RIU Hotels & Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

I spent $2000 for Four Days could not use the jacuzzi .Because there was ants blowing thru the jets when I turned on the water .called maintenance he came took a look shook his head then Drain the water out in tried to clean the vents .who would get in a jacuzzi after seeing all them ants.They offered another room but it was the same so I kept the room had.It was a total waist off money.I could have just booked a room with out a jacuzzi .In this supposed be one of the Best room suite with Jacuzzi on Balcony.

My husband and I just got married on July 1, 2017. We chose to spend our honeymoon in the Bahamas at your Riu Palace hotel in Paradise Island. We stayed at the Riu from July 3-July 8. We had the absolute worst experience there. This was such a disappointment because we spent over $3300 to stay there. Upon our arrival we checked in to the hotel, and were then sent up to our room. Come quickly to find out, we walked into an occupied room with indecent people inside. It was quite embarrassing! We immediately went back to the lobby and explained the problem. They switched us into a different room, but did not upgrade us whatsoever. So then we head into our second room, and as soon as we walked in we were overwhelmed with the smell of mildew! We proceed to set our bags down and take off our shoes, just to find out that our carpet in the room was very wet! We immediately called down to front desk and explained to them this issue we were facing. They sent the manager up to look at the room. When he came in he didn't seem apologetic, caring, or interested in us at all. He simply told us to wait and that he would be back. Next thing we know a bellman is at our door handing us a piece of paper with the number "1531" written on it, saying this was our new room. He leaves and we gather our things and head to the elevator. When we get in the elevator we see that there is no button to the 15th floor. So after 10 minutes of trying to find our way to the 15th floor we finally just gave up, and went back down to the lobby to ask for directions. The front desk receptionist looked at us and said, "Didn't anyone tell you? You can only use THIS elevator to get to the 15th floor." And pointed to separate elevator. We were so frustrated, and not to mention exhausted after a full day of traveling and everything we had just been through. Our new room was an upgraded room, but it still was not nice. It was not properly cleaned and had an odd paint smell to it. But we were done complaining! Next thing... On Thursday there was NO WATER in the entire building. There was a piece of paper taped to the elevator stating they apologized for any inconvenience. No water?! We couldn't shower, brush our teeth, flush the toilet, anything for an entire day! It was ridiculous! THEN on Friday, the A/C in the entire building was out! The hotel was a sauna! Then we find out that our individual room not only didn't have A/C but also didn't have power! No lights, no electricity, nothing!
The A/C finally comes back on by the end of the day, but only to compensate to the next issue... NO WIFI! The wifi was out in the entire building! There was no wifi all Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday. We live in the USA and so the only communication we had to back home (to our daughter!) was wifi! And we had no access! They were doing construction on the hotel ALL WEEK (so of course, we woke up to the sound of a circular saw every single morning!) and apparently that's what caused a lot of the issues! Everything about this hotel was just LOW QUALITY! We are so disappointed that this was how we had to spend our HONEYMOON. We feel we should be compensated in some way. Whether we are refunded or credited a stay somewhere else, to make up for all the money we spent and getting awful service in return.

The Riu Palace Punta Cana has a very majestic look to it, but the cleanliness and service at the hotel was anything but great. This was our second stay in Punta Cana and our first stay at the Riu. Our seven day stay at the Riu left my family with a bad taste for Riu resorts and I don't think I'd ever stay at another Riu or recommend it to anyone else. We were at the Riu for a destination wedding for a party of about 60 people and the stay was unsatisfactory for all of us. The following are just a few of the things that were unsatisfactory with our stay.

