Travelzoo

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”.

Travelzoo website promoted UTOvacation for Asia travel and I booked a trip to Japan in 2021 from UTO. However the trip had been cancelled by UTOvacation and the money paid turned to credit. When asked for a refund they said no. Rebooked a trip but at a higher price. In December I attempted to contact a rep for assistance but received none. This was to do a possible name change, or rebook the trip as the other person going could no longer go. I had previously purchased the UTO Assurance Program in which gives no penalty to rebook/reschedule, but you would have to pay a certain fee and wanted to use that. After not receiving satisfactory assistance or being able to talk directly to someone through phone I filed a dispute.

Jetline advertised an Eastern Europe vacation package on Travelzoo. 11 family members booked this package to be together for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe for Christmas. What we actually received was a mixed bag of terms and conditions that do not apply, unresponsive Jetline agents, system down, medical emergency, managers that were to step in and help us without any resolution to date and credits that are never processed.

Received travel specials from Travelzoo. Travelzoo advertised for Exoticca Tours and I booked a trip leaving on October 27th 2022 to Petra Jordan. This tour company is awful. I went as a solo female traveler and they had no concern for my safety or my well-being. They advertise a good special for four star accommodations and after you arrive you are given a revised hotel accommodations that inform you that you've been placed in a one-star Hotel. Travelzoo should be held partially responsible because they advertise for Exoticca Tours. Travelzoo should investigate Exoticca Tours and make a strong decision on whether to continue to advertise this company on their website.

TravelZoo has been sending me emails without my permission for years now. I have tried and tried to get them to stop but they won't. They have an unsubscribe at the bottom of the page but you have to make an account with them, including password, before you get into the site to unsubscribe. What kind of nonsense is this? I have blocked them time and time again but they keep getting into my inbox. Now I am getting emails almost every hour. Today, I did some research and found a phone number, I called to be told it will take time to remove my email since there are already many emails going into my inbox. I asked for a supervisor and their rep, Yamal, started arguing with me. Any company that has to keep someone hostage to keep up their numbers is a company you should never trust. Run from this nightmare. There are companies out there with good reputations.

Travelzoo website promoted UTOvacation for Asia travel and I booked a trip to Japan for Oct 2022 from UTO and made a deposit of $1200.00. However the trip has been cancelled by UTOvacation despite the fact that Japan has been fully opened earlier Oct. As specified by their customer service rep Amy on June 28th. I was assured during the call that my refund would be processed in next few days and was told not to worry about my money; however, it has taken more than four months with continued radio silence on their part despite consistent attempts to contact them regarding the refund.

So far we have had great experiences booking off Travelzoo, this was an exception. Saw a very low price for 7 day trip to Jordan offered by Jetline Vacations. After calling we had a slight upsell in flights but were ready to book. Terms were 2/3 down and 1/3 due in 7 months. Jetline tried to charge the entire amount to my credit card. Fortunately, the credit card flagged it as fraud and we were able to get out with no financial damage. Run away from the company, they are dishonest.

This company has zero integrity and rips off its customers. I made a booking and 3 weeks before travel they advised me the hotel would not be open and therefore I had no accommodation. After many days of back and forth, they then offered me compensation for the hassle and issues and advised me to send in my invoice once I'd picked and stayed at a new hotel. When I submitted my invoice after my stay they are now refusing to honour the agreed upon amount even though it is clearly written in an email and recorded on the call. They have the worst customer service and dishonest employees. Do not give this fraudulent company your money. They have zero integrity.

I was a loyal Travelzoo fan for 15 years. Booked my honeymoon hotels in 2006 from Travelzoo and got hooked since! Travelzoo is an advertiser for UTOVacations, and every week there is one Top 20 deal that they recommend. So I booked a family vacation on June 21. I contacted UTOVacations within one week of booking to reschedule because my mother got diagnosed with late-stage cancer. However, they told me no dates are available, even though they were advertising new tour dates at the same time with Travelzoo! (See attached screenshots). I was told by them to contact my credit card company if I’m not happy with the travel date. That’s why I opened a dispute. However, UTOVacations then said, "We would have given you other dates but because you filed a dispute, we don’t want to do anything with you, and you lose your security deposit." It was frustrating to hear this after 2.5 months of diligent follow up.

I am so angry with Travelzoo. They sell their own holiday directly which I have so far had a 5* experience with. The last holiday I booked with them was from a 3rd party, but as it was on their website I naively presumed it would be a reputable company. I booked the holiday, I was told no less than 15 times on the phone when booking the holiday that it was ATOL protected, received an email a few weeks before the holiday saying my flight had been cancelled. I got this email from the airline not the travel agent, only because I registered with the airline on their website and added the booking, if I hadn't done that I would've got to the airport and been told then the flight was cancelled, Jetline didn't even bother to let me know.

