RIU Hotels & Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

Our vacation January 16-22, 2016 to the Riu Palace Bavaro in the Dominican Republic was not enjoyable and we were not compensated or helped with the unacceptable situations.  When we booked the vacation we were looking forward to a beautiful, peaceful and all inclusive vacation which we did not receive.

It all started upon arrival to the Dominican Republic.  We booked the hotel shuttle through hotelbeds.  Finding our shuttle was close to near impossible.  We went to the kiosk and was told which bus to find out of a ton of buses and people who didn’t speak english to help us.  It took over an hour to finally find someone who could call a shuttle to pick us up.  The shuttle driver almost crashed many times speeding and weaving through traffic in order to get us to our hotel as quick as possible, rather than being concerned about our safety.

When we arrived at the hotel the bell boy took our bags up to our VIP room we paid for, room 5211.  He stood in our room waiting for a tip.  I did not have change and since the website said all gratituties were included was not prepared to tip.  However the next day I did get change and gave him a tip.  I was confused and asked the front desk about tipping and was told it was not included even thought it was on the website.  The day before we left, the director Miguel told me it was included and was up to our discretion.  

Our first room was not very clean, looked run down, there was hair on the bed, floors were dirty, the sinks overflowed that the cleaning ladies removed the stopper, mini bar was not stocked, in fact there was a open bottle of tonic water in the fridge, we paid for a ocean view room and could barely see any water and the cards to order in room breakfast were missing.  But that was not the main issues.  The deadbolt on the door did not lock and the worst was the thermostat was broken so the room did not get above 63 degrees.  So we felt unsafe at night and absolutely freezing to the point I couldn't sleep.  I made the hotel manager Enrique aware of the situation and he sent a supervisor to check on the issues.  After confirmation, he said he can move our rooms but not until the next day.  Therefore, we were forced to sleep in that room for another night.  In addition, they did not attempt to fix the issues with the room which was a VIP room we paid for.  When I asked for be upgraded if they didn’t have a comparable room, I was told he didn’t have anything available even though the hotel was very quiet and I later found out from the director Miguel that Enrique could have assisted us with an upgrade but chose not to and left us in that room.

The next day we moved our room to room 5324 without any help from the hotel.  The were no elevators and both rooms were on the 3rd floor.  The next room had issues also.  The upper rain shower was broken and sprayed water everywhere, they had painters above us who were scrapping pain on us as were sat on our balcony.  When I spoke to Enrique again he said “this doesn’t happen. I have many customers who don’t have problems like this.”  He blamed us even though all the problems were confirmed by their supervisors.  They had to fix our shower and ask the painters to stop scrapping paint on our balcony.  Again no compensation was made.  When my husband went back to the room one day, there were 5 painters in our room doing our balcony with our room door propped open.  We had no notice of painting being done on our balcony or wet paint signs.  Plus our room was open to whom even wanted to come in.  Nelson the manager said we are just painting, this happens and dismissed our concerns.

I feel the hotel was oversold online.  The casino was extremely small and dirty.  The wifi didn’t work most of the time.  The only time I was able to login repeatedly was on the balcony in my room and the lobby.  Free wifi was also marketed aggressively the same as all inclusive on the hotel website where I booked my vacation.  It was marketed as one of the newest hotels and was very run down.  I was treated with disrespect by the staff.  I do not speak Spanish but can understand it enough to hear that I was made fun of by the casino hosts for not being able to have a conversation with them.  We tried to use the other hotel cafes which were supposed to be included only to be turned down therefore were forced to only use the amenities in our hotel.  The restaurants only had a few options and the food was horrible forcing us to eat in the buffet for most meals.  One restaurant caused actually me to have a severe food allergy reaction.  I was recovering from tooth pain and asked for ibuprofen or Aleve.  They understood at the front desk what I was asking for and said they don’t have a shop that carried medicine.  So they called the pharmacy and tried to charge me $22.  The next day I found the same amount of Aleve in their gift shop with many other medications for $8.  So I felt conned and lied to. 

Overall the vacation was absolutely horrible.  From the room experiences, customer service, food, managers attitudes; I was left very disappointed.  The evening before we left I was advised to file a report with corporate and was able to speak to the director of the hotel named Miguel.  He said corporate should rectify this terrible experience and I agree.  I was also told that this situation and report was submitted to corporate on January 22nd but have not heard anything yet even though I was told corporate would contact me. I would like to be compensated for my terrible experience.

