Update, UTO rescheduled my trip after I wrote my first review (below) but unfortunately they are up to the same tricks as before. I was scheduled with my spouse to go on the Thailand/China trip leaving on March 25,2025 and I was told that my trip was canceled because I did not pay another added on fee. I NEVER received any emails, notifications or any indication as to a due date for this final added on fee. I contacted UTO more than a month prior to this trip in the hopes of paying this fee as I only learned that it was due when I realized that I locked out of my account. I was told that my trip was canceled and I tried for hours to get UTO to work with me to pay this added on fee so that we can take this trip and I was consistently given the runaround and told that I my trip was canceled and I lost ALL OF THE MONEY that I have already paid. I asked for a manager to call me, it has been over a week and as expected I have never received a call. At this point I just want a refund but they do not offer refunds. I'd love to take the trip but unfortunately UTO has a habit of finding sneaky ways to cancel trips and keep your money. This has been the absolute worst experience and I would really like to attend my trip but at this point I am not even sure that this is a legit company. Below is my previous review of UTO.
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Do NOT book with UTO. I booked a China/Thailand trip with UTO Vacations. UTO sent me some extra paperwork related to COVID at the very last minute about the trip and they did not leave me any realistic amount of time to submit the paperwork before they canceled my trip. I attempted to reschedule my trip. I spoke with two agents who both assured me that I would be able to rebook my trip or receive credits, I was told that I had time to make this decision, I even have transcripts of these conversations and when I attempted to get it rescheduled I was told that I could not reschedule the trip, that they would not offer me trip credits and that they would not refund my money without offering me any alternative. I spent hours on the chat line trying to reason with this company and explaining that it is essentially fraud when you do this and they kept giving me an answer saying that there is nothing that they could offer me. I am out $598 and I can't believe that a company can just fraud customers out of their hard-earned money. I DO NOT want this to happen to anyone else so I am writing this review so that other travelers and customers will not have to experience what I have experienced with this company. I am going to report this company to the Better Business Bureau as well as my credit card company for fraud. This is unacceptable. I tried everything to get UTO Vacations to work with me but they refused. I utilize travel companies and have traveled all over the world and this is by far the worst and most unprofessional experience I have ever had with a travel company. This company really should not be in business and I will do my part to expose the truth.
Signed, Dr. Carlos Richardson

If you are a victim of UTOVacarion scam, contact.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UTOvacationvictims/comments/1d8wse2/new_moderation_for_rutovacationvictims_class/

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.

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.