RIU Hotels Reviews

Displacing my family for several hours during a brief 2.5-day stay was unacceptable, and not a reasonable accommodation. That their organization viewed this disruption as an appropriate solution for paying guests revealed a concerning disregard for customer experience and basic hospitality. I have never encountered such dismissive and inadequate service recovery. Their response compounded the original failure and reflected poorly on their brand’s commitment to guest satisfaction. I expected accountability, not deflection, and genuine resolution, not inconvenience disguised as accommodation. I will never stay at another Riu resort.

The adult pool area smelled like vomit and wasn’t cleaned properly. The bathrooms near the pool had liquid soap spilled across the counter that was left untouched for days. At the morning coffee station, flying bugs were coming out of the beer tap. I reported it and even stuffed it with a napkin—and the next day, it was still there. The nightly entertainment was weak—you’re better off heading to the main strip for a better experience. RIU Aruba has the potential to be incredible, but poor service, hygiene issues, and a lack of accountability from the staff made this a frustrating and disappointing stay. I would not return.

My client was left with a total financial loss. I’ve made multiple formal escalations to RIU’s customer service, corporate offices, and investor contacts, and have received no response whatsoever. RIU’s failure to honor their written communication or even respond afterward is incredibly disappointing. Travelers should be aware that this company may not stand by its word, even in documented cases.

I asked to move to a safer hotel and they denied and said I need to rebook at a different hotel for that same day but they only one ONE hotel in California so that means I need to rebook my flight in order to move hotels. PLUS they won’t transfer to a new hotel. They’re telling me to spend more money at RIU booking a different hotel in another state for that same weekend and then, just maybe, they will refund my first hotel booking. Unacceptable. Refundable or not, this company is advertising a California hotel that is susceptible to collapse and they are forcing me to stay here. If I die here in May 2025 due to an earthquake, please take this as acknowledgment that this company forced me to stay here!!

There is NO CARE OR SERVICE for people who work hard and do their best to work out a resolution. The manager declined the waiver sent for refund and declined to do anything on this matter. My family is now out of a vacation and $3k (I also cancelled my flight and took a loss there as well since they advised I could cancel still). Because I was MISINFORMED by THEIR agent I am not suffering a significant loss. Absolute fraud and horrible SERVICE!!! Disgusting they could treat me this way.

It took us 12 hours and 3 visits to lobby info desk (and waiting in line for 15 minutes each time) to get an extra pillow because one of the ones in our room smelled. There are 6 or 7 restaurants, but all except 1 are merely buffets. And at the one al-la-carte restaurant (the steakhouse) there isn’t personalized service; you’re treated like a cog on an assembly line. Service in the bars is reasonably good though. Pool side servers were around for only 2 of the 7 days we were there. There is a great selection of pools and a fantastic beach with lots of available seating in the shade if desired. Although listed as a 5 star resort, this is a 3 star at best in reality.

And, unfortunately, the list of negatives… This what was advertised as a ‘connecting’ balcony. As we were on the first floor there was really no ‘balcony’ per se and it did not connect with the other room. In addition, the mosquitoes in the small hallway space between the rooms as well as in the rooms themselves and throughout the internal hotel area of the resort were everywhere.

*On the first day upon arriving, the outside suite door became stuck, and we were stuck within our 2 rooms. After calling the front desk and waiting 45 minutes I had to call again and was told maintenance was handling something else, but I explained that to trapped inside of your room with no exit and wanting to leave was a big deal and we needed someone to get us out of these rooms. They said they would send someone yet again. Another 30 minutes passed before maintenance came. They spent a full 5 minutes trying to use brute strength before they were able to get the door pushed open and we were never able to shut it fully again as they agreed that it completely stuck.

