again. I get another rep. Since the customer e is non existent now I cannot imagine how it would be if I was out the country so now I'm not even interested in going. I just want my paid breakfast package refunded.

I'm told even though the trip is free I need to pay a cancellation penalty. Make it make sense!

I booked this trip two years ago and paid my deposits totally $299 in good faith. I rescheduled due to Covid. However, due to China's Zero covid policy, the war in Ukraine and numerous other issues, I decided to cancel my trip.

I requested a refund as this company, despite their policy, DOES issue refunds. However, when it came to me, they decided that they did not have to. They said that I could not cancel and receive my refund. We went back and forth and I told them I wanted to cancel but wanted my refund.

Today I get an email from Carmen notifying me that she has canceled my trip without my authorization and that I would not be receiving a refund. She also threatened to charge additional fees to my card unless I replied and stated not to. Last I checked, companies did not get to unilaterally cancel trips, to keep the monies paid to date and to steal money from customers for services not rendered.

Stay far away from this company.

We arranged and paid in full for a UTO vacation to China and Japan one year in advance.
Three weeks before departure UTO found us and canceled the trip
There after they were impossible to reach by phone or email and many hours were wasted trying.
On chat one service provider said we would get a refund and 6 to 8 weeks. Never did we receive any written communication about the cancellation or refund. Of course they did not refund our trip and did not communicate with us.
Luckily my credit card after their own investigation refunded my money.
I have read many similar reports online and the Better Business Bureau have withdrawn their accreditation.

We booked a trip with 40 other family members over a year ago to go to China. We have been patient with UTO vacations and have complied to all their emails. Now they are canceling our trip and want to offer a travel credit. They don't even have a vacation to use this credit!

*****, sold trips they knew they couldn't provide and kept our money me and my cousin purchased a vacation package from UTO Vacations that was advertised. We sent them the first two deposits as requested by the company. We completed all requested documentation. I started researching visa requirements only to find China was requiring a mandatory 14-day isolation at your own expense when entering the county. Our whole trip was only 10 days. UTO was aware of this requirement when they advertised and sold the travel packages. When I contacted UTO Vacation their response was sorry, you will have to take a credit and use toward a package that costs thousands more. When I explained we didn't want credit we wanted a refund they refused. As of this date, 05/26/23, we weren't even given a credit. They have been contacted numerous times. **** ** * ******* **** ** **** *** ******* My cousin and I are frequent travelers who will never book with UTO Vacation again. Take this as a cautionary tale and do your own due diligence instead of trusting UTO Vacation for future travel needs. All they are doing is bait and switch.

We booked a trip in September, 2022 for a trip to China and Thailand in March, 2024. We paid in full in 2022, but now UTO is claiming we are missing documents and will not honor the booking offer a refund

They were exceptionally knowledgeable and went above and beyond to ensure that every customers felt comfortable, engaged, and well-informed.

This company is a scam. They cancelled my trip, won't give me a refund. Instead gave me a credit that will expire soon. They won't extend the credit either and said it's just not refundable period.

Please read the Better Business Bureau complaints about this company. There are so many of us who have been scammed. UTO advertises very cheap vacation packages, requires a hefty deposit, claims your trip is protected and will be rescheduled in the event UTO cancels, then wriggles it's way out of having to honor that claim by saying the trip cannot be rescheduled and gives you travel credit (if you're lucky) to apply to far more expensive vacation trips. If you want to cancel, they keep your deposit in its entirety. In the rare event the trip happens to actually occur, expect hundreds of dollars of last minute "fuel surcharges" and "mandatory tips" along with cancelled tours and accommodations that do not meet up with what was advertised. Classic bait and switch.

