RIU Hotels & Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

Disappointed “Never Again!”

The first thing i would like to mention that this resort should not be sold
as 5star hotel .

The hotel Group does cheap deals for local people who can book all weekend
or just one day stay for 60$...

Resort is over loaded with people and security cant cope with this.

During our stay we often observed inappropriate behavior like urinating in =
the pool anf other inapropriate behaviours by local guests.
My main complaint though is about a very bad incident tbat happened to us.
The details of this are the following:

On May 19/6/2017 in the middle of the night around 3am some people came to
our room true balcony on 1st floor and still our phones and money
(180$)when we been sleeping there.When we wake up around 6.30am we realise
d that they missing and we reported to the managment of the hotel. We insis
ted to call police witch they did.This took next few hours (9 hours) for po
lice to arrived.When finally officers arrived they took report but they did
nt show much intrest in our case.When we asked for copy of report they didn
t want to give it to us and they said they will deliver this paper to recep
tion in next few days.

After police left we spoke with Hotel manager and he said that they have s
ituations like that because lots of locals coming for one or two days stay
and they do like he called, , Inside jobs, , stealing peoples belongings.

We also informed our REP from thomson but we didnt get more help.

We try to chase managment and our REP for copy of the report from police or
at least copy of report from security in the hotel but no one want to tal
k to us, staff been really rude and everyone was avoiding us.

Finally i forced them to print out report but they gave me just piece of pa
per without any information and manager refused to sign this.

Day buy day they were feeding us with stories why police didnt deliver repo
rt yet.

In the end on our last day we spoke with our ReP and she said that police r
efused to give us report because they had feeling that we dont tell the tr
uth...

And we end up with nothing..

All of the people we deal with been rude, unprofessional and they treated
us like a criminals.We didnt get any help.

Because of this what happened our holiday was totaly destroyed, we are very
disappointed

As I seen on the news that a girl was raped at the resort I stayed at on january 2017, riu republica in the dominican republic.

I wrote sunwing a complaint the day I was checking out, in the lobby of the riu republic, on my mobile device in regard to the staffs behaviour and the over all experience I received. I travel a lot I have never experienced such disrespect that I received at this resort.

My giri friend was being grabbed and hit on consistently at the resort by staff members in the restaurant and by the pool.

I got into an altercation with a nexus employee and was bullied by the resort and valet, cursed at, disrespected, then told I was not allowed to see a manager?!

I wrote a complaint to sunwing in regards to these issues and I got brushed off like there was no issue to begin. (Sunwing does not put the customer first)

Today I wrote sunwing a reply to my complaint email because now I am very concerned because I know what was going on at the riu republica was unprofessional and unethical.

After reading about tourists being raped and sexually harassed, like my girlfriend was hurassed and there is no manager to talk to then what do you do?

I would appreciate an apology for the worst vacation and experience of my life to me and my girlfriend from riu and sunwing

Advised management about drunk and disorderly conduct of people screaming, fighting, banging on our door. I Called desk and asked for security . No one came or even bothered to phone us back to see if we were alright . Two days later Custom relation person named Elizabeth phoned to ask about our complaints.
Two women staying at resort were very threatening towards me and my traveling partner . They were saying that we took their chairs that they had saved leaving a towel . Security was called over and they were no help at all they were all talking Mexican pointing and yelling at us . Later the Mexican women were video taping us.
Again Elizabeth was called to try and sort the situation out .
I feel that I was not safe at the Riu Vallarta.
We were told to contact the general manager Raul Pedregal when we arrived home.