The steakhouse is open air so it has no air conditioning, there were large moths and flying bugs everywhere, and there were 2 raccoons walking around looking for scraps. Pool chairs were not clean, even after telling the attendant and saying he would come back over because whatever pink stuff was stuck on the outside of the chair was attracting the bees. He did not come over with anything to clean it - and the bees were everywhere - you could not put a drink down without a bee crawling into it. We went to the sister resort next-door to use the pool and even though it was lively we left because of how filthy the water was. It had lots dead bugs, live bugs (had to pull one from my sister’s ponytail), and much floating debris.

The main complaint I do have, however, is one that I made several times a day beginning with the first day of the trip. I even asked to speak with a manager or supervisor, but apparently there is none, which doesn’t make sense to me. This would be that when placed in a room with a separate small toilet room and open sink area in the room itself, the glassed-in shower should have the door installed and not left with the holes in the wall where it had previously been screwed in place.

I was told on the first day that maintenance would be on it. When I returned to my room that evening after dinner was still no door and when I called the front desk, they had no maintenance request written down and had to put it in-after telling me they already done so earlier that day. They then told me that some of the showers just don’t have doors. But I told them that there were screws for the doors and this one should have a door just like I told them the day before. I called again the next day and stop by the front desk and they said maintenance was on it but again no door that night.

I continued to go unshowered because I was not showering in front of my brother. And the next day I had to miss the night time show in order to shower because there was still no door even though I was continued to be told that maintenance was on it and getting the door from storage. This happened each day and still no door. The day before I was leaving, someone at the front desk offered to switch my room – I explained that with us leaving the morning, we were not going to move all of our stuff to a new room and it just told me that they never were actually going to give us a bathroom door during our stay and I told them as well that I do not like being pulled along like that and appreciate the truth upfront.

I have never been at a hotel where they have taken the door off of a private shower area, not replaced it, and put paying guests in there and then misrepresented to them the entire stay that it was going to be fixed when it was never going to be at all. I told them the entire time that I was with my brother and we were not showering in front of each other. I have traveled all over the world, and I have never been in such a situation. And for those with door keys not working, One of the times I was at the front desk complaining about the bathroom situation there was someone there who was checking out complaining that they had to come to the desk at least three times every day of their stay because of their door keys not working.

At that point I tried to change my flight home to next day, but could not get a transfer to airport. The entire property is filthy, broken lights in the path, cig butts everywhere, trash, leftover food and booze left all over property and the staff does not care. Everyone I spoke to was disappointed. When you try to file complaint w/ RIU, they insist you complete this form, but after trying to hit enter 5 separate occasions, the form will not send. So no complaint can be filed.

Room cleanliness was subpar, with pillows lacking inner covers and a lingering sweat odor. While the food was acceptable, the restaurant service was lacking unless tipped generously. The beach, although beautiful, was frequently marked with a red flag, making swimming challenging for half the year. Regrettably, I don't foresee returning to any RIU hotel based on this experience.

The next day I complained about a very bad experience and was met with a poor attitude and indifference. They just didn't seem to care. Upon arriving back home, I wrote to their complaints department. After some back and forth, the Riu agreed to process a refund for €110, half my nightly cost. Per their request I sent them my bank info so they could process a wire transfer. That was over two weeks ago. To date, they have not processed the refund. The excuses so far have been, it will happen this Sunday. Our system is broken and can't wire money to the United States. We don't issue credit card refunds. Talk about gaslighting. Things happen like alarms and construction, I understand that, although not open electrical closets. It's what's done about it that matters. With the Riu, what was done about it has been nothing but lies and excuses. Excuses so offensive to one's intelligence, they're laughable. Where is this company's integrity?

At 7:50 am on the morning after the second night (Saturday, September 9) the Fire Alarm went off for the third time. We called reception asking what was going on and did not receive much of an answer other than they were supposedly checking on it. The next two nights we encountered the same exact thing. But on the fifth morning (Tuesday, September 12) when the fire alarm went off for the third time at 6:00 am, I tried to call reception and got a busy signal. I put on my clothes and walked to reception in the front lobby. There were two Riu staff members at the reception desk and one customer talking with them. The staff told the other customer that they thought the problem was someone smoking in their room. They told me they thought it was smoke in the kitchen being generated when they started cooking.

