Ukio Anmeldelser 

I almost never write reviews but I am making a point of writing this because of just how horrible this company is to deal with.

Please do not give UKIO a cent of your money until you've read through the countless reviews like this one - most 5 star reviews are fake accounts. They are a deceitful sales front with a completely siloed and anonymised backend who have zero accountability or respect for your funds.

I engaged Ukio in March 2026 and was contacted by their sales agent on WhatsApp (their preferred channel). During negotiations she promised anything necessary just to agree a deal - i.e. fixed rent / utilities terms, subletting permissions, contract registration with Finanças, retrospectively adding tenants to the contract and ensured all agreed terms would be reflected in the contract.

Once negotiated, she advised that a deposit of €7850 would be required to secure the booking and initiate the contract. Twice I advised I was not comfortable making payment before the final contract, however, she advised this was the only way to produce the contract in Ukio's system.

Numerous times she attempted to induce a credit card payment, advising it was required despite this not being listed anywhere in the contract. First warning should have been here, as on attempting to pay by card it tripped Revolut's 3DS security warning - a big red flag.

I naively chose bank transfer believing it to be safer and deposited the €7850 requested. Once paid, she confirmed receipt and forwarded me the contract the next day, which is where the real side of Ukio began to show.

The contract sent at 3pm the next day showed a higher rent amount, unfixed utilities with additional usage charges, no mention of retrospectively adding another tenant to the contract or that the contract would be registered with Finanças and clear terms that prohibited subletting.

She then disappeared 'On Leave' for 5 days right up until the day before my contract was due to start - supposedly leaving my matter with 'legal teams' and 'other colleagues' to be resolved.

What followed was no less than 20 contact attempts via phone, WhatsApp and email to at least 6 different channels (Sales, Guest, General, Accounts, Sales Members & Sales Managers).

ZERO tangible response was provided to resolve the matter over the next week. No callbacks, no email resolutions, no updated contract, just a loop of WhatsApp "we're escalating this" messages to stall so that they have a defensible claim to your funds once you move in and physically initiate the contract.

Recognising this, I sent a firm email before the move in date advising that the booking was made under invalid and misleading contract terms and that the deposit would need to be refunded immediately as I would not be proceeding.

She then came back "from leave" and at 6pm the day before move in, confirmed that the booking had been cancelled, not before having the nerve to get defensive over the issues I had with depositing €8k only to receive false contract terms.

I provided banking details and she advised that the cancellation was "done" and that "a full refund had been processed". I asked if proof of payment would be sent to me and she advised it was automatic, yet all I received was a generic cancellation email.

I made 20+ attempts to engage Ukio over the next week (phone, email, WhatsApp) to advise the urgent nature of the refund, yet again received only circular responses routing me back to generic email addresses.

A week later I was told the refund was "done" again, yet she then asked for bank details again - which I sent AGAIN. Another week later after 20+ more attempts to call, email and get clarity over the refund, I received a vague anonymised email from Ukio Accounts saying "the payment was made but there is a bank delay".

The first meaningful response only came after I escalated the matter by filing an official fraud report with Revolut and submitting a police complaint — at which point the refund was processed within 12hrs along with a bogus email screenshot "from the bank" with redacted address details and a deposit receipt that clearly showed the payment was only initiated after the above action was taken, despite repeated lies that it "had been processed".

To date, I have still never spoken to anyone from this company on the phone despite 30+ calls and have barely had an email response. They hide direct contacts of key personnel and restrict you to deceitful WhatsApp comms to cover tracks whilst saying anything to take your money and then disappear.

Be careful!

UPDATE - Do not believe the performative response below by Ukio. They literally spent the last 3 months trying to have my review removed for defamation and only posted this response once trustpilot rejected their claim. This is nothing more than dishonest PR waffle.

I rarely write negative reviews. Ukio has earned one.

For a two-month furnished rental in Madrid, Ukio charged nearly three months of combined deposit and rent to my credit card before any tenancy was confirmed. They then demanded three months of bank statements — for a two-month stay. After providing every document requested, I was informed I did not meet their financial solvency threshold. They delivered this verdict while holding the majority of my money and without any real response from a person. It was an automated response without any real justification.

What followed was extraordinary. Ukio did not respond to emails. They did not return voicemails. My lawyer and I visited their office three times in person attempting to resolve the matter. Three times. This is not a communications gap — it is a complete and deliberate breakdown in basic customer accountability.

After three weeks of this, and with my lawyer formally involved, Ukio finally agreed to proceed. By that point, the specific apartment for which I had paid a deposit had been rented to someone else.

To summarize: they took my money, rejected me on spurious financial grounds while keeping it, ignored every attempt at contact for weeks, required three in-person office visits from me and my lawyer before anyone bothered to respond, and ultimately failed to deliver the apartment I had paid for.