My specific experience involves breach of contract, where UTO completely changed up the agreement we had made. They put me in a no win situation, where I was given 3 choices that had to be decided in extremely short notice: 1) either required to pay the full remaining amount due for the trip within 10 days of the email notice they sent in February 2023, although our agreement was that the final amount due wasn't until May 2023 and the trip is set for November 2023, 2) I can decline to go on the trip, though they are no longer giving travel credit, but may do so if I can prove a special circumstance that I can't travel in 2023, or 3) cancel and request a refund. I wanted option 3, but was told that I could not get a refund because the terms of the agreement were if I cancelled I owed them $1200. Now, that was a brand NEW cancellation fee they just added in February. The original agreement made in October 2022 was that cancellation would result in a $499 fee. Either way, I'm screwed if I cancel, and my point is that UTO illegally changed the terms of the agreement without my consent.

Now, I really wanted to go on the trip, but it wasn't financially possible for me to conjure up the total amount due on such short notice. Also, I am wary of the reviews made by others who continued to give UTO more and more money, only to be left with emptier pockets than mine and still no vacation to show for it. So options 2 or 3 were the only options reasonably available to me. I have chosen option 2 and will see what happens. At least then my money isn't forfeit and if the business is shut down I might be able to get some of it back. Meanwhile, I'm organizing with the many others who have been scammed by this company. Feel free to reach out to me here via comment or DM. Safe travels, stay UTO free!

Also read some of the reviews on TripAdvisor where UTO responded. The responses are condescending, mean spirited, and unprofessional. Especially a response to a customer named Cara, where UTO basically called her mentally challenged. I have screenshots of that if UTO tries to delete it. At least they were civil with me.

I can't emphasize enough how bad my experience with UTO has been. They've let me down at every step. I booked a trip with excitement, but it turned into a complete mess of broken promises, no communication, and a total disregard for customers like me.
First, they suddenly canceled my trip without telling me. I was left feeling frustrated and stuck. But then they told me they'd find me a similar trip if I took down my negative review. I agreed, but they didn't keep their word.
Instead, they stopped talking to me altogether. I had no idea what was happening with my trip or if there were any other options. When I asked for a refund, they ignored me.
I had no choice but to dispute the charges with my credit card company. Oddly enough, UTO brought back my trip, but only long enough to win the dispute. After that, they canceled my trip again, without warning.
What's even more troubling is that UTO lost its accreditation with the Canadian BBB, which means they're not trustworthy. I'm not the only one who's gone through this nightmare.
This whole ordeal has been a huge disappointment, and I wouldn't recommend UTO to anyone. They've shown they can't be trusted, and other people have had similar bad experiences. Be cautious and look for better travel options.

My wife and I were excited when we booked a China/Japan tour. We had it planned to leave in 2022. COVID happened and delayed our tour. Then we rescheduled for March 2023. Same thing - COVID required cancelling. Now I am trying to book for 2025. Nothing but expensive add ons - ALL OF THE INCLUDED COST ACCOMODATIONS AND AIR FAIR ARE NOT AVAILABLE - requiring us to pay expensive upgrades for hotel and flights.

UTO is Bait-And-Switch.

So right now, I have a $3294 credit to use before 09/02/2023 or I forfeit my money. I'm certainly not going to invest more money with company knowing that if something gets cancelled, delayed or whatever that they get $3294 plus whatever else I pay to get a trip. So, this is probably an expensive lesson / loss. Cheaper to give up the deposit/credit than to pay more money and chase it.

FYI - I had travel insurance. Insurance would not cover the cost because trip was cancelled by UTO and they gave me credit. So don't think travel insurance will cover you with UTO.

BUYER BEWARE - YOU WILL BE RIPPED OFF.

BEWARE. It looked like such a good deal. We booked in Nov 2022 for a trip in Nov 2023. Per documentation (we have copies) last payment was supposed to be May 2023. One month (April) before last payment I contacted them to get status on visas process. They claimed they had sent an email in February (that email was never received) and was told that I was dropped by the list and couldn't go to the trip (I have the chat conversations). They didn't even have the courtesy to send an follow up or send email to let us know we have been dropped. They are claiming that I "cancelled" the trip by not responding to that email and refuse to return our money. They would not admit that they cancelled us. BEWARE of this company. I have traveled to China before with another company and those deceiving practices were not used. Search the internet for other similar scams from UTO. Report them if you are one of their victims. They have been suspended by their local BBB.