1. The hotel's room key system has never been updated to an access card causing guests to carry a bulky key everywhere you go. Then when my friends and I asked for a second room key they didn't have one available. We were asked to wait for another key because the man who made keys wasn't there. Then three of us who received an extra room key received one that never worked.
2. The beach towel system is also very outdated. I'm not sure if the hotel has a problem with guests stealing towels or leaving them by the pool, but to have to carry cards around for your towels was unnecessary. Everyday we had to take our cards to the towel station and then take the towels back and make sure we got the cards back. Everyone was required to be extra vigilant or their towel because a lost towel/towel card would cost you $20. Our friend had two occasions by the pool when someone stole her towel. At what is supposed to be such an upscale and all-inclusive resort you would hope that the guests could be trusted with towels. I know that I've always returned my towels at other resorts without being required to be tracked by a card system.
3. Another issue at the pool was that over 60% of the chairs that were closest to the pool often sat unused. Guests would place a towel on the chair and fold the chair down reserving their seat. However, my family would be in the pool anywhere from 10am to 4pm and we never saw one person sit in those chairs. I think that the hotel employees should do a better job of tracking this. I'm not saying that you need to sit in the chair the entire time you're by the pool, but to not even have someone sit in the chair once is ridiculous. The worst part is that this happened all seven days that we were there.
4. The outdated room safes were also an inconvenience, with the front desk giving you the entire locking mechanism to carry upstairs to your room and then requiring you to carry another bulky key with you wherever you went.
5. Both my husband and a friend found themselves returning to their rooms without their keys and when they asked a maid to let them into their room, the ladies did so without asking any questions or verifying if it was actually their room. How is a guest supposed to feel safe or feel like their belongings are safe when maids let people into rooms without questions.
6. When we arrived at 11:30am we were told that our room would be available at 3pm. Then before we decided to go to lunch we were told our room would be ready in 20 minutes. After waiting 45 minutes we went all the way to the third floor with our luggage only to find out that the maid had just started cleaning our room. We had to leave our stuff in a friend's room so we could go to lunch. The maid service didn't get any better. One day we returned to our room at 4pm after leaving at 9am (leaving the please clean the room sign on the door) and the maid was just starting to clean our room. After that I decided to take it upon myself to call the front desk everyday to request that our room be cleaned early.
7. After a night out on the town, my friend and I escorted another female friend to her room because she had been drinking and we wanted to make sure she got to her room safely. Upon arriving at her room, she knocked to awaken her husband, but he was not answering (she had no key because the hotel didn't have a spare key to give her when they checked in). We then walked back to the front desk to see if there was a spare key now available or if someone else could open the door. The man at the desk, looked on the computer and informed us that we had the wrong room and that her room was actually two doors down. He the proceeded to give us a key to that room. We escorted our friend back upstairs and she opened the door. She told us her husband was not inside, but she figured he was still out with the guys so she went to bed. Fifteen minutes later, we get a call from her husband asking where she was because he arrived in their room and didn't find her. We came to find out that we had the correct room to begin with and the front desk had given us a key to the wrong room. Thankfully, when her husband went to get her she was fine and the room happened to be empty. Imagine if someone else had come back to their room to find a strange woman lying in their bed.
8. Another friend of ours was traveling with a two year old toddler and asked the front desk to please send her a crib. When the maid arrived with the crib, she shook out the sheets and quite a few roaches flew out and into their room. There were also roaches in the crib. The maid continued to assemble the crib and our friend had to complain so that could bring her a cleaner crib. Her sister, who had the room next door also complained of finding at least four roaches in their room.
9. The Don Manuel Restaurant buffet was often very overcrowded and the food was not always replenished in a timely manner. If you arrived at a busy time of day, it was very common for trays of food to be sitting empty and even if you made your way through the entire buffet and returned there would still be no food in that tray. The bread was inedible because it was very stale and hard. In addition, the guests were allowed to cut their own bread but you often saw guests touching the bread with their bare hands. The cool/refrigerated food items such as desserts and cheeses were often warm. On several occasions, I tried sampling some cheese and crackers, but the cheese was warm and rubbery and the crackers were stale from being out too long. Also, the amount of flies throughout the dining area made the eating experience uncomfortable. My family and I, found ourselves constantly swatting away the flies no matter what time of day we were there.
10. For a hotel of this size and with the number of guests they accommodate, the restaurants were far too small often leaving guests no option but to have to go to the Don Manuel buffet unless they were willing to wait around for an open table. We found ourselves constantly having to be ready for dinner at 6:00pm/6:30pm if we wanted to get a seat. The Steak House offered the best dinner, but they had a wait time of up to two hours if you were not there by 6:30pm.
11. This was our second stay in Punta Cana and we've always been told to bring bug repellent because of the mosquitoes, but after staying at the Dreams Punta Cana and not experiencing any mosquitoes we didn't think we would need it. We traveled with a party of about thirty people and everyone complained of mosquito bites or seeing mosquitoes in their rooms. I'm not sure if the resort took any precautions to fumigate for mosquitoes.
12. The mini bar in each room that the hotel advertises so highly was completely unsatisfactory. All of the bottles in our room had about one to three shots worth of liquor left in them and seemed to have been sitting there for a very long time. When visiting our friend's room, my husband was offered a drink and found black gunk floating in his cup which came from the bottle. In addition, the cups in the room were very cloudy and made you not want to drink from them.
13. The pool water was very cloudy the entire time we were there. Also, the drink service by the pool was very slow. On two occasions, my husband tipped a waiter to get our drinks and when he never returned he ended up going to the pool bar to get the drinks himself. The same thing happened on the beach with drink service.
14. For two days we couldn't use our balcony. We also couldn't keep our curtains open to let in sunlight because they were working outside our door. One day we had workers hanging outside our balcony doors scrapping old paint off the side of the building. The next day they were painting. Nonetheless, we weren't missing much since we had no view. We thought we were getting a garden view but instead we saw a parking lot being built and we got to listen to construction vehicles and workers outside our window all day. Also, the day they were scraping paint we were left with paint chips all over the floor, railings, and chairs. The next day was also the day our housekeeping didn't show up until 4pm so we couldn't use the balcony which hadn't been cleaned. (Photos Attached)
15. The decor in the room was very outdated. When we first arrived we had pink and blue balloons attached to our headboard which all of the friends we traveled with thought was very cheap and tacky looking. The towel arrangement folded into the shape of a swan or something else would have been sufficient and would have looked a lot better. However, we only received the folded towel arrangement the first three days and then the housekeeper stopped leaving anything. (Photo attached)
16. The room service menu was very limited and on three occasions when my friends or me ordered room service it took over an hour to get our food, which included a sandwich or cold nachos.
17. The Sports Bar which offered food and drinks 24 hours was horrible. The games for kids which included two arcade games, a claw toy game, and air hockey cost $3 to play one game. However, you could purchase a larger amount of coins and possibly save $1. The food was horrible and seemed to be old/stale food that didn't sell at the buffet. They offered refrigerated hotdogs, cheeseburgers, ham/cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit, and nachos with cheese. You were then required to microwave the food on your own. The bread was stale and the hotdogs and hamburgers seemed to be sitting there for days. My daughter went to grab a sandwich box and someone had helped themselves to half the sandwich and placed the box back in the refrigerator. Who knows how many others had touched food and then placed it back in the refrigerator for the next person. In addition, The bartender left the bar unattended leaving guests to wait for their drinks.
18. When staying in Punta Cana or any other island resort there has always been an imaginary line that peddlers do not cross to allow guests to enjoy their stay on the beach. At this resort, there was no imaginary line. We also found ourselves sitting on a beach with a peddler selling things to us or resting right next to us (one foot away - it felt like we were sharing a chair) to try and get some shade. We also had three or four occasions when we were asked if we could get them a drink.
19. Many of the drinks served at the hotel we're undrinkable. The caipirinha, margaritas, Jack & Coke, run & Coke, and tequila were disgusting.
20. The elevators were very dangerous with doors that would close abruptly and they had no safety restraints. After having the doors close on us twice, my husband always stood in the doorway until the kids were in the elevator to ensure that they got on safely.
21. The Wifi service was constantly going down and when we asked the front desk about it we were told that they "were working on it." At one point, the Wifi was down for an entire day.