One of the staff even said they were going to go to the kitchen to disconnect the alarm so it wouldn’t go off!!! I explained to the two staff employees that not finding out what was causing the problem with the fire alarm system was conditioning people to ignore the alarms. That if there were a real fire at the resort, many people might not even attempt to leave their rooms. Later that morning after breakfast, I went back to the lobby to speak to the hotel/resort manager. I stood outside the Manager’s office several minutes before a man asked if he could help me. I asked to speak to the manager and apparently, he was the manager (Jose **). I explained to him that we were tired of being woken up several times during the last five nights by the Fire Alarm and asked why the problem had not been resolved.

I also explained that this was no vacation and that we were going to have to go home to get some rest. He said something about the fact that he had just learned about the problem from other customers. Apparently, his staff had not made him aware of the problem (no chain of command process). He mentioned that he was going to call the engineer that morning. I asked why the engineer had not been called after the first night to resolve this problem. At about 10:00 am that morning, the electricity went off in the resort for about four minutes. Then the Fire Alarm went off for three short intervals.

I called reception later that day and asked if the problem had been resolved. During the phone conversation, I found out that the Hotel Manager had been off on the previous Saturday and Sunday. Which could explain why nothing had been done to resolve this situation. I thought this manager was very young and inexperienced to run a large resort such as the Hotel Riu Palace Punta Cana. Frankly, I was appalled that no one who works for Riu took this seriously enough to act on this major annoying and inconvenient problem that caused us to suffer this kind of treatment for five nights. We also encountered the following other problems during our stay:

6. One night at about 10:20 pm, housekeeping woke us up by pounding (not knocking) very loudly on our room door to deliver towels, which we did not request.

2. We had other guests move our towels and personal belongings that were on our chase lounges around the adult pool one day while we were at lunch. We have experienced this same problem at other resorts because the resort sold Day Passes to locals or cruise ship passengers. I enquired at the front desk if Riu does the same thing. I found out that the Riu Palace Punta Cana offers a one-night stay to citizens of the Dominican Republic for $121.00. I understand why you do this to increase your room occupancy rate, but maybe they should be told to have some respect for other people’s things.

I filed a complaint with Riu Hotels as soon as we returned home to the USA and was extremely disappointed in the reply I received from Riu. Their explanation regarding the fire alarm system being “regularly” maintained was not true during our stay. I feel that the maintenance contractor should have been called the day after the first time the alarm went off during the night. I don’t think Riu took this situation very seriously and feel that they were almost saying I lied about the fire alarm system problem. Trust me, I did not exaggerate the issue. We asked for a refund of our lodging and only received 500 points added to our Riu Class account (500 points=$50 USD). This was not even sufficient for the inconvenience(s) we endured during our stay. I would not recommend Riu hotels to anyone again!

- [ ] When arrived at 1pm Monday my room wasn’t ready until 4:45 pm.

- [ ] After finally getting in the room I was extremely hot and the room temperature was 76.1 degrees. I tried to adjust the thermostat but it wouldn’t change. After calling maintenance he stated the thermostat was locked at 22 degrees Cel he adjusted it to 20 degrees Cel =68 degrees F but the temp in the room didn’t change at all after about 3 hours. I called again because still no change in the room and I was constantly sweating and uncomfortable through the night.

- [ ] After five attempts of getting the air fixed in both rooms maintenance confirmed that the entire section we were in had troubles with the A/C (we both had junior suites). So finally in the evening of day two they moved us to new rooms. One was in the same section and one in another building. I asked at the front desk of the room in the same section will have the same issue. I asked if that room temperature had been checked and I was told yes by maintenance and a supervisor. Negative that room was the same temp as my last rooms just two floors above.