RUN from this company. Do not even CONSIDER doing business with them! In fact, they have engaged in so many unscrupulous actions that I will be filing a lawsuit against them (btw, their TICO registration number is associated with "New Pioneer Travel") very soon.

They gave us travel credit for two canceled trips. This (about $5000) sat in their bank account for 4 years, until that destination was finally able to be visited again. They confirmed there was a tour on the date I requested (the only one I can do, due to being a teacher and having a specific week of spring break in which I can travel.) The trip now cost nearly TWICE as much as we originally paid, so we had to pay additional thousands on top of our credit. (Originally, it was a reasonable price. Now it is a worse price than competitors, and worse than we could do if we just arranged the trip to Japan ourselves.)

AFTER paying that amount and getting an invoice saying the trip was PAID IN FULL, they then implied my travel might not happen unless I switched the date (which I can't do) to a week earlier. They then tacked on an additional "mandatory tips" fee at the last minute -- and illegally charged more for tips than the Terms and Conditions stipulated -- and then suspended our travel when I pointed out that problem.

I then filed complaints with the BBB against both UTOVacation (btw, they have been so unscrupulous that their BBB accreditation has been REVOKED as of August) AND against their associated company name, New Pioneer Travel. I also filed a complaint with TICO (the Travel Industry Council of Ontario.) After this, my travel was instated and I was told (in writing) that the tips fee had been waived.

One day later, I received a notice that I must still pay the tip fee -- AFTER they waived it! -- and also stating that they would no longer be honoring the discounted airfare they had offered us (again, via email, in writing.)

I honestly don't think I have ever done business with a company this unscrupulous, untrustworthy, and dishonest. I am about to submit an Ontario small claims court claim to recoup my $7000+ immediately.

If you have been wronged in similar ways by UTOVacation or new Pioneer Travel, please contact me... a class action lawsuit may be warranted.

I definitely don't enjoy posting negative reviews if I can help it, but in this case I feel that I need to warn others about this business and their semi-fraudulent practices. I can't give zero stars, but I wish I could In this one instance.

I booked UTO's discounted China tour in late 2018 (for travel in 2020) with a deal alert from Travelzoo - who are a very reputable travel service, so I did not question it when booking (more on that later).

I knew the deep savings of this tour came because it is sponsored by the Chinese government and involves having to attend a few activities that show the history and economic activities of the country (visiting a jade store or an herbal medical farm, etc) with high pressure sales pitches wanting you to buy one of the items you saw demonstrated at the visit. I was okay with this after reading that this was a portion of why the trip was so inexpensive.

What I didn't know, however, was that if something happens and your trip is canceled (mine was canceled by UTO, NOT by me at all) it is not refundable even if THEY cancel it. How is that even legal? They can cancel it but you get no refund, as if you are the one who canceled?

I paid them almost $1300 ($400 was for our two Chinese visas), and when they canceled our trip due to COVID, they offered us a credit for future travel only and no refund option at all. At first I was okay with this, as I understood about COVID obviously being the cause, but I was a little disheartened by the no refund/only credit option.

Our credit was only for $900 since the $400 Chinese visas were good for 10 years, so we would be able to use those when we rebook, right? WRONG.

First off, the initial trip was only $399 per person base-price, but every trip they posted after the COVID situation was a little more under control was now thousands of dollars per person. Some were in the $10,000 plus range! So what am Is supposed to use this $900 credit for now?

The credit was good for two years, so I waited it out to see if they would post any more discounted trips like the one we originally purchased, but no luck for about a year.

Black Friday rolls round, and guess what! They posted another trip just like the one we booked and that was canceled! Phew, we can rebook and use our visas we paid them for (so don't have to pay that portion again, luckily, right?) and can finally take our trip with our credit! Woo! Again - wrong!