My Riu Class # is: [protected].
It started upon my arrival on May 21st, 2017. I made my reservations with specific requests 3 months before arriving at the Riu Palace Mexico. After making the reservations, I emailed the Director Miguel Rossello to inform him of my requests. I also emailed him 1 week prior to arrival just as a reminder. One of my requests was for a room overlooking or close to the pool so I didn't have to walk much due to a bad knee issue. The next request was for a late check out since we were not being picked up until 2 p.m. When I arrived, they told me that I had received a free upgrade. When I got to the room, 2053, I didn't consider it an upgrade and it wasn't as close to the pool area as I had requested. When I questioned this, all I kept hearing was it was due to availability. This was not my 1st time here at this particular Riu. I have staying here on and off for 15 years. I was speaking on the phone with one of the front desk attendants, Jose, about how I wasn't happy with this room and he hung up on me! I then went down in person to the front desk and I told this to the supervisor in charge. I told him that this was poor customer service. I, also, said that availability to me means that if you booked a room for example a week or two before, then you would receive what was available at that time. Again, I booked a room 3 months prior! That particular room should have been available at the time of booking! I had even requested that if an upgrade was necessary to get that room, that I would use whatever points I had left plus cash if needed. They would not honor my requests. I finally got to meet and speak with the Director and explained my disappointment. I truly thought he understood. I, as previously mentioned, asked for a late check out, not once, not twice, not 3 times, but 4 times! I was told that I would hear something the morning of my departure. When I hadn't heard anything by about 11 a.m., I, again, went to the front desk and was told by the supervisor that I couldn't have it. I asked to speak with Mr. Rossello who came out and told me that because of "availability" (there's that word again!) that it was impossible to grant it to me. I told him that I had requested this several times thinking that he would be so kind as to give me the late checkout, but, no, he was too stubborn to make any exception. In my opinion, he showed poor managerial skills. This whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth so much so that I'm not sure I would even want to return to the Riu Palace Mexico. That in itself is a travesty since this is the very 1st Riu I had ever been to with my husband who passed away in 2015. We both loved this hotel so much that we even introduced it to friends of ours who, also, loved it. Maybe they won't like it as much now after I share this experience with them. I suppose if you ask me what a desirable resolution would be, I would probably say that if I were to return to the Riu again, that any future requests I ask for would be honored respectfully. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Nancy McConaghy

I checked into Riu Jalisco on May 19th 2017 around 4pm and had no issues at all with the check in process. I got to my room and it smelled moldy, and musty. The curtains had mold on them and the bed sheets looked like they hadn't been washed. I was willing to overlook a few things, but I soon realized the air conditioning wasn't working. When I went to the front room to let them know they sent a maintenance guy up to check it out. The maintenance guy said he figured out the problem, but nothing had been fixed the air still wasn't working. I notified the front desk and they said they would switch my room, but it took over a day to get us into a new room. We had to pack up our bags by 11am the next day and didn't get into the room till 3pm, not to mention the lobby person in charge of our bags lost them. They eventually found the baggage, but acted like it was our fault for not knowing the gentleman's name who had collected them to begin with. When we finally got to the new room it was much better, but the shower head holder was broken and fell off the wall. Nothing seemed to be going right we tried to ignore the room situation and enjoy ourselves, but even in the adults only pool there were kids everywhere splashing pool water in our drinks. The hotel was poorly ran by management and the pool was dirty. Even the pool lounge chairs had bird poop all over them. The only nice thing about this hotel was the drinks and friendly bartenders. I am very disappointed to say the least and the most disappointing part is that this hotel is advertised as a 5 star hotel. If I would have seen the reality of how disgusting this place was I would have stayed somewhere else. These are just some of the things that stood out in my mind of what went wrong there are many other things I could point out, but chose to ignore. Don't advertise 5 stars when it's a 2 star establishment. I feel as if this is not a good representation of the Riu brand and was very disappointed if I could have picked up and stayed somewhere else I would have, it just wasn't an option.

Hotel could be a good hotel but at the moment I feel like I am in a prison.
The entertainment last for 1 hour each night between 9 and 10 pm, this consist of a resident band that if we're on TV you would turn them off.
The hotel has to many staff that at meal times in the dinning room just get in the way of guests.
There is no supervision of the staff who do their best without any leadership.
Food in the restaurant is another problem, vegetables are cold and a lot of the food is not replaced quick enough even when there is not much demand.
My biggest concern is that there is nowhere or nothing to do on the long evenings.
This hotel is advertised as a 24 hour all inclusive, that is OK if you want to stay up all night drinking.

We stayed at the RIU Palace Bavaro from May 19-26 (room 1086) I don't know where to start. Let's start with the food. The service was good but the food itself was absolutely HORRIBLE! You would expect that you are in Dominican Republic and there would be some flavour. Shoot we would have settled for salt and pepper, anything. The fish was OLD and constantly OVERCOOKED, The lobster tasted like it was in storage for 10 years and then served (Ridiculously OVERCOOKED) to unsuspecting tourist. UNACCEPTABLE RIU! The Japanese restaurant made we want to throw up. The California rolls that were not eaten were removed for our table, the eaten ones replenished and placed on the next table. The wasabi was so OLD is was no longer green. The Ginger was stale. Not only was the food constantly being recycled (yes recycled), we went to dinner one night and the server asked if we were finished with the salad (which I ate from and touched because i was showing my boyfriend there was bacon in there). He did then proceeded to remove the salad and place it on another dining couples table. We were appalled and totally disgusted. The bed sheets were not changed regularly even though we specifically requested for it to be changed. instead they came in and made the bed. Our time is not up but we are completely disgusted and can't wait to see the back of this disgusting hotel. You should not be robbing people the way you are. Taking hard earn dollars and promising an amazing vacation when all we were faced with the disgust after disgust. The pool was so dirty my son developed a skin rash from being in the pool. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCES! I request a full refund but I know no one cares about these reviews! If you did our experience would not be as Horrible!