- [ ] Also the refrigerator in my room had various beverages that were warm, the refrigerator was not cooling at all.

- [ ] My family member who was just two floors above had to call also for the same issue as her room was 77 degrees. Maintenance was unable to resolve her no A/C issue either.

- [ ] I only received one key to my 1st room therefore my room was dark every time I came back at night. Apparently their rooms are powered by one of the room cards, and the other should be used for entry.

- [ ] During one day I went to the pool and was unable to get a towel because I needed a towel card apparently. I had no clue about a towel care being needed and that I should have been given one at check-in. And they wanted to charge $20 for not returning a towel card that they never gave me upon check-in on my first day

Upon my return, I could not get into my room and the front desk lady called someone up and they explained that Joanna had changed my room anyway. And they asked me where was my belongings…. Being that I was on an excursion, I did not know. I was upset and told them that I did not appreciate this, and I’ve never been through anything like this EVER!!.. Joanna was the front desk clerk

At this time we had dinner planned for my birthday celebration… I missed it because I had to move my items from one side of the resort to the far far back of the other side.... Once we got to the new room, the technician tried 4 room keys and none of them worked, he had to use his master key!!! I said well if I want to leave my room what should I do.. He said you’ll have to go back up front to get a new key. I had to go back 3 times after the move. The new room leaked when I took a shower, and the AC did not work

6/3, 6/4 – same issue, myself and my 10 guests had to go to the front desk constantly.. all day and night!! The shower leaked into the room whenever I took a shower. There were no face towels, when I asked for one, the housekeeper asked me for money. Per the description online, there was supposed to be bathrobes, there were none. We went to a restaurant and a bird was literally sitting on the fruit, and the staff were just standing there!! They did not try to shoo it away until we said something.

Unfortunately, the Riu Republica has turned me against visiting Punta Cana again. I am an ** woman, and I felt like I was being treated differently because of that. I am also a veteran who has traveled all over and I have never felt this way. I spent a lot of money to celebrate my birthday and was treated terrible. When I contacted corporate they said, "Sorry try another riu hotel.."

I also have video of the roach near the buffet and pictures of the cat eating buffet food. Their response was, "We deeply apologize if you felt that your experience was not one hundred percent reflective of a true RIU holiday. Our apology at this time may not undo the inconvenience that you felt, but our regret is sincere and our effort in the future will be guided by your comments." Based on the information provided, the hotel advised us that unfortunately they cannot offer any compensation for the issues they experienced. I was not satisfied by the response.

At that time, I asked if it was possible to see the rooms prior to finalizing our check-in. The clerk appeared a bit put-out and frustrated with my request. However, he asked the bellman to assist us with the showing of the rooms. The bellman was very nice and professional. As he opened the door to our 1st room, I immediately smelled a strong odor of a damp, mildew, musty smell. He then showed us the 2nd room and it was just as strong of an odor. There was no way I was going to spend a week in either of those rooms. The bellman did not express any sort of response, as if he had been through that procedure before and anticipated our reaction. So, back down to the reception desk, only to wait in line again.

When I expressed my displeasure with the smell of the rooms, the clerk's attitude turned negative and asked me, “what do you want”! Mind you, I have not even checked in yet, only been in the resort for about 30 minutes and feeling like I am a bother, not a customer. The new clerk handed the bellman a set of keys for two different rooms which he took us to. Obviously, a different level of customer service training for the bellman and the clerks. Again, as he opened the door there was a damp, musty odor, just not as strong. The 2nd room was comparable. We now felt as if we're forced to make the compromise and take the 2 rooms with a bit less of an odor. Or face more rude and humiliating remarks from the staff. Not the warm welcome we were promised.