I try to book our trip with our credit and it shows that it's about a THOUSAND dollars more than it should be on the checkout screen? I go back to my cart and it looks like there is indeed a visa charged at $498 per person there that is making it so much more than the base price.

Oh, I just need to contact them and let them know I already bought a visa through UTO and can use that one, right? AGAIN wrong - this is almost comical at this point.

They tell me that all their Chinese tours are using "group visas" now and my visas that I paid them $400 for already are now useless and I need to pay almost $1000 more for these new visas they are using. So I am stuck with a basically useless $900 "credit" that I cannot use without spending more than double my original trip.

One more thing I'll note that's super shady is that they are still posting little badges on their tours that some of the "discounts" are for "Travelzoo members" only - but Travelzoo has not posted one of their deals in years (probably because after hearing all the complaints similar to mine, they are no longer promoting them to their members so they don't get hoodwinked!)

I am out $1300 (not a small amount of money!) and received ZERO useable services for that amount. I highly recommend you read up on all this company's ratings and all of their reviews on Yelp, TripAdvisor, BBB, and Google, before deciding to see a shiny discounted trip and booking it without being informed of their practices.

I hate to say something is an outright scam, but that is how I'm feeling at this point.

Like the most recent complaints, our family was also victim to UTO Travel and we hope others will see this and realize the company is a complete scam. We booked our China trip right before COVID shutdown. We patiently waited and even paid extra fees to move the date out. We NEVER got any communication from UTO. The only time they would reach out was when we emailed. Please take note: Reputable agencies will bend over backwards to keep their travelers well informed. We kept going back to our travel to check on the updates. We were told (on 2/21/23) we would be notified when travel was reopened and the booking was moving forward. That never happened. There is no way my husband and I BOTH had emails that were not received. We checked on 9/4/23 to see that the trip was re-opened. We inquired via online chat only to be told we were too late and could not go on the trip because too much time had lapsed! I asked why were not notified and they 'said' emails were sent. I asked for dates and proof which were not supplied. I asked if the agents had phones because they should have called as well. The customer service was incredibly bad. I told them that to make this right they needed to offer us the same trip at the same price. They would not do it. They knew the trip was booked at a lower rate and would no longer be profitable for them. Long story - we lost our trip. The only offered a travel credit but I don't trust this company to take me overseas. There is no telling how horrible that would end up. Please - PLEASE- Please be warned! Do not throw your money away. I hope they realize how much travel they are losing because of their dishonest practices and plethora of bad reviews.

I paid for a week for two people at a four-star resort in Phuket, Thailand but had to cancel because of illness. I paid for the week about 5 months before the date I was going to travel. A few weeks later I discovered I had a conflict with an important event I wanted to attend in NYC. I tried many times to contact UTO at an e-mail they sent me and to call them. I got a reply when I sent the e-mail that the address I was given did not exist. Nobody answered the phone.

About a month before my trip I became too ill to go on a long trip. I replied to an e-mail I got from someone at UTO asking for my flight number and other information asking for a credit to use for another UTO vacation.

I got a reply that because I was cancelling less than a month before the vacation they not only would not give me a credit but they were going to charge me a penalty. I assume UTO will try to charge my credit card their "penalty," but they will not be successful because banks do not pay when anyone other than a credit card holder submits a charge to be paid. I replied that what I was told UTO would do is outrageous since they could sell my rooms, which I already paid for, to others and make more money. Plus, I paid tips for tours I and my girlfriend were not going to take and for meals for five days that we were not going to eat.

I got a response that I should have bought travel insurance. I replied that unless I get a credit for what I already paid I am going to put negative reviews of UTO on Facebook, Yelp, and instragram, and that I am going to write a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of UTO about how unhappy I am with the company. I have not gotten a reply to that but I get the feeling UTO doesn't care.

UTO is a very greedy company that is NOT concerned with keeping its customers happy. I regret that I did not read the other negative reveiws about UTO on this site. Had I read them I would not have booked a vacation with UTO. I suggest that anyone reading this not book a vacation with them either. Any decent company would at least give a person too ill to travel a credit.