Again, we have stayed at different resorts and on different islands, but this by far had to be our worst experience. Again, I would never stay at this or any Riu, because our experience was that bad.

Jennifer Franz
Riu Palace Macao, Punta Cana, Domoncan Republic
July 1-8 2017
Room 3399

This is a low quality resort with low standards, terrible food, and even worse staff.

The resort is so poorly managed that i have pictures of a food tray that was left on a beach chair for 3 days. You would think that all staff should be responsible for maintaining the quality and appearance of the resort, but judging by the amount of people who walk by this dirty plate and didn't pick it up exemplifies their standards. There was also trash all over the beach.

The daily and nightly entertainment is so boring that they have to force you to applause at everything. My hands hurt from all the clapping aka forced-fun.

I understand we are in a Spanish speaking country and I speak Spanish pretty well l, but it was exhausting trying to constantly translate and explain to all of the staff any requests or questions my family had. If you have an international resort then you should have staff that can cater to all languages.

They say not to make reservations for the restaurants, but my 5 person family had to wait 45 minutes for a table at the steakhouse. When we asked if we could have a glass if wine while we waited the staff said no. Did they not get the memo that it's all inclusive so it doesn't matter if I drink wine at the restaurant while I wait or at the bar while I wait. The night we ate at the Japanese restaurant there were several open tables, but they made us wait 30 minutes. I can onlu assume that this was based on lack of staff.

On Friday, July 7, 2017 one of the entertainment staff from one of the other Riu resorts was extremely rude to me. The employee told me his name was Mambo, but knowing that the workers use nicknames I asked his real name and he said it is Rey. I also don't believe that, but when I asked your other entertainment staff they said the same. He is about 5 feet 5 inches tall, has facial hair, and long braids with some green ribbon.

After talking to me outside the club for about 3 minutes he tried to persuade me away from the club, La Pacha, into a parking lot to try and kiss me. When I declined to follow him and declined to kiss him he became extremely rude and agitated. He told me that I am dangerous, I am difficult, I am boring, and that I think I'm better than everyone else.

When I brought this complaint to the management at the hotel the staff had no way of knowing who this employee was. Additionally they tried to justify his behavior by saying that because it was 2am at the club the employee maybe was drunk. If you are allowing your staff to mingle with your guests at the club, in their Riu uniforms, then you should require that they maintain hotel standards. Regardless of him being in a uniform, as an employee of the hotel I would expect that he have a certain level of respect for the guest. And regardless of him being a hotel employee, simply as another human being, I would expect him to be respectful of my choices and not try to degrade me.

This was my last night on vacation and completely ruined the entire trip for me. This verbal harassment was extremely embarrassing and hurtful. I have never been so disrespected. Sadly this is the last impression I have of Riu Hotels.

I am following up to see if you have identified this employee and to find out what the repercussion will be for his actions.

This was the worst vacation I have ever taken and would not recommend this resort to anyone!

I checked into the hotel on 09-07-2017. As my son getting ready to take a shower, he fell and slipped on their wet/slippery wet floor. He cracked his head open. I contactec front desk to get a in house doctor. They informed me that they have one and it would cost me $100 usd. I ask it is their slippery floor that caused the fall, but I still have to pay. My son have headache for 3 days of the vacation. Instead of having fun in the pool, I have to spend most of my vacation tending to my injured son.

I haven't even stayed here yet and I have already encountered the worst customer service over the phone. I am staying here starting tomorrow and will be away from my 8 month old baby. I need to pump and store my breastmilk frozen (Since I will be away for 5 days). This has never been an issue at any of the other hotels i've stayed at. Either they have let me store the milk labelled in a bag in their kitchen freezer or they have made sure my room comes with a mini fridge with a freezer compartment. This is not a light matter as it concerns the well-being of my baby, and being away from him is hard enough already. I spoke with several agents, and all of them basically said "no, we cannot accommodate this" with no further explanation. I even tried emailing the manager as she was continually not available to speak to me all day. Her response: "I am very sorry to let you know that our policy prohibits the storage of guest items (What ever it is) in our kitchen." this shows that they do not put customer service at their forefront. Any hotel that is not friendly to new and breastfeeding moms is a no go in my books. I also tried to call their 1-800 customer relations number for the riu company itself - also no help. If this is the type of customer service im encountering even before I leave, I can't even imagine what it'll be like when I arrive.