RIU membership number – [protected]
5th May 2017 – Monday 15th May 2017
Riu Reggae, Montego Bay. 3 Adults
We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by staff who were extremely helpful. We checked in and enquired if there might be a possible upgrade available as it was my friends 50th birthday celebrations.
The lady on reception (Elaine) had a look and said that she could move us to the courtyard, this would be quitter and a nicer view. She said that she would organise for the sofa bed to be brought across to us.
We proceeded to our room and found this to be more than satisfactory on arrival. We unpacked our cases and went about the resort to see where everything was etc.
We arrived back at the room to change for dinner and discovered that we still had no bed. We also noticed that the optics were empty and that we only had two glasses, two towels, two facecloths, two robes etc.
We went down to reception to report this and were told that they were working on it.
We went to dinner and on arrival back at the room we still had none of the above, we rang reception and they said that they were still working on it. Bearing in mind we had been travelling for over 22hrs we were all extremely tired. We retired to bed – 3 adults sharing the two beds. I slept in the middle which was hot, uncomfortable and really not acceptable.
The following morning I went down to reception to be told “my lady, we are working on getting you a bed today”. I asked where the bed had gone that was in the original room – only to be told that this had been reallocated! I then mentioned that we only had two of everything in the room and that we needed three.
We went off for the day but on arrival back at the room nothing had been done at all. No optics, no extra towels, no third glass. We rang reception again only to be told that there wouldn’t be a bed available for tonight! I mentioned the laundry and optics and again was told that this would be sorted out.
The bar services man arrived, filled our optics and even went and filled our ice bucket for us which was very kind
The housekeeping maid arrived, documented what items we needed and said she would bring them back but we didn’t see her again!
As we couldn’t face another night of three in a bed, I slept on the concrete floor on a blue fluffy blanket from the top of the wardrobe with a sheet off the main bed! This is totally unacceptable.
I again visited reception and spoke to Jermal who listened and apologised and said he was working on getting a bed, I showed him a picture of where I slept and he was appalled and reassured me that a bed would be found. I explained about the housekeeping and lack of supplies.
We went off for the day and on arrival back at teatime we were thrilled to see a bed, the optics replenished and all laundry items that we needed! We really thought we had cracked it!
Monday – Housekeeping cleaned the room and left only two of everything again – bearing in mind we had a bed so it was pretty obvious that there was three in the room. Another call to reception – supplies never arrived.
Tuesday – we left a note for housekeeping in the room and perfect, we had three of everything but no water in the fridge at all
Thursday – housekeeping – we had three of everything but no facecloths! Another call made
Friday – housekeeping – only two bath towels and no pillow cases on any of the beds? All just left with no covers at all
Saturday – No sheets or blanket on the third bed – starting to now lose the will to live!
As you can see when you recommend a venue to your friends like I have, after staying in heaps of Riu resorts (only joining the Riu card recently) I feel totally embarrassed by the stay that we have had. I know it’s a new resort, I know that there was a terrible accident prior to our stay and that there will be teething problems but the above issues are basics? Its not hard to have three towels? Three glasses? A sheet on the bed?
I am due to be at another Riu resort in September, we have visited before but I am now slightly nervous about this as the holidays aren’t cheap and we do save extremely hard to have our breaks away. Reggae and Jamaica on the whole is a wonderful setting and place and could really be smashing but basics need to be addressed
I very much look forward to hearing from you