Bonjour Mr Carmen & Luis Riu
Je prends quelques minutes de votre temps pour partager avec vous l’expérience vécu par moi et ma famille le soir du 24-12-2015 alors que nous avions réservé la veille pour le soupé de Noel un table de 7 personnes.
Nous nous sommes présenté à l’heure prévue nous sommes accueilli par un employé, nous lui donnons le coupon de la réservation, une minutes plus tard il nous dit que c’est complet qu’il y a eu erreur! On nous demande alors si ont peu allée à l’autre restaurant! Nous disons comment pouvez nous nous dire d’aller ailleurs alors que nous voyons des tables libres ici. Tous l’équipe était perdu il ne savait pas quoi faire il s’est déroulé un bon 20 minutes ou nous attendions sur le bord de la porte à savoir si nous allions célébrer Noel ou pas. J’ai alors demandé le gérant de l’hôtel alors on me dit elle est à côté de vous! Je lui demande alors pourquoi si j’ai réservé d’avance je me retrouve dans une situation comme celle-ci. Alors elle quitte en direction des employés pour qu’il ajoute des chaises et monte une table pour nous, quelques minutes plus tard un serveur vient nous chercher dans l’entrée du restaurant. Aucune excuse de la part de la gérante d’hôtel comme quoi pour elle tous va bien. Une fois assis le serveur prend nos commandes et la soirée commence les entrés sont arrivé et ensuite les repas ont c’est dit wow! rapide le serveur venait de prendre nos commandes mais aucune cuisson est comme ont la demandé! Alors ont ce dit ont fait avec mais alors que la table à côté de nous reçoit ces assiettes les serveurs s’aperçoives qu’ils nous ont donné les assiettes de la table à côté de nous! Ensuite pour le dessert on avait commandé un gâteau pour l’anniversaire de ma fille ont c’est dit le dessert sera correcte mais deviné ils ont perdu le gâteau il semble que le gâteau es été acheminé a un autre restaurant de l’hôtel.
Ce que je me pose comme question pourquoi votre gérante d’hôtel n’a pas fait le point et s’excusé et ensuite s’assurer que le reste de notre repas soit sans problème. A la sortie du restaurant nous l’avons croisé bien assit sur le bord d’une fenêtre avec assistante directrice l’aire fatigué à rire….
Le rêve de 14000$ Can pour 7 jours que nous avons déboursé pour célébrer le réveillons de Noel au Mexique en famille est devenu un cauchemar sans compté que notre chambre qui se trouvait à côté de l’autre hôtel qui jouait de la musique jusqu’à 23h00 qui nous empêchait de dormir.
En résumé ce que nous avons comme impression est WOW quelle équipe RIU nous somment des clients fidèle de la chaîne H10 mais pour cette destination on nous a vendu le rêve RIU qui en bout ligne est devenu un cauchemar de 14000$.
J’espère avoir des nouvelles de vous et un dédommagement.
Merci de l’attention porté à la demande.

Sylvain & Sylvie Côté du Canada
1407 Maurice Cullen Blainvile Qc Canada J7C-5C5.

We have stayed at Riu Belplaya twice now. The first time was Christmas 2014 and again this Christmas. Christmas 2014 was superb so we booked for 2015 bringing friends along. All went well until the last day of our stsy when my husband found that 100 euros had disappeared from our wallet in the safe. We checked to see if anything else had been taken but all seemed well. My husband had left the safe key at the back of the top drawer next to the bed. He accepts that it was silly to leave it in the room but did not expect anybody to go looking in the drawers. We went to report the loss from room 141 to the receptionist to be told by her that it was impossible for the money to have gone. My husband asked her if she was calling him a liar her only response was to call the manager. We explained the loss to him and he straight away replied that it was impossible for the money to have been stolen. My husband once again asked if he was beong called a liar whereupon the manager turned his back and walked off. At no time was any statement made or taken by the staff we were spoken to in the middle of a busy reception area and our complaint dismissed as if we were children playing a prank. We were disappointed both by the reaction of the staff who did not listen to any explanation from us and their implication that we were liars. We are mjust asking for our complaint to be noted and the fact the holiday was completely spoilt by the management's action.