I cannot imagine a more comprehensive failure from a company that charges premium prices and presents itself as a professional operator. Avoid.

Update: Ukio has since responded to this review. Their response contains factual inaccuracies, I have addressed their response point by point below:

First, a basic factual error: I am not moving to a new city. I am a resident of Madrid. This was a two-month rental in the city where I already live. The fact that your reply opens with this assumption suggests it was not written with any knowledge of my actual situation — which, sadly, is consistent with my entire experience with Ukio.

"Mandatory verification process" — I complied with every document request, including three months of bank statements for a two-month stay. After full compliance, I was informed I did not meet your financial solvency threshold. You had already charged the majority of the rental to my credit card. You could have simply charged the remaining amount.

"We processed your refund as soon as we met in our office" — this is factually incorrect. There was no meeting. My lawyer and I visited your office three times and were never received. On the final visit, a staff member told us someone would reach out. That is not a meeting. Ukio did not respond to emails or voicemails throughout this entire period. The refund came only after three weeks of being ignored — not as the result of a productive office meeting that never took place.

"Alternative apartment options" — the original apartment I paid a deposit for was no longer available because this process dragged on for three weeks. Being offered a replacement is not a resolution.

"We respect your decision to decline further support" — after this experience, I think most people would understand that decision.

I appreciate that you've taken the time to reply, but a response that contains factual inaccuracies about the events in question is not an improvement on silence. I hope future customers read both this review and your response carefully.

The company is doing super well, always responde to me and help me with my problems and questions. The only thing is the cleaning is not that organized and you can’t put to earlier and you have to pay everytime and not fixed!
The person that attends me is super atencious and always in alert

Fast responses, good communication

Allison and Sara were so helpful when my apartment lost hot water. They had a technician come a few hours after my initial communication. It's the benefit of having everything handled for you while you settle in to a new place - will definitely stay at Ukio again.

We recently stayed at the Fratta apartment in Madrid and it was an absolute dream. The space was stunning and exactly what we were looking for. The location was perfect for exploring the city, and the entire process with Ukio was incredibly smooth from start to finish. We couldn't have asked for a better experience!

It’s a great service I had from this company it’s all about customer service
The ways they handled my stay was absolutely amazing
Big up for the top notch work
Really recommend to everyone

I absolutely love using Ukio for my rentals, the apartments are always very clean, very stylish and have all the facilities you could need from an apartment to make it feel like home.

On top of this the staff are always very attentive and fast to reply, whether it be a WiFi issue or an appliance problem or just general questions they always go above and beyond to help, especially Mel in bookings and Kayo. They are always so nice and patient with me and my family. I am on my 3rd year of booking with them now and I don’t look anywhere else.

Kayo and the Ukio Guest Experience team are really quick in solving any issues with the apartment. And very friendly on top. 👍

Our move in was super easy but also complicated. It was very easy to find the apartment and the check in instructions were simple and effective.

When we moved in we had quite a few issues but with the help of the UKIO team, they were fixed very quickly. The staff at UKIO have been nothing but amazing. Patricia has helped out in every way possible and has made our move in so much easier. The same goes for every member of the team

The Ukio team changed my access code, so I couldn't get into my apartment. Even though I pointed this out in the morning, the door wasn't unlocked until 19 hours later. We had to spend the night outside. It was the worst day of my life.

Patrícia foi extremamente atenciosa, rápida no atendimento e resolveu a questão em poucos minutos. Está de parabéns pela excelência no atendimento.

Excelente atención. Fácil tramitología. Hacen la vida sencilla a las personas. Mucha calidad humana y empatía con clientes en condición de situaciones especiales.

Avoid Ukio in Portugal.

UPDATE 10/27/2026 - UKIO, you still have not reached out to me personally to address my frustrations. I would still like to talk to your management team--something I attempted to do several times--to discuss why approving my stay two days prior to check in was not at all reasonable while I was traveling with pets in a foreign country. As a reminder, my issue is with the fact that you did not inform me of your "approval within 48 hours prior to check in" policy until AFTER I put my deposit down. This was unfair, predatory, and to keep my deposit after I canceled is not moral. Are you really interested in making this right for me? My primary contact was never unavailable. Conversely, I was not able to get anyone from UKIO online for the 24 hours after I booked. And now, many months later, I am still waiting for you to reach out to me to address this with me personally. Do the right thing and refund my deposit. I await your response.

UKO, regarding your response: your response attempts to put future customers at ease…but you did not make this right for me. I hope you do reach out to me directly. Seems you’re holding the line regarding your cancellation policy. AMEX billed me the $4500 I disputed twice. Consumers should continue to proceed with caution.

Original post: I went on a friend’s recommendation to book with Ukio. I found a place, read the policy, paid for the apartment.