We arrive at riu club hotel Funana on the 9/7/17. We saved up for a good while for a lovely luxury 5* holiday and booked through thomson, when we arrived it was evident straight away we werent going to get that 5* holiday. We moved rooms 4 times due to very smelly mouldy rooms to the point you can smell them in the corridors, my 18months old toys that were in the cot smell awful and that was just one night in the room. The manager was very apologetic moved us again to the best room in the hotel, but again smelt damp but not as bad. My 18month old stood on a electric earth cable sticking out the ground that was freyed by the foot water fountain by the pool. Everywhere is scuffed, chipped or broken, it certainly isnt the 5* star i was expecting from a Rui hotel that i have experienced before for example in Turkey Antalya. Instead of not wanting to go home i am counting down the days hoping thomson offer us a party of 5 including a 18month old child a flight home as soon as possible. I will never ever recommend this hotel at this standard, i feel it has been falsely advertised and matches our expectations of a 3* we had in Tunisia 2 years ago. All i hear around the pool is people moaning about their holiday, we are day 2 and i can not count the many times i have cried. This was our last holiday for 3 years and feel very very upset. Thomson have been no help, they refuse to move us hotel without paying 2 lots of charges and they have said this is our opinion of the hotel even though the rep and manager agreed with what we were saying.

Riu Palace Las Americas in Cancun. Travel dates were from 6/14/2017 through 6/27/2017

The issues associated with this claim pertain to inadequate and unsafe hotel accommodations not meeting the services promised. We checked into the hotel which is advertised as a luxury resort with numerous awards on 6/15/2017. Admittedly the lobby and pool areas are very clean and pretty and our initial room as well. However, on 6/18 it began to rain and that night we could hear water dripping somewhere in our room. In the morning, we discovered the source of the leak, an area right above the room’s mini bar. We placed a towel there and immediately contacted the front desk advising them that our ceiling was leaking. Front desk staff (Javier) told me he would send housekeeping up to mop up. I told him that would be great but that it was not a solution to the issue as the leak needed to be fixed in addition to the water being mopped. His response was that it was a simple leak. At that point, I walked down to the front desk and Javier was busy, so I spoke to a second person, Genaro. His response was also that they would send housekeeping to clean the water. I told him that it was not a solution as the leak was on going and getting worse. He then sent someone from maintenance to “see if the leak warranted a move.” After maintenance inspected the leak, Genaro then said he did not have a comparable room but could move us to a different room. I asked to see the room first. The room was on the second floor and did not have the ocean view balcony, looked like a dungeon, but most importantly as I stepped into the room I immediately smelled an overwhelming odor of mold. I told Genaro that the room smelled of mold and he stated that it was due to the climate. I told him that we regularly visit Cancun and our rooms have not smelled like mold. He stated that the second floor room he was offering was actually an upgrade from what we had and that was the best he could do. When I declined that room, he offered a second room on the fourth floor which had a view of an alley and the adjoining hotels air conditioning systems and not the ocean view we had paid for. The front desk said that was all they were willing to do.
When we returned from lunch, we noticed that a second leak had developed and that water was now leaking out of the fire alarm system. Additionally, the original leak was much worse and when I further checked the source, noticed a line of black mold in the corner of the ceiling. I again went to the front desk and this time, I spoke with Ernesto who identified himself as the front desk manager. I told him that we had safety concerns as water was now coming directly from the fire alarm. He did not appear at all alarmed and stated that they had no other rooms to offer us, but to come back the next day to see if anyone had checked out and if they had rooms available. I reiterated the safety concerns and made sure he understood that the fire alarm system in our room was compromised due to the water leak and he just told me to come back the next day and to ask housekeeping for extra towels to catch the water in the meantime.
I then telephoned Aeromexico Vacations customer care. The gal I spoke to appeared to be concerned about the fire alarm being compromised. She placed me on hold and stated she was calling the hotel. She then told me she had spoken to Genaro the front desk manager and that there was a communication problem and that I had misunderstood. I told her that I speak fluent Spanish and there was no communication problem. Additionally, I told her that Ernesto had identified himself as the manager so that the front desk staff was being less than truthful. She stated that there were no available rooms until the following day, but that Cesar, a representative of her company or partner company Traffictours would personally meet us at the hotel. That evening we received a note in our room stating that we would be changing rooms but that we needed to be out of our room by 10am, to place our bags in the lobby, and that we would be given another room sometime after 3 pm. I contacted the front desk and told them that we did need to move but were not willing to be without a room for the major part of the day. I told them that as soon as we were given the keys to the second room, we would be out of ours. That day we met with a Delta Vacations(Aeromexico Vacations) rep in the lounge Janeth Castro to confirm our return transportation. We asked her if she knew who Cesar was as we had been waiting to hear from him all day. She said Cesar was no longer assigned to this hotel so that he would not be coming. She went to the front desk and they told her they were doing what they could to get us a room.
On June 20, the front desk told me they had a room available for us that had the ocean view. I asked to check the room first. They gave me the keys to room 648, which was indeed an ocean view balcony just like ours, but I noticed that this room not only also had roof leaks but that the main support beam appeared to be damaged and cracked from the water leak. I took a picture with my phone and showed Genaro at the front desk. He said he was aware of a small leak. I asked him why he would be moving us from one room with a leak to another room with similar problems. He stated he knew there was a small leak but that it was not big deal. He finally assigned us to room 416 an ocean view balcony room on the 4th floor. That evening I noticed that our second room also had issues, as water was leaking from the toilet tank and I slipped and nearly fell when I went in to use the restroom in the middle of the night. I was completely frustrated but just decided to place a towel on the bathroom floor to catch the water from the toilet tank. I decided to post a review on Tripadvisor just to let others know about the issues we were having.
On June 21st, I was contacted by Yosune Sanchez who identified herself as a general manager. She asked if our room was better and I told her it did not have roof leaks but that the toilet tank leaked quite a bit of water. She then stated they were going to give us one of their better rooms. I relayed the issues I had with her staff assigning rooms that they knew had problems and showed her pictures of the room with the structural damage that her staff had attempted to put us in. She assured me this room was better and offered a massage pass for our troubles, however, she stated that she was made aware that I had posted a review on Tripadvisor and wanted me to modify it. I told her I would not change the review but was willing to add additional comments as to her assistance.
We again moved, this time to a room on the 7th floor, 713 a jacuzzi suite. The room was very nice but this too had issues. In fact, the entire hall way leading to our room smelled like raw sewage. After I notified the general manager Yosune Sanchez of the sewage smells, they began to spray or utilize some type of chemical to mask the sewage smell in the mornings and afternoons. Since this was supposed to be one of their better rooms we just decided to live with it and try to enjoy the rest of our vacation.
It should be noted that as we chatted with various employees at the hotel and commented on the issues we were having with our rooms, several stated that those rooms had been recently renovated and that the renovations were not properly done, causing several issues with the corner ocean view balcony rooms. They stated that several of those rooms had various roof leaks and that one even leaks directly over the bed. This goes to show that the hotel is aware of the issues with these rooms but instead of fixing the problem they simply do cosmetic fixes. It was apparent in our rooms that some leaks were simply painted over.
On June 23rd, my husband began having severe abdominal pain and diarrhea. We purchased some over the counter meds to see if this would help. Several other members of a group of family and friends who had met us there, including myself, were also having the same problems. In fact, 16 out of the 22 people in the group had the same issue, leading us to believe that there was an issue with the food at the hotel (this hotel is all-inclusive so food and drinks are included). By the third day, my husband was feeling dehydrated and his stools were now black so I contacted Ernesto at the front desk and told him that 16 members of the group had apparently contracted food poisoning. He calmly stated that if we needed a doctor, there was $150 charge for that service. He made no inquiries to attempt to identify the source of the contamination. I then walked down the street to a pharmacy and they provided me directions to an urgent care clinic where I obtained a prescription for antibiotics for my husband.
Other issues with this hotel included the pushy waiters and bartenders at the main pool who tried to pressure pool goers to drink shots. We regularly saw people so drunk, they could not get themselves out of the pool and this hotel even had a wheelchair on hand to pull the drunks out of the pool and wheel them to their rooms. Additionally, we also saw several drunks vomiting in the pool, on the lounge chairs, in the elevators etc. One older lady even slipped and fell in someone else’s vomit.
In summary, there were several health and safety issues associated with this resort which is advertised as a 5 star resort. The issues we experienced should be associated with a cheap hotel and not with this resort. The services and accommodations they advertise is certainly not what we experienced.