On nov-20 i've checked in at the palace riviera maya and after dinner i've went to my room carrying my 7 year old daughter whit me and as i enter the room there was a puddle of water do to the air conditioning leak in witch i've slipped and fall on my back carrying my daughter we've call the receptionists witch the responded immediately and asked me if i was ok witch i responded that i was on a little pain but thinking i'll get better but that night i had more pain and by the next morning they send me to see the doctor at the riu playa car after the doctor seen me she prescribed pain medicine and icy hot and told me that if my pain increases to go back in 2 days i had more pain but just thinking that i was sore and didn't want to loose no more time on my vacations i've checked out on the 25 and flue to guadalajara but that night i was more in pain so i decided to go get x-rays the next morning the 26 and found out that i have 2 brocken ribs so i've call the hotel palace riviera maya the next day and they told me file a complaint this way so im doing a follow up please advice what to do next

We stayed at the Tikida Palace Agadir (room 2114)from 15 October and went to check out on the 22 October. (4pm) On emptying our safe we found £80 sterling was missing. We placed the money in the safe at the beginning of our holiday, we saw the cash was in the safe on Tuesday 20th as we had to have the safe settings reset. We called reception and advised the above. They sent someone to check the door entry over the last week. On going to reception they said it was ‘impossible for the safe to be broken into’. We explained we were fairly certain the safe was closed whenever leaving the room but if it was inadvertently left open it would still show that someone had taken the money. This was not readily accepted. We asked to speak to the manager were advised the duty manager Alberto Abram would be on duty at 6:30pm. We returned to reception at 7:00pm and asked to see the duty manager. We were left to discuss what we felt was a personal matter, at the main reception desk in front of the staff and incoming guests. When meeting him, he claimed he wasn't fully aware of our problem. When we tried to explain the missing money he claimed that it was ‘impossible’ for the money to be taken from the safe. He wouldn’t listen to our concerns, as we tried to explain we didn’t expect the money to be returned but to understand that the money was taken from our room and he needed to be aware that someone must have taken it. He then proceeded to say it was not possible raised his voice and said he did not believe that the money was missing. We asked if he thought we were lying he said ‘yes’. This altercation happened in front of multiple guests and staff. We were left feeling very upset. To say his manner was extremely arrogant and rude is an understatement. His customer service skills were very poor. He didn’t listen or want to listen to what we were saying. I have previously held executive positions in international companies and in all my working career have never met such a short sighted manager whose customer services skills on hearing a problem were nil. We have nothing to gain by explaining the above but hopefully stop it happening to someone else. We had previously stayed in this hotel before (March 2015) and had nothing but praise for it but now would never return after being treated so badly. I can only hope other RIU hotels do not treat their guests this way whenever a guest reports a problem. I look forward to hearing from you shortly Mr & Mrs Barton - Uk England ([protected]@gmail.com)

We booked our holiday over a year ago with thomson there was 6adults 1child we paid nearly 7, 000 for this holiday read the reviews but decided to be open minded. Arrive at the resort on the 14september around 2.30pm i noticed to my left hand side the plaque showing 5 stars but on entering the reception it clearly was not 5 star very old fashioned decorations and very rude staff at the check in immediately was made to feel un welcome, we then was told were are rooms were on entering the rooms we immediately was hit with a very strong musty smell the furniture was very outdated the beds were disgusting there was mould all around the bed base the pillows were very unclean and dirty inside. The towels in the bathroom smelled disgusting when we opened the patio doors there was dead cockroaches on the floor . We complained but nothing was done we ended up cleaning it our self, then through out the holiday we constantly had lots of cockroaches in our rooms most of the holiday i didn't sleep then to top it of 4days into my holiday i had a major reaction to the towels were i had to seek medical attention i was told i had caught a serious infection due to a bacteria which is found in unclean sanitation .I then for the rest of my holiday had to keep using and rewashing my own beach towel because i was so scared of what else i would catch we all ended up doing this .We also experienced on several occasions the maids removing the pillow cases and attempting to clean the floors i was outraged, what else can this hotel do next . We did ask to be moved on several occasions but was told there was nothing available we was told we could upgrade for an astonishing amount which we did not have we even asked if we could go home earlier due to the uncleanliness of the rooms i am so disappointed in the riu company can not believe you are allowing this to continue all the reviews on trip advisor are true but you has a company are choosing to ignore the cries of your customers .On this note if i don't receive a reply and compensation for the nightmare hotel i will be sending all my evidence to watch dog about the riu bambu