Dear RIU Corporation
Up until recently we have enjoyed vacationing at RIU Resorts. Unfortunately, after our vacation May 13-20, 2017 our views have changed. The RIU Palace Resort in Punta Canta, Dominican Republic did not turn out enjoyable. We have been to multiple RIU establishments because of the service, spas, entertainment, restaurants, and accommodations. We went to celebrate a 60th birthday and mother’s day. I will share our continuous dreadful experiences and am respectfully requesting a reasonable credit voucher to another RIU for future travel. I have included our receipt to document we paid over $330 per night for all-inclusive, suite for six nights. Online the palace is beautiful, that is deceptive.
The problematic events started when the Bell Hop was paid $20 in advance to deliver our luggage to suite 3031, after 55 minutes, we went down to retrieve it ourselves. Mind you upon 4 PM arrival there was only seven bags in the lobby and three of them belonged to us. We saw the Bellman and he was chatting with other colleagues and never stopped to offer assistance. While in the largest suite on the resort we were out on the balcony which has three levels, the housekeeper came in the room for night turn downs and locked us out on the balcony and left. Needless to say we had to scream at passing guest for assistance. When the maintenance man arrived, he acted as though our frustrations interfered with his time. When I called to the front desk requesting the manager on duty come see us, the request was never answered. At 9 pm, I went to find the manager’s office. Once announce he already was aware of the events that took place and his response was “Everybody is Happy to stay here and he has had no complaints” and said the maid was worried for her job? I shared with the gentlemen, who appeared to be undisturbed by the days unwelcoming actions, that I needed for him to fix things swiftly because the vacation was a big event for us. I asked him again to come to the room and speak with us, but he never honored the request. He did send flowers and moved us to another room away from housekeeper.

The establishment is old, outdated, physically and medically unsafe for heart and respiratory patients. Our rooms contained visible mold on the vents, curtain liners, elevator was inoperable for two days. We were moved from suite 3031, ocean view to suite 3043 ocean front. Suite 3043 had an awesome view but it was miserable trying to enjoy the balconies view due to the major construction site next door from 7 AM - 9 PM each day except Thursday and Friday. Each day the ocean sounds were over powered by the sounds of concrete trucks, cranes, dump trucks, welding, and crew members. A positive note, Housekeeper Carmen did an excellent job maintaining the room, she was very pleasant and helpful to our needs.
The chefs should be commended on crafting meals with substandard ingredients. They worked magic at presentation but the food was not appetizing most days. The omelet station had a roach crawling in the plates in the warmer. One night I consumed fried chicken only to get to the end to discover it was raw with noticeable blood. I soon discovered the proteins, vegetables, and potatoes that were not consumed the day before were presented the following day with a gravy, barbeque, red sauce or as a stew. The only reason to eat at the buffet was to receive the irresistible customer service from the waiters, Michael, Anny and Margarita. They made mealtime relaxed with their outstanding service. My husband over tipped them each meal because they truly have the message that customer service is paramount. The sports bar should be condemned, along with the ten machine slots

My final disbelief was our pedicures, the staff did a great job but I was so depressed that my pedicure was conducted in a store brought home style foot bowl, because they only have one Pedi-tub, which my husband utilized. You all charged $40 each for this service but don’t have the proper spa equipment.

As you can read the based on this last experience plenty of things went wrong and I am quite sure I am not willing to return to the RIU Palace under such dreadful and disappointing conditions. Our overall experience at this location was not near what we have come to expect from RIU Resorts. Again, I am asking for some sort of restitution for the disappointing stay. I would strongly encourage RIU Corporate Leadership to visit this location unannounced to experience the poor conditions and consider immediate renovations.

We stayed in the Riu Sante Fe in Cabo on 5/1-5/6/17. This vacation was booked through Cheap Caribbean. Our room number was 2218

On the evening of 5/2 I stepped into the shower which had been turned on to warm up the water. I immediately slipped on the tub floor which did not have any protective grippers to prevent falls. I fell on my back hitting my head and re-injured my left rotator cuff. I was briefly unconscious but with the help of my wife was placed in bed for the remainder of the evening. We reported the incident to local management who did nothing for us.

As a result of the pain which persisted for the entire stay, we were not able to enjoy any of the amenities of the resort including the pool and only occasionally left our room. I took aspirin etc. for days but it did nothing for the shoulder pain.

Our anniversary trip was ruined all because a simple safety precaution had not been followed. I have included pictures of the tub. I am not sure if I will need surgery to repair my shoulder but am seeing a doctor as well as our attorney to discuss our options.