I have videos as proof but for some reason could not upload to this site

Arrived at RIU Antillas Aruba on 7/3/17 checked in at 3:00 P:M left room to participate in activities. Came back to room later and while sleeping was awakened by extreme cold and very loud noise coming from air conditioner. Tuesday night same problem with air at which time I tried once again to regulate temperature. The temp would not go up or down instead the number stayed the same. Wednesday morning I reported this to front desk and was told Maintenance would be up later. I left room for awhile and came back to see Maint. man in room whom explained to me he had been up on roof and everything was fine now. At that point I noticed the loud noise appeared to better. We then left room and came back later to find our room key would not work I then walked 3 flights of stairs to go to front desk for assistance with key. I explained that key would not work and was told I must have done something wrong to demagnetize key at which point I had card in pocket by itself. So finally after back and forth I was given a key. Proceeded back to room up 3 flights of stairs for the second time went into room which at this point I was sweating and aggravated. Once in room I realized the air which I was assured worked was not working it was very hot. I called front desk for Maintenance and afternoon shift person came later. We had left our room once again because we were there to enjoy our vacation. Upon returning to our room we were unable to use room key imagine that if you will. At this time Maint. person arrived and let us into room. He opened up ceiling panel and proceeded to blame previous person for not doing their job and assured us that now everything was fine. I began to ask about thermostat and was told previous person had set it wrong but now he had fixed it. I asked about regulating temp and was told that's the way it operated and there was nothing to change other than fan speed or turn it off. So now here I go again down 3 flights of stairs and a long walk to front desk to request another key. Of course I'm being blamed one again for demagnetizing key or having it near my phone which I did not have on me. I begin my long unnecessary walk and 3 flights of stairs which of course has nothing to do with having fun on my vacation back to room. We left room again returned later to a very hot room. Here I go again communicating with front desk about a non working air conditioner. At this time I was quite aggravated and expressed my displeasure with the continuing problems. I asked that a Supervisor come with Maint. to assure the air would be fixed and was ignored. As I was waiting on Maint. front desk called and told me their solution was for me at 11:30 P:M to take another room. I said no way was I about to move all my stuff which was scattered throughout room when I was tired and frustrated. Same Maint. person came back asked what the problem was as if he didn't know. I expressed my disappointment to him and he acted as if nothing were wrong. He then went into another panel right next to panel he looked at earlier. He then proceeded to once again blame day shift Maint. for not doing their job and couldn't seem to understand that he was the one here last to fix it and didn't. Finally the air works better but still no way to regulate other than turning it off then becoming hot and uncomfortable and turning it back on to become cold. So here we are Thursday morning after 3 uncomfortable days of issues we asked to speak to Hotel Manager. Front desk person asked me what the issue was and I said I wanted a Manager and did not want to explain this twice. Front desk person then looked very displeased when I said this. Ten minutes later the front desk Manager came to ask what problem was I explained that I wanted hotel Manager. I was directed to Justin Carson after half an hour and explained the issues which he wrote down. He said he was going to put this into system but had no solution. It seemed to be no big deal to him and if it was you surely couldn't see it. He then suggested we could have dinner with him at 8:15 P:M to achieve what purpose I'm not certain. My wife then responded to him we have paid for an all inclusive vacation so how is having dinner with you going to compensate us for all these issues. At this point he could not speak for a few seconds then he suggested we write this E-Mail to see if we would be compensated for inconvenience. We were in Aruba 17 years ago at the Holiday Inn and had a very enjoyable experience. So we came back expecting the same or better experience at an all inclusive hotel. Every day of my vacation there was an issue. After all this I would like to be compensated for my displeasure and ruined vacation. Thank you Thomas Saunders