After paying I got a text via WhatsApp saying that they would let me know at least 48 hours prior to check in whether or not I was “approved” to move in. This was nowhere to be found in their policy they sent me prior to booking. I am traveling with cats. It’s hard enough to find a place to live here, let alone with pets. I asked several times “can you show me in your policy where it says this?” My rep said “ You have 24 hours to cancel…don’t worry, you will get approved…I asked for this to be expedited“. I told her how unrealistic it would be for me to find a place to live in 48 hours, especially since I’m traveling with my cats. If they said to me 48 hours prior to move in: “Sorry, you can’t move in”… We would be homeless.

I told my rep: Please expedite this request, I would not be able to turn on a dime and find a place in 48 hours. She reassured me. Then went on vacation. I emailed the company. No response. I called. Not a working number.

I found another place and took it. I had to.

When I got back in touch with my rep she said they would keep security deposit and 1st month because I was canceling prior to 31 days before check in and after 24 hours. “I really think you should keep it.”

€4500 was not refunded because I didn’t cancel within 24 hours. I booked on a Friday. No response from them on a weekend.

Ultimately, I asked her to cancel. I had to. I had to have a place.

And wouldn’t you know…Miraculously, right after I send the cancel request, they email me with an approval.

Zero integrity.

Please refund my security deposit and 1st month. You should inform customers well in advance of taking their money, if you have a policy that says they potentially won’t know whether they have a place to live or not all the way up to 48 hours prior to check in. It’s not fair. It breeds mistrust.

My booking number for your reference is 9EC512845CC7 and I was supposed to stay in BANYAK in Lisbon.

I would appreciate if someone would contact me about this. I did not get a response at all from the email I sent to ar at ukio.com on March 27 at 2:14 pm. And the number you have listed on your invoice you sent me is a non working number.

Thanks in advance for making this right for me.

Update from the 30 day refund process: these are not serious people. Every email
Is inconsistent, with no attention to detail, kind of dismissive and not helpful at all. Per policy they have 30 days for refund. In my previous case, they refunded within 2 days of checking out. When I asked for a similar flexibility after the second stay, I got all sorts of unhelpful emails including an increase 31 day. Lesson learnt I will not trust my money with this company again.

This is my second stay with Ukio in Paris. We were off to a rough start, especially after a sub-optimal 1st apartment experience but Ukio staff went above and beyond to make sure my stay is nice. The apartment and amenities were nice and clean, the service was nice and they showed great attention to detail to my requests (especially after I’ve communicated my discontent on the first round).

I'm living in a UKİO apartment for nearly 2 years and its like my home now and in a new country with everything can have trouble, with Ukio team it has never been. They always on the other side of the phone, wp quickly and get in touch to see how they help - and always solve as quick as possible and never make you in trouble. So I think I will keep on being in Ukio home and advise to anyone starts a new life in a new country or for a short-term in a comfortable home having everything you need.

E la seconda volta che uso case di Ukio, la prima a Parigi e devo dire che mi trovo veramente bene. Lo stile è l’accoglienza riservata sono eccellenti, niente è lasciato al caso e le posizioni delle case sono sempre azzeccate. E poi in ogni caso c’è sempre un team di assistenza pronto ad intervenire per qualsiasi esigenza. Insomma non ti lasciano solo e ti secondo fino alla fine del soggiorno. Grazie Ukio!

amazing support and care for the clients; special thanks to Kayo from me, she deserves the raise😆

Excelente agencia, sin duda siempre será mi primera opción para mis próximas estancias en Madrid.
Alquilé el apartamento "Haneo" (3 meses) por la Plaza Castilla, sin duda la ubicación es inmejorable, el apartamento aunque es pequeño, cuenta con el espacio suficiente para el propósito de mi viaje. Literalmente solo entré y salí con mi maleta. El servicio por parte de Ukio fué excelente, tuve unos pequeños incidentes con la cerradura de la puerta principal y con una pequeña fuga de la lavadora, lo reporté y en un par de días ya tenía a un técnico de Ukio reparándolos.
La atención por parte del servicio a clientes es excelente, siempre estuvieron pendientes de que disfrutara de mi estancia y de resolver mis dudas.
Lo que se ve en las fotos y videos, es lo que recibes y aún más, vamos, que no me hizo falta ni papel sanitario :-). Todo lo que te prometen en el contrato lo cumplen a carta cabal, la fianza me fue reembolsada en tiempo y forma en su totalidad. Aclaro, soy muy organizado y dejé todo tal como lo recibí, no esperes lo mismo, si generas desperfectos.
Estoy muy agradecido con Ukio y su personal por todas la atenciones, sin duda en mi próxima estancia por Madrid, serán mis "socios de viaje".
¡Gracias, Ukio!