Bait and switch by Jetline Vacations through TravelZoo. We attempted to book a advertised trip on TravelZoo for a trip to Greece. The website advertised by TravelZoo was with a company called Jetline Vacations. The trip was advertised at $899. Sounds like a deal. Wrong! After an add on it went to $1299. The agent at Jetline Arthur was polite but soon became shady. After he and us agreed to the add on and the cost of $1299, Arthur advised that he would need a minute to confirm the flights. He came back and said the flights were long with long layovers to which we said that we could manage. He then said he was going to see if he could find better flights and would call us back, after a few minutes he called back, and said he found better flights but that it would cost $1799. We declined and said we would be fine with the $1299.

I've had great luck booking trips with offers I've found through Travelzoo. I've read some of the bad reviews, but it seems as though people expect things that this company doesn't do. As far as I can tell, they're an information clearinghouse; they exist to gather information about *other companies* that offer travel deals. It's not a travel agency itself. I've found great deals they've turned me onto, and the experience I had once I followed the link was the responsibility of the company offering the tour or travel deal. So far, they've been good - but if I have a bad experience, I won't be blaming it on Travelzoo. It's just like having a bad airbnb experience and blaming AirBNB. I might feel obligated to report a bad experience, host, or company - but I don't blame the company that doesn't have control over it.

Unclear travel time disclaimer (dates and times supplied 10 months after booking) is an omission that mislead us into buying an advertised PERU IN 9 DAYS trip advertising 8 nights AND 7 days in Peru, the 9th day allocated for travel to/from Peru. Exoticca’s actions to choose a flight to Peru that arrives at 23:30 EST and an early a.m. flight from Peru, erase 2 of our days in country and will have an extremely detrimental effect on our trip, purchased via Travelzoo advertising.

Like many others, I do not know why you continue to include Jetline Holidays in your Top 20 Deals. We had a nightmare experience with this agency and are now trying to obtain reimbursement for a rental car we had to hire after Jetline canceled our reservation. We arrived in Rome, exhausted, to find that the rental car reservation that was part of our package had been canceled. Many phone calls to Jetline with various explanations: "We did not cancel reservation." "Oh yes, we did cancel reservation because you did not pay for the rental car." SAY WHAT? WE PAID FOR A PACKAGE DEAL AND HAD THE VOUCHER FOR THE RENTAL CAR.

We booked a trip with Travelzoo only to find out that we had really booked a trip with Jetline Vacations in the UK. We were supposed to go on a boat trip around the island on the 2nd day and were not given any notice that it was canceled until we got to the port. No refund was given, we were simply told it was canceled. Then I tested positive for Covid and couldn't fly home as planned. I called Roger/Jetline who we had been working with and was told that all of the arrangements were up to me to make, I was in a foreign country and didn't speak the language.

Booked a Travelzoo offer for a May trip to the island of Ischia in Italy. The travel company is Jetline. They have changed our flights three times already, extorted an additional $2,700 to book new flights, and rebooked our hotel from the one identified in the offer. We had added two nights in Sorrento and just learned that our hotel there is a 4-hour walk to Sorrento. A tour company that I booked privately for a tour of Pompeii won’t even pick us up at our hotel because it is too far away. Why would Travelzoo front a company that extorts, lies, evades, bait-and-switches and steals?

I received the top 20 email from Travelzoo like anyone else. I see an advertised vacation on Travelzoo’s website for $499 to Porto, Portugal through Jetline Vacations. I call, set up a date for my honeymoon, pay, and receive my receipt and information in my email. I sent an email inquiring about rescheduling fees. 8 days before leaving, on my wedding day, I get a call from Jerry. He said my flight was moved by 24 hours (no paper trail). With the new dates, I couldn’t go, so I asked for a refund. After much bickering, I was only offered a credit. After getting back from my wedding and having time to look through the terms and conditions, clause #7 states that I am in the right for a refund.

I purchased an Afternoon Tea Voucher for 2 people prior to first lockdown so was unable to use it, the voucher was extended to Sept 2021 but due to pandemic lasting 2 years and the fact that we live 100 miles away from venue (we were going to use it when holidaying there), work commitments, etc., we have been unable to use it. Today I went to book into the venue as we are returning to the area only to find voucher has expired. I rang Travelzoo about this. The person I spoke to was unsympathetic and unhelpful and said, "Well the venue has been open." I have paid in good faith and asked if it could be renewed but he wasn't interested, and tried to say the fault lay with me for not using it!!!!

Was unable to make the trip and had to cancel a few days before the trip due to illness during a pandemic. Since it was less than 7 days, we were charged a penalty fee which was the price we paid. So $685 is what we paid + $685 penalty. Plus we were told we couldn't use it at a later date. So $1300+ down the drain on top of the airfare. Never heard of such a practice and no one is willing to budge on their policy. Buyer beware if you use Travelzoo.