On 5th of July 2017 i took out $200USD to pay for an excusion then went to the gym. My partner shortly after left room 312 and advised the cleaner in the hallway that she had taken the sheets off bed as my son wet them. She showed the hotel cleaner the key with room number as she felt she didnt understand what she had said and the lady said "ok" . My partner then walked down the hall and went to the outside pool with my Son. The room had been cleaned on our return and i hadn't checked my bag until this morning when i woke to find $2400USD has been taken from inside my bag which was in a plastic travel money wallet. I am staying in the RIU Naiboa - Dominican Republic. Please see attached of the police report taken. Thank you.
Mr Earl Durrant

On July 6, 2017, at approximately 11 am, I Thomasena Merriweather arrived at the Riu Palace Montego Bay. Upon approaching the front desk, I asked for Kaydene. As per the paperwork given to me at the airport Kaydene or Rosemarie were whom I was told to speak with. The young lady at the front desk took our info and informed us that our room wouldn't be ready for at least an hour. I turned and informed Kaydene that I was waiting to speak with her, she never acknowledged me, she turned and continued speaking with another guest, then they proceeded to walk away. After about 10 minutes she returns ready to book excursions for us, but never once apologizing for her rude behavior. We were told to go and eat and drink and then return to check the status of our room. After an hour or so we come back only to be told it may take an hour more. I'm upset because I came with a group, all of whom arrived an hour or more behind me. They all were given rooms, so we're countless other customers and we are sitting and watching. We were told that check In is at 3pm, so why would any and every one else that came in behind us get rooms? We were given story after story and excuse after excuse, when asked to speak with a manager we had to wait about 20 minutes to speak with a manger, who turned out to be an assistant manager by the name of Bias or Belle who wasn't very friendly and basically walked away not trying to hear what I was saying. I traveled from NYC to get here, after hours of traveling and knowing that my trip was paid for, I like anyone else just wanted the comfort of going to my room showering and changing and relaxing, but I couldn't do that because I was stuck in a lobby waiting like I was homeless. I have to say that in all of my travels, I've never felt so disrespected! I asked what could or would be done to accommodate me and was given everyone's back. I am appalled and would like to speak to someone asap in regards to the blatant disrespect. I'm hoping that this isn't the way all Riu resorts treat their clients. My pressure is up and me and my best friend have swollen feet, too tired to enjoy any of the festivities offered because of this ordeal. I appreciate your time and ask that I get a response before I check out.
Respectfully Submitted,
Thomasena Merriweather

While staying at Riu Santa Fe we hope to dine at the steak house. The steak house had a opening time of 18:30. We arrived at 18:37, seven minutes after opening. We found the restaurant fully packed and 200 more folks had reservations for later that night. I was under the impression no reservations are needed. But the hostess showed us the reservation list. We asked how could so many folks get reservations in just seven minutes, both hostess provided no explanation. Just smiled and walked away. We next walk to front desk and asked to speak with somebody in charge. We were provided with a front desk clerk who could not assist in anyway. Again I asked for person in charge, she disappeared behind wall twice and returned by herself. Was no one in charge? On one on property who cared? No one brave enough to solve a problem? If there is a person who is in charge and brave enough to come out from behind wall I'm in room 5126 till Saturday.

Brant Smith
RIU member [protected]

we had 24 of no liquor service. We were told it was due to an election of some sort, signs were posted and the bartenders were laughing every time we ordered a drink they would point to the sign that would take effect in 12 hours. Rude service all around. Manager never in the office for any sort of help. June 3 - June 9 2017 were our stay dates. We booked an ocean front room, our view was of a lot with construction material left overs. Food was the same daily, not able to get room service or bring food up to our rooms. Mini fridge never stocked with any snacks for the kids, had to ask for water bottles but never even came! Bathrooms by the beach restaurant were flooded and never cleaned. Beach never cleaned, no drink service on beach. Night show non existent, and no seats unless u came 60 min early. Hot tub never worked and pool with missing tile all over. Beds hard as a rock, and no shampoo or conditioner . I could not wait to go home, I cant understand how this hotel is a 5 start hotel? By whom? Would love all my money back! I feel terrible for my husband who worked all year to provide us with our once a year vacation.

