People to People Ambassador Programs

I am one the students who went on the trip this year from California. I had a good time with MOST OF THE STUDENTS but I had a terrible experience with MOST OF THE LEADERS. I had a anxiety attack on the trip and they since on during the trip followed me without telling me, made me sleep in a room with them for two nights in a row. They talked to me like I was crazy and did not treat me like I was a regular person. I would not reccomend people to people for students with anxiety or panic attacks or anything that could cause them to watch you like a hawk unrightfully.

I dreamed of traveling in Japan for 7 years when I was a kid. I saved all my money until when I was 17 my parents were able to send me with P2P to Japan. I always wanted to warn people about my experience with this company, but I was too scared to as a child.
I was very nearly sexually assaulted on my trip with P2P. The staff was extremely unprofessional, and on the 2nd night we ended up in the red light district, lost. There were prostitutes and hosts everywhere, and while the staff were scrambling to figure out where our dinner spot was, an old pervert locked eyes with me and started coming for me, hands out, reaching for my privates. I was frozen in fear, but luckily the boys in our group noticed and fended him off. The old pervert tried to get at several other girls in our group before the boys got him to go away. The staff did absolutely nothing for us, and dismissed our concerns.
I wanted to tell my parents and have P2P answer for their negligence, but I was too scared to tell them that I had almost been assaulted.
That's not where my complaints end, though. The next day I asked my roommate what time the group was meeting, and she told me 8, so I took a shower. Turns out the meeting time was 7, but she didn't think to let me know. The staff sat me down, reprimanded me, and made me write apology letters to each member of the staff. As a 17 year old, I was terrified.
Several days later, we broke up into small groups to explore a shopping mall. My group members played an arcade game while I watched. I was anxious to get back in time but I couldn't leave my group members. We got back 2 minutes late. The staff said my group members were free to go, but I had to stay with them, be reprimanded again, and shadow the staff for half of the next day to "learn my lesson."
I could go on, but the way they treated me during my trip, that was supposed to be my dream come true, completely ruined the experience for me. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.

Travelers beware: Never use this company. You will never get your money back. My son registered for Celtic Culture trip for summer of 2020. The trip was cancelled for the year due to Covid. We had a choice to transfer to the next year with $350 fee. We paid the fee and transferred. The 2021 trip was cancelled again. This time, we chose to cancel our registration. We were offered 75% money back (close to $5000) and 25% voucher for future usage. Since March this year, we had numerous phone calls with people to people. They first promised check to us. After several months of waiting, they sent us to their payment processing company to get the money directly. After that failed, they asked us to directly dispute with our credit card company, which also failed because the transactions were in 2019. Now they are not responding to me at all!

They cancelled the trip to Japan due to COVID- I completely understand. However, five months have passed since we paid for the trip and still no refund for the cancelled trip. They also threatening to keep 25% of the total cost for administrative purposes. I am not sure if we will get a refund at all. Do not trust this organization.

This program has a cute marketing scheme. They approach teachers to "nominate" children for the program to create the illusion of selectivity. It is really just a clever way of generating a mailing list. They invoke Eisenhower's name as founder though he actually founded the non-profit organization. This is a for-profit organization.

The administrative arm of the organization is inept. As a "nominated" child, our son was automatically "accepted." He was interested in going with a friend who was also "nominated." The friend enrolled by mail, and the people-to-people office lost the enrollment form. We applied on-line, but the web page was unable to accept his pin number. After 30 minutes on the phone talking with a nice but ineffective representative, we decided that an organization that could not manage the simple process of enrolling students could not be trusted to ensure the safety of our child.

My kid participated in the People to People program in 2013. Although my kid loved Italy, I did feel that there was some things that were not completely right. For example, at the orientation they kept telling us that millions in scholarship monies go unused. We applied for numerous offers on their website, but not a one ever materialized!
Secondly, they make it sound exclusive, but I felt that every kid whose parents have the money to pay the fees, is in!
Finally, my kid told me that her leader was a bit bi-polar. Not what I want to hear when I have dropped almost 8K in cash!
Needless to say, we did not participate in the program again. Recently, I have found other student travel companies with much better financial alternatives.

Went to orientation, signed up. Four weeks later no word from Representative. I call to cancel because the orientation said there would be an interview and someone would contact us. When I called to cancel they charged me 95 dollars out of the $400 I gave them. They went on to scold me that I did not call them. I am NOT going to trust an organization to have my child travel with them if they cannot follow through on the application process and then charge me for me holding them accountable. RUN...don't walk from People to People. They may have had a good reputation in the past but not anymore.

I have been going through their administrative nightmare for the past six months. Resending documents 3,4,5 times. No response from staff. VERY mismanaged!

our son just returned from 17 days in China - fabulous experience with a well-run organization!