We have enjoyed Riu Resorts in the past and would like to continue to, however we feel we did not receive any value or enjoyment for our money from this vacation with you. We expect Riu Resorts to do the right thing here and we would love to try again to enjoy our anniversary with Riu. We think the only fair resolution would be for Riu to provide us with a replacement trip of comparable value to one of your resorts of our choosing. I would prefer not to escalate this to our attorney who will undoubtedly press for a more costly resolution.
Please notify me as soon as you can of your plans to resolve this issue as efficiently as possible for both of us.

Very sincerely, John G. Elliott, III CPA

We stayed at the Riu Clubhotel Funana in Cape Verde from Dec23rd 16 till Jan06th 17.
When we made our booking through Thomson in Feb 16 the hotel was called the Garopa and was closed in June to be refurbished and when it reopened in November it was renamed Funana. Also at the time of booking it was joined to the other Riu hotel and both hotels had full access to each other, including bars, restaurants and pools, but when they both reopened our hotel was graded lower than the other one (now renamed Palace Cabo Verde) and we were barred by security guards from entering any part of that hotel.

Our biggest complaint tho is because of an accident that happened to my partner due to poor maintenance and build quality to the bar area in the pool. Whilst leaning against one of the bar tables in the pool, a 5ft long piece of marble fell off the side of the table and landed on her ankle and foot resulting in being taken to the hospital in a wheelchair and having to endure xrays, tablets and injections. Also because of the pain and swelling it meant she couldn't go on pre booked tours or go into the pool for the remainder of the holiday. We took pictures of everything and will take it further with them.

I am currently still on holiday in Cape Verde and whilst staying at the riu Touareg, I had £150 and €85 stolen from mine and my brothers room next door. The rooms are secure and can only be accessed by staff. I spoke to the manager and the police were involved, I have a police report for the missing money. The police informed us they have a suspect but I have heard no more. And as I am going home tomorrow morning (and looking forward to it) I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't hear any more from them. It seems to be a fairly common problem with staff letting themselves into guests rooms whilst they are out and helping themselves to the contents of the wallets. The manager said he couldn't give us our money back, and the insurance excess is more than what was stolen. I find totally unacceptable that if a guests money is stolen, we just have to accept that it is gone and we won't be getting it back! I want to know what riu will be doing to compensate myself and my brother for our stolen money.

Hello joe w here stayed in Dom few weeks back nice place bit there is a casino operating inside called the diamond casino and has riu resort name n pay tickets so here's my complaint 2 white guys in there operating it and they are jus robing people I wuz fortunately and only lost 1800 hundred after returning home got online and some people lost 30000 tho us and and it's all fixed did my home work and the riu seems not care so I'm write g this probably won't do no good I expect a call back or something and if not I have alredi booked another trip at riu and if I here no response from u all I will be packing about ten pounds of hydraulic cement and they can do a Lil work on there plumbing so what I'm trying 2 say is full riu u r jus as liable as the 2 guys robin g people.

I am due to stay at above hotel in 3 weeks and am concerned about the negative reviews on the reopening of this newly refurbished hotel.can you please look into these comments and check with the hotel.i look forward to receiving a reply from you as soon as possible.thomson are class in it ad a atinum hotel and with these reviews it doesn.t seem like it

My husband and I arrive around 12pm on Sat April 22 2017. We were told our room wasn't ready so we went to eat and walk around. We came back after 2hrs and it still wasn't ready so we went to our suit case and got our bathing suits on. I put my phone in my jacket and put it in the suit case. A couple of hours later our room was ready so we went to our room and I found my phone was missing. I went to the front desk to ask if a phone was turned in and no. I went everyday to the desk 2 times a day and the manager just looked at me and said no. He didn't even go and look. He said he looked at the camera and didn't see anyone going in my suit case. Well how does he know which one was mine cause there was close to a 100 suit cases there that day. I had no way of getting a hold of my family and my phone was my camera. I lost all my pictures which meant the most to me on my phone. I talked to others staying there and they said they had staff use there products or take stuff. It is sickening to know this happens. Now I have to go and buy a new phone and start all over.
So my first time at a Riu was not good at all. Very upsetting and disappointed. This was the first time in 25yrs we got to go on a vacation by our self. I would like to give Riu another chance, so maybe a week stay for free would be nice.
Thank you for reading my complaint.
Dawn Seebauer

Security worker from Riu Cancun saw my friend walking back drunk to hotel and took advantage by calling police to arrest and demanding $300 USD to split between the cop and worker to release my friend. HORRIBLE. We stayed here from April 20-23 of 2017 room 355. I made a complaint to the front desk and was told it would be adressed and I would get a call back. I havent heard anything.

