UTO Vacations Cancelled my trip twice due to COVID and refused to refund me. Richmond Hill Ontario

My wife and I love to travel. We have seen the world. Covid-19 has been terrible for the industry, but when vacations are cancelled, and hotels, in some cases, closed forever, I expect a refund. In Early 2019 we booked a trip to China thru UTO Vacations. We had traveled with this Travelzoo recommended top 20 bargain travel company twice before.

If you live close to NYC it's cheaper than going to the beach for a week. However, don't forget the expense of your visa (UTO sells them for $250), and the stiff add on mandatory tip. If you purchase a connecting flight, like we did this time, expect to pay a higher price for that as well. From previous experience, if we did not purchase some side trips, we expected to be left on the tour bus for 90 min, rather than taken back to our hotel.

To the point. Our trip, paid for in early 2019 was cancelled in early 2020. They rebooked us for October 2020, and cancelled that as well. At that point, I enlisted the help of Travelzoo, who have so far been very helpful, and asked UTO Vacations for a refund for me. They told me if I cancelled our trip (I told them they cancelled it twice) I would be fined more than 33%, $1200.00 of my $3578.00. I said no thanks.

They insisted on giving me a 30 month voucher, so they could hold my money a lot longer. I explained my Chinese visa expires in 14 months. I reminded UTO Vacations that they have not paid for our flights, hotels, or ground transportation, but are simply holding our money. They are asking for multiple times the profit they make on their bargain trip for my reasonable cancellation request.