Pat
GBIf I could give a ZERO it would go to… If I could give a ZERO it would go to this company. It is the worst on so many levels. Shady business and you know you are hitting a nerve when a representative of the company calls and tells you "to do the right thing" and take down a negative review. We gave up as and lost our money as we did not trust travelling with them. (UTO-Ugly Travel Organization)
Molly Ekstrand
GBDon't upgrade your room, decent experience, but... We did the marvelous Phuket Land Package in Nov '23. Communication was good from UTO and airport pick-up was no problem. DON'T UPGRADE your Hotel room! It was the same as the other couple that didn't!! Could've saved $400! Our hotel was changed just before we arrived. While the new hotel was fine, it was in an isolated area on a high traffic road, virtually nothing within walking distance. The guide who picked us up and did the city tour was contracted. She was fine. The (free) Old Phuket Tour was more of a high pressure sales event with Pearls, Cashews, and Gems. The boat tours were great, highly recommend. Hindsight, we probably could have coordinated this on our own with more research, chosen a better hotel location. We didn't hate our experience, no regrets, but wanted to give an honest review.
customer
GBEvery hotel we had was a long way from… Every hotel we had was a long way from the cities and had subpar food. We paid a mandatory tip and assumed it would be for our travel guide, who was fantastic, they told me not to worry about where the tip goes. 240 for two of us. We also paid for 2 visas as it was required last July. By January we didn't need one. I called twice and they said they would check thier "agencies". No reply. Very unethical company. By the way their add ons are more expensive than doing it yourself. The plus is our trip to Turkey was wonderful because of our excellent tour guide.
PATRICIA
GBUTO sold us trips that never happened and refused to rebook or refund UTO sold us a trip to China and Thailand and made us pay a year in advance. This was all post Covid but when China airfares went up they cancelled the trip. But they kept advertising it for new people. They would not rebook us but we could have a credit only. All other trips now are more than double any tour operators so we would have to pay an extra $6k. I wrote to the BBB several times and then have gotten so many negative reviews that we should start a class action suit! We lost $2k.
MaryJo Walker
GBShady Business Practices I booked a trip with 3 others. 2 of my companions failed to send their passports on time. We were all canceled. Credit is worthless when the only thing it can be applied to is trips that cost 10-20 times what the original trip cost. There are disclaimers for everything they do- not responsible for emails that go to junk (and they use multiple addresses, so even though I mark them as safe, another comes through from somebody else.) I was the only one to receive correspondence. I was baited for months with "sold out" tags on similar discounted trips. They were working on coordinating more. Now, my $800 trip is $8000. And it's several thousand less at any other reputable agency. It was odd that the passports needed to be turned in 30 days before the final payment. It was odd that the people who didn't send their passports in weren't notified. We are stuck with credits that are worthless. Run.