Our reservation WRC044MP.
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We are writing this letter after our last stay at your Rui Macao, May 11-18, 2017. We have stayed nine times in RIU Hotels in the last five years. After our first trip with you to the Riu Costa Rica, we joined the Riu Class as preferred and regular guest. This experience at Macao has disillusioned us as being guests at your resorts ever again!

We have always traveled with at least four to six people spending thousands of dollars with our family and friends. This trip cost us $2, 728.32 for four guests for seven days. I made this reservation months in advance, In my reservation I stated that we were celebrating my daughter’s birthday, my husband’s birthday, and Mother’s Day. I stated that this was our third time to the Dominican and that we wanted a high room with a beach view. You would think with as many times we have stayed we would get priority room position.

We chose this hotel specifically because it was an all adult property. Never when I was looking at this property did it state that there was major construction going on at the RIU property next door. As stated we payed full price for a great vacation which we did not receive. If this would have been stated we would have stayed at the RIU Bavaro.
This was the WORST hotel experience we have ever had at any of your hotels.

Attached you will see our view from our room. We thought this had to be a bad joke! We went right back to the desk. We spent 4 hours trying to solve the room situation with them. We told them to look up our portfolio and change our rooms, that our room was unacceptable, we payed full price for quality rooms. The first front desk receptionist was so rude! She preceded to tell us that these were our rooms and they wouldn’t change it. We asked to speak to a supervisor. She started screaming at us,
“ Why? Why?” We stated that we were not dealing with her any longer and wanted to talk to a supervisor. She stormed off and just left us standing there. She didn’t wear a name badge because, I would be calling her out and I looked several more times during the stay and she never had one on.

Another desk person finally got Manny the rooms supervisor to came out. He stated that there weren’t any other rooms available. That we would have to stay in those rooms for two days. As I stated above, we spent four hours at the front desk arguing with them. We were exhausted from the flight and ordeal and went away…. After we came back from dinner, the construction was still going on full force. See pictures attached. We also have videos of how loud it was. My husband called the front desk and spoke to Manny the supervisor again. We stated again that we had stayed with your hotel chain a lot in the last five years. That we had been very loyal and that this was not acceptable. We said that we wanted to move to the RIU Bavaro. Manny then told Gary to come down that he had two rooms that he could move us to. They moved us, it was still on the construction side but they had a green net up so that you couldn’t see it but we were woken up at 7:00 AM from the hammering.

Another problem we had - We had no idea that this hotel doesn’t take American Express. That is the card we always travel with. After our nightmare experience checking in. It gets worse when we discover you don’t take American Express. Thankfully I was able to move money around to pay for half our room. We told them we would be able to move funds around and pay the balance the next day.

When Gary went to pay our balance on Monday, they asked did we like our new rooms. Gary said No, we were woken up at 7:00 from the hammering. They told him to come back at 1:00 the next day and that they would change our rooms again. We were there Tuesday at 1:00. They gave us keys to go see the room. They had moved us to the main building but we were on the first floor. Our view was the roof and back of the restaurant. We went back down and said No, this is not it! They moved us to the 2nd floor. We still couldn’t see the beach but had already wasted three days dealing with this. I don’t go on vacation and expect to have to move rooms 4 times!

A review of your property …The entertainment staff was terrible. We asked when were the crazy games that we have always experienced at all of your other hotels (4:00 in the pool). Superman, one of the staff, told us, that they only do those games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, because this was an all adult property and the old people didn’t like the crazy games.

The buffets were terrible. There wasn’t a large selection of things like we have always experienced at your other properties. At all of the other resorts we have stayed at they had a theme night every night for the buffets. They didn’t have this here. The food was always just luke warm.

We were eaten up by mosquitos. By far, the poorest managed Riu resort.

We have stayed at your properties because we love your excellence. The food, atmosphere, entertainment, view has always been great. This stay was a major disappointment and will absolutely affect my decision to book with the RIU Hotels ever again.

Gary & Sheri Travis

Being a member of a great group with the name mambo merengue group we all wonder what is gonna happen to our so beloved Riu Merengue and Riu Bachata . We all have been visiting the place for years, some for even more than 20 years, and we all are so sad that rumours are going that it is sold.
Can you please tell us what is going on and what is gonna happen to all these people that work there...

We recently returned from a stay at the Riu Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta. We stayed between 10/06/2017 - 24/06/2017. We were staying in room 8067, which was a junior suite.

On the 21/06/2017, which happened to be our 3 year anniversary, we checked my partners (Katrina Small) purse for our departure tax (£100 GBP all in £20 notes), and to our shock the money was gone.

The money was stored, inside a purse which was inside a zipped up handbag which was stored on the side table at the end of the bed, and none of the above items left the room after our arrival on the 10/06/2017. Unfortunately we are unable to pinpoint exactly when the cash was taken, because we never went in the bag between 10/06 and the 21/06 because we had no reason to.

Although we appreciate this money should have been stored in the safe, we did not expect a member of staff at a Riu establishment to actively look in our belongings for things they could take.

This was our first visit to Mexico, and our first at a Riu hotel. We had been recommended this hotel by family and friends who visit both this hotel and other Riu hotels frequently. Unfortunately because of this incident we most certainly will not be using a Riu again as we find ourselves in the position where we doubt the security of the hotel.