I just got back from Aruba and stayed at the RIU Antilles Aruba hotels and resort. And it was the worst experience ever. I went for a wedding and I was having dinner following the wedding and I was drinking a soda and the glass broke in my hand and spilled all over my clothing. The Director/Hotel Manger Justin Carson (Assistant General Manager) was aware of the accident and never one time came and spoke with me. I went and changed my clothes and request for the manager of the hotel and they told me he was gone for the day and they forwarded the picture to him and made me an appointment for the next day. I then went to the front desk and ask to speak with the doctor on call they called and the doctor gave me direction and told me to drink a lot fluids because this would help if by any chance I had drunk pieces of the glass. I then got out of bed and went to see the manger the next morning and he was very rude, not sympathetic and not professionally for that matter he didn't do anything for me. As we began talking he kept talking about issues that he was having with the people whose wedding I was attending. Which I explained to him several times that I didn't have anything to do with me. And what happen to me was a result of his negligence of the hotel and didn't have anything to do with the hotel. I was very upset and now become very stressed about this event because the manger even went to so far to defamation of my character. As I was telling him how I disappointed how no one including him never check on me never said one word to me after this incident. He then stated how he was upset as well and I asked him what could he have been upset about he said because he received a phone call stating that I was acting irate and screaming in the restaurant asking for manager. I then asked him did a customer or guest tell him that he said no it was one of his employees. I then told him that he wouldn't play that game to try to make me the bad guy because he wasn't doing his job. I explained to him that I didn't not one time yell or scream in the restaurant so don't associate that with my name. I then explain to him that I went to directly to the food manager and ask to speak to him since no one ever came over to speak with me. That was the last inappropriate thing he said to me as a director/hotel manager for me because I am the guest and this happen to me because of the neglect of the hotel. The manger didn't offer me anything for what happen to me. The only thing he gave me disgraceful meeting. I don't understand how a company Rio Hotel and Resort where they charge $500 and night treat their costumer the way I was treated. I upset because after that incident my trip was ruined. I tried to so hard to continue to have fun but it was even harder for me because I was there for two different party I originally came for a wedding that was about 18 ppl and I was then was a planner and set up a trip my aunts 60th birthday which was about 15 ppl which was also at the hotel and stayed because of me. But the funny is thing was after the incident they could tell that he was treating me different or ppl associated with me were treated different. For examples, one group was eating dinner in the buffet and Justin Carson (Assistant General Manager) came over so nice getting them drink fine. I was at the next table with my husband and walked right pass me. The next day some of my family member and myself were sitting at the table he went to table next to us making sure they were ok and too see if they needed anything and then walked right pass us. My husband said how when he would see the manager while he was alone on several occasions he would give him a hand shake and talk to him and make sure he was good and once he saw us together he no longer did that. So many people that were with me felt like that they were getting treated different when with me which isn't fair and unacceptable because I didn't do anything wrong. With that being said, I have spoken to my family lawyer and said that I have a call case for personal injury due to hotel, and defamation of charter from your Assistant Manger. Since I am writing this letter to cooperate I would like to hear a response in a timely manner. If I don't receive a response or hear anything from RIU I will then contact my lawyer and begin with legal action. With the letter, I will include attachment of pictures from the event and I will enclose of the picture that we concerning from the hotel.

To whom it may concern
It has been almost a year and no resolution! I could have sued for my foot / leg. I did not because you said you would rectify the situation. Riu then agreed to compensate us and our party 4 nights and still 1 year later riu has not rectified the situation. I will now be forced to take legal action. It is disgraceful if this is how you treat your customers. I will be reviewing the riu antillas aruba everwhere on the internet and reporting to better business bureau. I fell down your stairs in a power outage that went on for 4 days. I just about got an icepack that they took my room number so i would return it or be charged. There was no communication from management and the manager justin was a disgrace and got into almost physical altercations! There were no emergency lights. Just a glow stick. We had to eat outside hotel. Just miserable and you wont do the right thing. I am appalled and im sure others will be too
Sincerely Richard and Dawn Boccia