I purchased 2 rooms at the Riu Santa Fe in Los Cabos from 8/7/15 through 8/12/15 for my husband, daughter and grandchildren. I have stayed at this hotel each year since it opened. In the early morning of 8/8/15 at 2:00am I went out on the balcony sat down and witnessed a drug deal that involved a large amount of cocaine being sold. After the deal went down, the dealer turned around and saw me on the balcony. I was scared for the welfare of my grandchildren. I went down to the front desk and ask that our rooms be changed, since the dealer saw my face and knew what room I was located in. I was told we would have to check out the next day at 11:00am, wait until 3:00pm then we could recheck into another room. I believe the Riu Hotels put my family at risk. I am trying to understand the reasoning of management at the Riu and why no action was taken for this very valid complaint.
Penny Barton

May 19, 2015

Wedding cost - $13, 000.00 canadian
Fights (6 people) $10, 500.00 approx
Total guest at the wedding – 30 (not including the bride & groom) $1800.00 each x 24 = $43, 200.00
Grand total – $66, 700.00 approx.
Booking #[protected] william and doratea maria shaw
Booking #[protected] kayla maria shaw & bryant brown
Booking #[protected] daniel thomas shaw & robecca elizabeth robinet
To whom this may concern:
Let me start by telling you that since my daughter was a little girl she always wanted a destination wedding. she finally got her dream on april 24th 2015. she decided to get married in jamaica negril and she fell in love with the riu palace tropical bay resort. we started to book this fairy-tale wedding in early 2014 with st. clair travel and our agent was vilija doblias / juliana da torre and they were both very pleasant and helpful with our entire request.
I will first start with the wedding planner in canada her name is antoinette camastra.
1. we were told that my daughter would get 10 hours of wedding planning with her wedding co-ordinator based on the package that we paid; antoinette contacted my daughter in july of 2014 and spoke to her for approximately 45 minutes. they discussed what my daughter wanted to have at her wedding and antoinette was going to email her with all of her request. antoinette told my daughter that the next time they would speak would be in december/january of 2015. next time she spoke to her was mid-march only because I forced antoinette to contact my daughter.

2.in the new year (january 7th) my daughter started to send several emails to antoinette but was not getting any return replies from her. her email from january 7th and a few more emails in february were not answered until february 9th by antionette. my daughter emailed her a few more times in march (3rd, 12th, and 24th) and my daughter called her at her office a few times only for it to go to voicemail. my daughter left her a couple voicemails and did not hear back until I took it upon myself to locate antoinette by phone. I spoke to her office and I asked to speak to her supervisor but at the time she was also not in. I asked if antoinette was in that morning and spoke to her. I asked her why she had not reply to any emails that kayla had sent her and her response was that she was busy with other weddings. I told her that she had to call kayla to put her at ease and she finally agreed but only spoke to my daughter for about 2 minutes telling her not to worry that she had everything under control. again we waited several days before she got back to her by email (march 31st). my questions are why my daughter was not getting her 10 hrs. promised to her? we paid for this service and got only at most 1 hr not mention how many emails that my daughter sent her and no replies for weeks.

3. on several occasions kayla would request antoinette to look into stuff such as cake, lighting, music etc. antoinette never answers her questions. she finally told kayla one week before the wedding that to outsource her cake would cost $700 us. that would not give us enough time to figure out what we were going to do so therefore we ended up with the hotel’s cake. also when kayla asked again about using chair covers antoinette told her that she had no record of my daughter even asking for this request until my daughter found the email and told antoinette to look at the email that was sent to her on march 3rd. antoinette then told the hotel that the bride had decided on some last minute request when all through my daughter’s emails she kept requesting a price for having these upgrades. again this wedding co-ordinator that you have in canada is not doing her job right and again we paid big bucks for her service.

