Travelzoo

I put down a deposit for couple of trips with UTO. They cancelled my China/India order(#**) for more than a year ahead of the scheduled?? The trip is not depart until OCTOBER 15, 2023. UTO transfer my money from that order to another booking without my authorization. I try to contact UTO by phone and emails with no success. After 7 months and a 1 star review on their website, Amy ** calls, offer no explain, refuse a refund and ask if I would like to reinstate the trip now. If they did that from the start I would get into their trap, to pay final payments + mandatory tip (UTO charge $30 tipping a day pp, outrageous) and would have loose more money.

TZ advertises tours for UTO Vacations who fraudulently cancels or changes scheduled trips. They give you the option for a refund then never refund your money if you select that option. Beware of UTO via TZ. TZ should refer replicable companies for customers!

UTO Vacations is the name of the company, they are not listed on this website but I purchased via TravelZoo portal. BEWARE. It looked like such a good deal. We booked in Nov 2022 for a trip in Nov 2023 with UTO vacations. 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 had the courtesy to send an follow up or send email to let us know we have been dropped.

The Turks and Caicos' package deal my cousin & I purchased $2,299 was noted as a beachfront suite. Nowhere did it state it was only 1 bed nor that you could not upgrade to 2 beds. Resort said no to upgrading & I can get a refund from Travelzoo. Then resort came back and said for $2282 we could get a 2nd bed. That’s more than the original cost for pkg deal already paid!! We then requested a refund or at least a credit with Travelzoo of whom rejected both options. The package deal ad never stated the # of beds. If it did, we clearly would not have purchased it, as we are two grown cousins that do not need to be sharing a bed. Especially for the money paid. It almost feels discriminatory that technically the package was geared towards couples. But now we are being punished and out $2300 because Travelzoo will not at least give us a credit.

My family of three purchased a vacation package from UTO Vacations that was advertised and supposedly vetted by Travelzoo. This was on 9/9/22. We paid in full as requested by the company ($1578). We completed all requested documentation. I started researching visa requirements only to find China was requiring a mandatory 10-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."

I have booked with Travelzoo on a few occasions and have had good experiences. But this time was not so good. I booked a 2 night stay at a hotel in Tofino. The description read, room with a view of islands. So I thought it was a full view of islands as the hotel did say they had rooms like that. When I arrived at the hotel , the room had a partial view from the balcony. I phoned the front desk and they said they did not have any full view rooms left. And to contact Travelzoo. I emailed them and all they said was sorry I was disappointed with the view. And that's the room I booked. So be aware, their descriptions of the room that you are booking may not be accurate.

BUYER BEWARE!! UTO is a scam and is not reputable, don't buy a tour with them. We purchased a tour to China through a link from Travelzoo in November 2020 and planned to travel the following year. Obviously, China and the world shut down due to covid. UTO was unable to fulfill their part of the contract so they kept a credit for future travel. China continues to be a mess and have outbreaks of covid, lockdowns, travel restrictions, etc. I have no desire to travel there. UTO has had my money, interest free, for 2 1/2 years and they are refusing to refund my $1300. Their customer service agents tell me to use the credit toward another of their trips rather than a refund. UTO is unable to produce the trip to China, they need to refund my money. Why does Travelzoo continue to showcase such a dishonest and disreputable company like UTO?

Wanted to warn others in case you fall for this company’s scam. I booked a trip with UTO vacations in July of 2022 to travel to China and Japan in January 2023. After reaching out to them to see if they plan to update my reservation given the China travel restrictions I was told to look for an alternative trip or wait and see if their restrictions are lifted. After trying to get a refund and being told the reservation is nonrefundable I asked if the trip was still on when the quarantine restrictions were lifted and got no answer. I reached out to UTO vacations via phone, chat, and email to see about rescheduling the trip and haven’t heard back from them. Basically I am out $1,400. The whole thing felt like a scam. As they sold the trip without mentioning the quarantine requirements in China. And then never responding to reschedule my trip.

I made a Travelzoo booking for 2 nights at a montreal hotel for late october. I later called travelzoo to cancel while within the “no penalty" time. I was charged (booked, later cancelled) 1 night by the hotel despite documented proof from travelzoo that they had properly cancelled the reservation in time for there to be no charge. However, I was still billed by mastercard for 1 night by the hotel. I advised travelzoo of the error and they “forwarded” my complaint to the hotel. The hotel denied I was charged so I provided a copy of my mastercard statement showing the improper charge to travelzoo, which “forwarded” the documentation to the hotel. No advocacy despite documentation- just “forwarded”.

My experience is based on a recent purchase. TZ will not bend on Refund under any circumstances sticking to the 14 day period. My request was based on circumstances beyond my control which was not considered. A surgery postponed due to having contacted Covid-19.