I got a voucher to the Maldives in Sept, 2020 during Covid but it's fully refundable. Finally able to travel there without restrictions and went to book and they only have 2 months available Aug/Sept and it expires Oct, 2022 for vouchers. It’s only 2 months into the year and they have already hit their limit for vouchers. They limit the amount people can use them apparently. They’ll refund if they can’t fit the dates- So basically they got a free loan for 2 years! Support just says- sorry for the misunderstanding. They do NOT tell you that there is a limit to how many vouchers these places will book ahead of time!! Total false advertising so don’t buy one of these unless you can try and book it immediately!

I love getting the Travelzoo emails and fantasizing about the holidays! I have to tell you, it's turned into a giant Nightmare! Travelzoo should not do business with or promote this company in my opinion. We have had by far the worst experience with Jetline Holidays. Jetline has today requested a refund for our flights from French Bee airline and are trying to charge us additional retail market value for the new flights we would like. We are already $3000+ into this vacation "package" (aka SCAM) and they are wanting to charge us an additional $1900+ to change our dates. I will never do a "bargain" trip again. The customer service is terrible. You have to deal with only your own travel agent. Ours name is Robyn; who has a thick accent and communicates only by phone. I honestly don't even want to go on this trip anymore. Jetline Holidays has turned this into a nightmare! DO NOT BOOK A VACATION WITH JETLINE HOLIDAYS!

I never do this, but I felt like I really needed to warn others about this scam. I booked through TravelZoo on Jetline Vacations, and the trip had to be cancelled due to Covid. Since then, they have refused to refund the money, call me back when they promised, or accommodate a rescheduling in any timely manner. I called them multiple times a week for several months, and still, nothing ever changed. I am going to try to file a claim in court to get my money back, but whether I get it or not, I just want others to know never to trust them. They make TravelZoo look terrible, and I'm honestly shocked that they would continue to use them as a vendor.

I purchased a Brewdog Beer & Cheese voucher just prior to the first lockdown. It was extended till November 2021 by Brewdog & Travelzoo claimed it was 'Fully Refundable'. I was not able to use it until after the second lockdown so when I contacted the pub, I was told on two occasions that it was too busy & I should try again when it was less busy. Because of other commitments, a couple of isolations, Christmas etc... I could not use it but I thought it would be safe because of the 'Fully Refundable' claim.

We booked a trip offered by Travelzoo through Jetline Holidays for a seven-day trip to Paris and London for September 2021. After we paid $3950.00 for three people for this trip, Jetline Holidays told us the airline cancelled our flight due to covid-19, but that we shouldn't worried because, even though they don't refund the money, we had until December 31, 2021, to book another trip to be taken during 2022. When I called in the beginning of December to book our new trip, they wanted $3,000.00 more, arguing that the airplane fare had increased. After I told them that they were delusional if they thought I was going to pay a total of $7,000.00 for the trip, they started emailing me "offers". They went from asking an additional amount of $3,000.00, to $2000.00, then $1,850.00, $1,000.00. I said no.

We trusted Travelzoo to research their recommended vacations. A beautiful trip to Bali with 100% refund if you can’t go due to Covid restrictions. *** Jetline Vacations & Travelzoo will say anything to get your money. *** Bali is requiring a 14 day quarantine in their quarantine hotel. I’m not flying all the way to Bali to stay locked up in a government hotel only to fly home 10 days later for gobs of money. Jetline says they will not refund my money. They require I reschedule and I have to pay more to do that because the prices have gone up since we booked. We just want our money back.

Booked a trip to Russia through Travelzoo with one of their partners Exoticca. It was one of their top 20 deals of the week. Long story short, we were in Poland (from the US) about to travel to Russia on an Exoticca fully paid trip. Exoticca notified us less than 24 hours before leaving that the trip was cancelled. Refunded approximately 1/3 of what we paid. Spoke to Travelzoo and they were absolutely no help in recovering the rest and continue to highlight Exoticca on their website. Exoticca has done this or similar to many people and yet Travelzoo continues to highlight them. Very disappointing, I thought Travelzoo cared more about their brand.

We've used TravelZoo for 5 vacations so far (Maldives 2x, Thailand, St Vincent, Aruba) and have been VERY pleased. But keep in mind, ALL of these were vacations where we paid TravelZoo DIRECTLY and were with REPUTABLE, WELL-KNOWN hotels or companies (like Affordable World Tours or CheapCarribean). I don't know why TravelZoo continues to allow scammers like JetLine and Exoticca to offer deals when TravelZoo KNOWS they are not reputable. If your booking is not directly with TravelZoo (where they collect the $$ from you) then be sure to Google the travel agent/company FIRST.

Beware: Travelzoo doesn't warn customers of risk of loss and won't offer a refund when its travel partner absconds with your advance payment. Travelzoo promoted a Thailand trip in one of its "Top 20" emails sent to subscribers in December 2019. The Travelzoo "deal expert" for the trip promoted it as one of the best deals they've seen, and the email included a link to the Travelzoo webpage, which had another link to the actual travel provider, Phoenix Holidays. Trusting Travelzoo's recommendation, I booked the trip for Feb 25, 2020 and paid $2,813.