We raised this concern both with our TUI travel representative (Julia Roberts, who was excellent throughout this process), and the reception at the hotel and filled out a security report as instructed. We waited 30 minites for a member of the security team who simply seemed disinterested and didn't speak to us directly and left everything down to the receptionist.

We certainly feel like the whole process was dealt with unprofessionally by the Riu staff. We were told to return 24 hours later when the staff would have hoped to have found the missing cash. Unfortunately when we returned we were passed to a member of the Public Relations team who explained she felt the situation was very 'uncomfortable' and the process was over.

We were disappointed that the PR rep from Riu did not once offer an apology. Again, dealt with unprofessionally.

This is a real shame as up until that incident we were very impressed by the hotel, the staff (especially bar staff who clearly work very hard), and the area. It is definitely an area we want to come back to, but unfortunately it will not be at a Riu.

The PR rep advised by contacting yourselves we would be able to get more information about the incident.

Above all, i hope our feedback is taken on board for future incidents of this nature as we would not wish for this to happen to another guest.

Kind Regards

Ryan Hemmings & Katrina Small

My partner and I have just returned from a two week holiday at the riu tikida palace in Agadir, as we had been there the year before, we were truly looking forward to it. our experience this year was terrible, the service we received during our stay was none existant, the food was not cooked properly, for example we had raw meat and part cooked eggs on more than one occasion. we both came down with food poisoning in the first week and did not eat for two days, we did report this to the Thomson rep chris who tried to blame everything but the food, I even called the matre d to look at the part cooked meat on my partners plate. when we did go down for breakfast it took the waiting on staff nearly 10 mins before they came and asked us what we wanted to drink, we asked for orange juice and tea for two, when we went to get our food we came back to, two pots of tea( no milk) and no orange juice or cups, we even had times were we had no cutlery, we mentioned this to the rep who said ( did you ask the waiter for them ) we should not have to do that in a 5* hotel. we had cockroaches in the resturants, even in the a la carte, we saw a rat running around on the terrace in the evening, we know that other people complained to the rep about the food as there were many people ill. the staff act as if they don't want to be there and are very rude, with the exeption of Rashid and calida, last year I could truly say that this hotel was a 5*, this year I would not even give it a 2*, we had construction work going on during the day ( in high season )? that should not happen, as if things could not get any worse the private transfere that we had paid for did not arrive and the rep natashia had to phone round to find out what was going on, they eventually sent a mini bus for us, we paid £2329.00 for this holiday and it was a complete nightmare, we will never return to morocco or that hotel as we don't believe that we received the 5* experience that we paid for. we think that this hotel needs an unannounced visit as it has gone down hill in the last 12 months and we feel that we have wasted a lot of money, and to top it all off the plane was delayed coming back and by the time we got home we had been on the go for 24hrs. IMPRESSED I think not

I stayed at the riu Cancun from the 31/05/2017- 14/06/2017 I reported to the manager that we had had 3000 mexican pesos go missing from the safe which his resp onse was it's impossible I told him the check my safe on which he did but when he did do it the safe was telling him it hasn't been opened since the 24/12/2016 even though we had used it most of the holiday he then told us we must have lost the money but we assured him we hadn't to which he pretty much accused us of lying but the group of people we sat with at the pool also reported money stolen and even one couple were given their money back but they were on their 4th visit to the hotel implying they were telling the truth but even trip advisor states money is constantly stolen in this hotel.

I recently booked and have been on two holidays with TUI to stay at two riu hotels the first departing 20/05/2017 to the Dominican republic riu merengue for two weeks and the second just 1 day later departing 5/06/2017 to morocco riu tikida gardens. The riu merengue was brilliant except two things the first being be food was awful, almost inedible and extremely repetitive. The second being that for the full second week of our holiday the pool was shut I understand that the work needed to be done but we were not informed of this either before or during are holiday it was only when we asked about it that we were told I should be shut for no more than 2 days. The following week in morocco was horrific the worst holiday I have been on the food was extremely limited and if you don't like spices in food you were screwed, as all inclusive I was expecting some range of food. The animation ten gave little to no effort with most people, some even complaining that they hate their job. The air conditioning in our room did not work despite reporting it twice, meaning that we had little to no sleep the entire week, even to have the door open all you can hear is barking dogs. This resulted in us having to cancel excursions we had booked as we were to tired to attend. So as you can imagine after 3 consecutive weeks of little too nothing to eat, extreme lack of sleep. Overall not the best 3 weeks despite being in two different countries in two of your hotels.

Reference room and flight no- 4368083, 371, TOM 606 morocco refrence room and flight no- 4170540, 1616 TOM 085 Dominican Republic

My client -Mathew Pleasant- booked a anniversary vacation to the Riu Santa Fe in Los Cabos MX dates: June 8-June 12th.
He paid over $2700.00 for this special occasion and was totally unsatisfied with everything. You advertise the hotel as a 5 star resort and totally under deliver. The staff was rude and unaccommodating. I called the hotel twice myself to assist my client and was met with indifference. The hotel staff would not even give me their names. On Saturday, June 10th, Money was also stolen from the room I called again and insisted that the person gives me a name. I spoke with Martin. When I contacted my client to let them know to go and file a complaint however, there was nothing done about it. I am a part of a large travel consortium that refers our clients to your hotels worldwide and after this experience from my client I am not sure I will continue to send my clients to any of your resorts.
Sharon Guillory
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