We arrived in jamaica and we were told by our travel agent that the riu palace tropical bay would try their best to put our entire group in building 4. we had requested this building from day one (more than 1 year) because of reviews that we had read online about the hotel. instead they had us all scattered throughout the resort. I was placed in building 3, my daughter was in building five. andrew who worked at front desk said he would upgrade my daughter and I to ocean front but not until the next day. he told us we would be put in building three. that same night we got a call from the hotel manager elaine and she told us that we could not have building three but that they could put us instead in building one. that to me was not acceptable because my daughter needed to be closer to building four due to the fact that this is where the wedding was taking place. elaine then told me that she could try and move us to building four but not until wednesday afternoon. on wednesday afternoon I moved again to building four (room 4318 and 4319) ocean views. let me tell you it was not a great vacation when all I did was move around from building to building, my daughter and I lived out of our suitcases for 3 days and still we had to move more of our guest to be closer to the wedding. one of our guest was my mother-in-law who is 87 year old and was put in building 2 and could not walk to far. by the end of the week most of our guests were in building three, four, five and six. again if the hotel had just put us in building four (the building we requested over a year ago) from the start all this would have been avoided.
Wedding co-ordinator in jamaica (riu palace tropical bay)
Kayla met with sophia haughton in jamaica to go over all of her request and was told that because she had last minute request (which she did not) she had to pay cash. I did not bring enough cash so sophia made an exception for us to pay everything by credit card. this again was antoinette who left kayla’s request from months ago to the last minute with the hotel. kayla met with sophia on the tuesday and asked her about the rehearsal dinner and where it would take place and sophia had no record of kayla wanting a rehearsal dinner. kayla showed her that she told antionette that along with her wedding she was to get either a welcome party for all of her guests or a rehearsal dinner so my daughter chose the rehearsal dinner. with the way they do the restaurant bookings I was impressed that sophia could get a time for my daughter on thursday night for her dinner at the italian but it could only fit so many people and a lot of people were left out because of this.
We upgraded everything with the wedding, chair covers with bows, tent, lighting, flowers, wedding arch, dj, and the only thing that we did not upgrade was the cake because antoinette did not get back to us with enough time to outsource it.
On the day of the wedding everything looked beautiful, kayla was told by sophia that she would get her bouquet and the bridesmaid flowers and also all of the other flowers for the wedding party and family 15 minute before the wedding took place. well the flowers that my daughter picked for the bridesmaid were all wrong (I expect a refund for the flowers). she requested white bouquet for all her bridesmaid but instead got a mix of colour. kayla got her flowers five minutes before she started walking down the aisle and it was mayhem of who got what flowers. mother of the bride, mother of the groom, grandma, and both the father’s all ended up with the wrong flowers that she had picked. sophia asked kayla a few minutes before she walked down the aisle who got what flowers and at this time my daughter could not even think straight and did not know why she had to be the one to do this. the wedding was to start at 4pm and instead it started at 3:50pm and most of our guests were just getting seated when kayla was told to start walking down the beach. one of our guests ended up missing the whole wedding because it started ten minutes before the schedule time. if you tell your guest that the wedding is at 4pm then it should start at 4 pm not at 3:50pm. the wedding only lasted at the most 10 minutes from start to finish and all was done by 4:10pm. we were then told that the chairs that were at the ceremony would be moved to the reception tent and also the bows that cost us $7 dollars each us. when we got to the reception tent the bows were gone and no one could find them. I expect a refund for 32 bows that I only got to have for 8 minutes.
We were told that with our menu we could get ox tail and instead we ended up with burnt pork chops, not sure why the last minute change. when my daughter met with sophia on tuesday she asked if the ox tail would be available and she said yes and circled it on her sheet. we also ended up with no cutlery or dishes for our guest to get seconds or dishes for them to get fruit. also two days before the wedding I had arranged with the riu staff and sunwing representative that we wanted coco bread to go with our meal, they reassured me that we would have it at the reception. we found out 2 hrs before the meal that no one had made any arrangement for the coco bread and I ended up sending one of my guest with a hotel staff into negril to pick it up. why was I told that it was ordered and that we would have it?
At about 10:15pm the staff started to serve the wedding cake only to have them clear all tables by 10:30pm and most of the guest never got to have any of it. all the table clothes and cutlery, chair covers etc. were all gone by 10:40pm and that to me is not acceptable. I was told that we would have the tent and the entire bar services and dj until 11:00pm. why was everything taken away before that time? I paid to have all services from 7:00pm to 11:00pm who will refund me for the ½ hr that we missed? we sold paid for the center pieces (vase with flowers) and we were told we could not take them by your staff. again I want my money back for those center pieces that belonged to me.
The dj was great the only problem we had was that my daughter had to spend hrs before we arrived in jamaica on picking the music that she wanted him to play for her. she was told by antionette that she needed to have all her music on a cd/ usb for the dj. my daughter’s husband gave him a cd to play and he never once played anything she had given him until I finally went to see him at 10:30pm and requested that he start playing some of her music. we paid a lot of money for him ($1400) and I want to know why he took it upon himself to play the music of his choice? did my daughter have to spend hours of her time downloading and burning music? or was this another miscommunication error from the hotel to the wedding co-ordinator to my daughter? my daughter also asked antionette if the dj would also be emceeing the event and was told a week before her wedding that the dj does not provide this service from antionette so my daughter had to ask one of her guest, again last minute if someone could help her out. sophia told kayla during their meeting that if she did not have an emcee that the dj would do it for her. this would have been nice to know at the beginning just in case my daughter could not find someone to do this for her. again information is not being relayed properly.
Sunwing flight
One week before our flight we get told that the returning flight was changed to 9:30pm arriving in toronto at 1:30am on the tuesday. for those of us that work for a living we had to now make arrangement to go in late for work or not go in at all. so I ask my travel agent if she could contact the representative for the riu palace tropical bay to make arrangement for us to have a late check-out and they told me that once I got to the riu palace to speak to elaine and she would help us with the late check-out and not have to pay. well sunday april 26th I did speak to the front desk and elaine was not in and spoke to andrew who told me that I could only have 3 rooms for a late checkout (3pm), I had to pay $50 per room and at the end he ended up giving me the bride and groom for free. the next day before our check out we were told again that the flight now was delayed again and we were leaving at 11:30pm from jamaica. I then asked again if we could stay until 5:00pm and elaine wanted me again to pay another $40 dollars for 2 hrs. this was just getting stupid now. some of our guest had told me that same day that they were allowed to stay until 3:00pm and were not charged. I don’t understand why the hotel would charge me and not my guest when I was the one having the wedding at your hotel. when I spoke to elaine about the issue she basically looked at me and said “oh well”. this is your front desk manager the one who should help guest at the riu not to just say “oh well” to the guest who have already paid to stay at the hotel. I work in the customer service industry where I deal with clients all day and let me tell you that if I did not attend to my clients request I would not have a job to go to.
We were picked up at the hotel at 6:00pm and arrived at the airport just before 8:00pm. by the time we were through the check in it was just after 8:30 and we had purchase for all six of us (myself, my husband, daughter, son-in-law, my son and his fiance) to have the lounge services. when we got to the vip lounge there was no food left and they had to make us a little something to eat. we were told that we need to leave by 10pm because it was going to close. well I paid $30 us for each of us and did not get the chance to enjoy it. we were in the lounge area for less than 2 hours. I think I should get refunded for that to. we did not arrive in toronto until 4:30am on the wednesday and it was a very tiring vacation. my mother-in-law who is not able to walk could not get a wheelchair for her because they could not find one therefore we had to push her with the baggage cart. this to me was not acceptable that the airport could not accommodate us whatsoever.
Well all I can say is that if I don’t get some kind of compensation or refund for this disaster with sunwing and the riu palace tropical bay I will never fly with the airline again or stay at another riu. my daughter only gets married once and your people at the riu/sunwing vacations has ruined her dream wedding.
I hope to hear from sunwing soon so we can discuss this further. I would hate to post this experience on trip advisor. I want to make sure that other weddings at the riu know what they are getting into so they don’t waste their money.
Last but not least let’s not forget how much revenue I brought to your hotel and sunwing $77, 500 in total.
Hope to hear from someone as soon as possible to discuss this letter.