I recently stayed at the Riu Palace Antilles the week of April 1-8, 2017. I loved the resort, the cleanliness of the resort, and the staff were very friendly. The food was excellent. However, there were many issues with the fire alarm. I was awoken at 1:30 am Wednesday morning to the power going out. Shortly after, the fire alarm went off for about a minute then shut off. This happened 4-5 times, approximately every 5 minutes. I then heard doors opening so went to check it out. We all started talking, as we were on the 16th floor, wondering if we should go down to the lobby as the alarm went on again continuously. Called the front desk with no answer, so we all decided to go down. Unfortunately I have a torn meniscus in my right knee which made it almost impossible to take the stairs, but had to walk down 16 flights of stairs as we could not use the elevators. When we got down there we inquired as to what was happening but staff had no answers for us. We sat in the lobby for almost 2 hours waiting to find out if we could go back to our rooms. Finally I went to ask, and was told by staff that yes we could go back to our rooms. The alarm had been shut off. This was very concerning, as we did not know the reason behind the alarm and again we were on the 16th floor. We finally fell asleep to be awoken at 6:04 am for a wake-up call that we never asked for. When I went to the desk later that morning to complain, I was told that management would get back to me. They never did. The alarm again went off on Wednesday evening at 7:15 pm while I was getting ready for dinner. I ignored the alarm and finished getting ready. The alarm was still on when I left at 7:30 pm. The alarm was no longer on when I arrived back to my room at 10:00. Thursday night after we were back in our room the alarm went off yet again at 10:15 pm, which awoke my husband. The alarm just went off and on for about a half hour. On Friday night after being out by the pool all day, returned to the room to the alarm going off again around 6:15 pm. This all was very disturbing because there were no answers. We were not compensated in any way for this long week disturbance. As I've stayed at Riu's in the past and am staying in the new Riu Reggae May 6th for the week, I would like some compensation for this issue that didn't seem to resolve the whole week. Please respond as to how you will be compensating me.

To whom it may concern

My name is Deborah Nixon and my traveling partner name is Wanda McNeal.  Over the last 10 years we've traveled to several carrwbean beach resorts to celebrate our birthdays  (April 13th & 15th). In our travels we heard positive reviews about Aruba which made us eager to visit there.   For the last three years we've tried to reserve at Arubas #1 beach resort Riu Palace Aruba  but it was always booked.   So imagine how excited we were when we finally were able to successfully book our stay at Riu Palace Aruba this year.

Upon checking into the hotel on April 12, 2017, to our dismay & great disappointment we were told that the Riu Palace Aruba was over booked and that we were being transferred to the Riu Palace Antillas.  We explained to Johnathan and other front desk staff that we were celebrating our birthdays & that we've tried for last 3 yrs to book Riu Palace Aruba and really wanted the room we paid for.  Unfortunately they still couldnt help us.  Imagine how we felt hearing that nothing could be done.

On Wednesday after giving us the dossapoimting news & before transferring us to Riu Antillas, Johnathan told us that we would get a comp voucher for a week stay at any Riu in the world, with no restrictions or black out dates. We were asked to return to Riu Palace Aruba front desk next day Thursday at 12:30 p.m. to get our vouchers.

We went as directed on Thursday and was told both times that sum vouchers had printed out but not ours.  We returned again on Friday and spoke to Sylvia who said they didnt have them yet. Johnathan had told her the vouchers come from Mexico and that the guy who sends them to the hotel was gone for the dat.  Later Friday we spoke to the front desk manager Josue Santana who advised us he been with Riu 10 years.  He mentioned that due to the holiday the voucher office was closed until Monday May 17, 2017.  He asked Wanda for her email and assured us that the vouchers would be emailed to her on Monday. Wanda spoke to Johnathan one last time on Sunday morning before our departure, he assured her that we would get our vouchers.  We went a total of 5 times during our 5 day stay spending a lot of our vacation time trying to get our vouchers.  As of Tuesday April 18th we still have not received our vouchers.

We were told that we'd have one of the best rooms at Riu Palace Antillas on the 14th floor.  We asked if it was ocean front and was told that all the ocean front rooms were occupied but that we instead would have an ocean view.

We were given room 1409.  If this was considered the best room I'd hate to see what the worst room look like.  This room was nothing like what we paid for.  Our reservations at Riu Palace Aruba was for a beautiful ocean front, double sink, separate bathrooms, jacuzzi tub, separate living space all with marble with a large terrace style room.

Instead we got a room that did not have a ocean view at all, we actually could only see the back of the builfing we were suppose to be in.  That mean everytime we went on our balcony we had to relive the disappointment of being displaced.  Our room had 3 different floorings.  Marble thresholds at the door entrance, marble threshold at bedroom entrance, tile floor in entrance foyer and fake wood style tile inside bedroom.  The room was overall very dated and did not come with an alarm clock ipod ready radio like the room we had reserved.  In fact it had no alarm clock at all.