The clerk also shared that the “available” restaurants do not take reservations, they are on a first-come, first-served basis only. Let’s just say, that was a nightmare experience in itself! Not enough room here to cover how horrific that experience was. After the 3rd night of not being able to get into any of the a’ la carte restaurants, I snuck away from my family to try and find a manager to share my frustration and horrible experience with. I was able to talk to Mr. Adrian **, Subdirector Anfitrion, and explain to him what my experience up till that point had been with regards to the entire resort. He was kind, patient and listened to me vent for about 15 minutes. He then tried to lump everything under the “Covid excuse.”

There were many legitimate Covid excuses. However, I explained to him, having smelly, disgusting rooms and room keys that do not work does not fall under the “Covid excuse”. If you cannot get enough staff to clean the rooms appropriately at 50% occupancy, then you should close the resort. The breakfast buffet restaurant telling me the 2nd morning at 8:30 am that I could not have a Mimosa because they were out of champagne, does not fall under the “Covid excuse.” The same buffet restaurant that night when I asked the server for a glass of cabernet, I was told they had it, but she would have to ask a manager. She came back minutes later and said, the manager said it is not available.” She explained they only had a red blend, a white blend, or a rose’. Really, a so-called 5-Star resort and I cannot order a basic glass of cabernet? That does not fall under the “Covid excuse.”

I can only imagine what, if any, type of wine they are serving at the RIU Guanacaste Resort next door. Also, having a busload of 80 disruptive visitors pull up on our 3rd day, all with their own glass bottles of liquor, drugs, and loud stereos and yelling vulgar obscenities. Breaking bottles near the pool, smoking **, being allowed to play extremely loud, vulgar, explicit music in a family resort does not fall under the “Covid excuse.” Several trips to the front desk to get new room keys, because ours and many others malfunctioned, does not fall under the “Covid excuse.” Not having bottled water available (except one in the room) around the resort, does not fall under the Covid excuse.” Not being able to provide change to your guests so they can tip the staff, does not fall under the Covid excuse.” Not having an ATM resort and being told to drive 45 minutes to get cash does not happen at a 5-Star resort and does not fall under the “Covid excuse.”

Closing an a la carte restaurant on two different nights for private parties does not fall under the “Covid excuse.” However, I want you to know that a large part of the service and entertainment staff went above and beyond!! Making a horrific experience somewhat tolerable. Yes, we tipped the staff over $735 for the week. After having to drive 45 minutes to get money and change to tip your staff.

This was my 9th time vising Costa Rica over the last 10 years. And the 1st time staying at RIU. We stayed the 7 days prior to arriving at RIU in a competitor 5-Star resort. Other than a minor glitch with our transportation, the resort exceeded our expectations and lived up to the 5-Star rating. As with RIU, it was a classic case of “bait & switch.” I felt you oversold your accommodations and benefits! I really, really, cannot imagine what we would have received if we had not paid the extra money to stay at the Palace. I feel the RIU Palace in Costa Rica should be rated at a 3-Star resort at best! This was not just our experience as we talked with numerous families that felt the exact same way."

To finish this off, she pulled the door logs (when you come in and out), and checked the cameras. You can see me and my girlfriend walking down the main alley at the exact time the door was opened with the key we had inside!! Again, she was making it seem like it had to have been a mistake and malfunction of the time slips on their end. She gave me an email to contact to hear of any updates on the case, and haven’t received anything to date. I also called and they gave me a disconnected number so I wasn’t able to reach anyone anymore. Worst experience of my life, I wouldn’t go back there again even if it was my last option.

Most of the buildings are 3 stories and dont have Elevators. If you need an Elevator then make sure to mention it to the Front Desk when you check in because there is only ONE building that has an elevator. The other thing is that you will have to take a taxi each time you want to go into or come back from downtown Cabo. It's an easy ride like 5 min. They have taxis 24 Hrs a day available from the Lobby. OH and if you are there fishing they DO NOT HAVE A FREEZER to keep your catch. Other than those things this will be our 6th trip staying at the RIU Santa Fe. It's a great deal for the price.