The ceiling above our mini bar was leaking.  We had to place a coffee cup there to catch the water.  Maintenance never took care of it.  The next day Housekeeper bust the leak & peeled off the damaged plaster  Maintenence should have taken proper action to inspect where leak was coming from n repaired it.

The bathroom had one sink, a small basic tub that was very stained.  The ceiling in front of the sink had some sort of fungus growing on the ceiling.  Our toilet overflowed on Saturday.  Maintenance came and plunged it and left.  He didn't nor was housekeeping sent to clean all the water on floor from the overflowed toilet. We never had enough towels.  They only gave us 2 face towels.  That mean we had to wash our face and body with  same towel.  Although housekeeping stopped by daily to see if we needed more, they never had any face towels.  We would have to wait while they tried to get more

On Saturday we never got new towels so Sunday morning before 8a.m. we called for new towels.  Needless to say no one came.  We had to resort to washing ourselves using the body dry towels.

On Saturday on our way into town we met a lady name Keia Kennedy.  She stayed in room 708.  She also checked in on Wednesday  (same day as us) but after we did.  However she was able to change her room to a ocean front and her view was of the pool and ocean.  That mean the Riu Antillas staff wasn't truthful in telling us they were all taken.  During the bus ride I shared with Keia our experience of being changed to the hotel she was at.  During this conversation a lady interrupted and said verbatim "Oh that happens all the time.  When Antillas over book we send guest to the Palace and when the Palace over book they send to us at Antillas".  I asked her who she was and how she know this? She said she works for housekeeping on the 15th floor.  When I told her my room number her response was "Oh they put you guys on that side...all you can see is the back of the other building".  Her statements validated for me that she did work their because she described the view same as I had.

Keep in mind that we've stayed at Riu hotels & resorts on several of our vacations and until this one has always had a great experience.  Riu had become our top pick for resorts to stay at.

This vacation did not live up to the experiences that we've come to love.  We are used to staff being very friendly, helpful, continously checking to see if we need anything but not here at either of the hotels.  Wanda thought we were perhaps being discriminated against until another Caucasian guest came to us at the pool telling us that her experience so far wasn't good either.  Her and her husband arrived on that Thursday.  She said she was at the pool for about an hour empty handed and no staff came to see about her. 

The poolside entertainment was an epic fail.  What is a pool party if no one was in the pool?  We booked 3 excursions 2 of which were great, we had a ball.  However after being told that the DePalm Island was geared for children, the water down drinks & subpar food.  We tried to get a refund early Friday morning but was told we couldn't.  No where on the receipt or anywhere at the booking stations did it say all sales are final.  We purchased on Thursday and asked for refund less than 24hrs later and feel it should have been honored.  Instead we waisted our full Saturday somewhere we didn't want to go.  Our experience was the same as the people from another resort said it was.

The club mostly played music from the 80's even when the crowd was younger peers. Even the seniors would leave because the DJ was horrible.

This was our worst vacation yet, we spent most of our time "putting out fires" trying to get resolution to unresolved issues to no avail.  Based on what your employee stated it is obvious that it is not uncommon for either hotel to be over booked.

Our vacation was paid in advance and we was out of the country n stuck with taking whatever we were given.  Knowing that this is a common practice makes me sick to my stomach.  It should not be a routine to purposely overbook so that both hotels could be filled.  That's extremely inconsiderate for all of us that travel expecting to get what we paid for.

We are requesting for the corporate office to take action in compensating both Wanda & I for ruining our birthday and vacation.  We would like a full refund for our entire trip which we paid  $1600 each.  In addition to that we'd like to receive our week stay at Riu anywhere with no restrictions as promised by your employees Johnathan, Sylvia and Josue.  We find this request to be fair given the many inconveniences suffered.

Except on Wednesday the breakfast and dinner buffets served the same food. It took staff forever to take drink orders & to bring them back. We could never eat at the specialty restaurants because you had to get there by 6p.m. This was not possible especially when on an excursion.
Please find attached documents supporting the above-mentioned claims.  We appreciate your prompt attention in reviewing our claim & request.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely

Deborah Nixon & Wanda McNeal
Disappointed Guest of Riu Resorts in Aruba