Sincerely,
Unsatisfied customer

Dora shaw

Email address: [protected]@gmail.com or [protected]@cannonservices. ca

Work # - [protected] ext. 33
Cell # - [protected]

This resort steals peoples money. They admit to stealing it and then they do nothing about it. I had money stolen from my locked safe. I went to lodge a complaint and was told nothing can be done. The staff was shady and sketchy. They work together to steal from the costumers. It is disgusting. How can you take someones hard earned money? How can a resort who houses many nationalities be allowed to steal from them? You may find this to be a common thing at the riu but think about it. If they can steal, they can kill and rape. What if I walked in on them stealing the money and was killed or assaulted? You think the stealing will stop? Never until something is done. So will someone have to die? I spoke to sonia and she directly told me she knew who took it but couldn't not get my money back. I will post on every website I can until I get reimbursed.

First--We checked in around 4pm Cancun time Sept., 14, 2014. We went with the bell boy yummy, i think was his name, as i knew him from the last time we were there.2010, September..The first room was so Smokie, it was like someone forget to open the patio, door.We asked for non-smoking, as i have a pace maker. The next room had people staying in it.. The third room, was good, but nothing in the fridge. We had to ask for it to be stocked, it took 52HOURS to get a remote for the Tv that worked, even aftere taking the broken one down to the desk after waiting 36Hours for someone to come to our room.No matter what we wanted, if we didn, t go to the front desk in person and deal with the manager Hugo, or Arron, we got nothing. The first week was the worst for non food service..The second week I had to go to the maid to get coffee, so i could have it in my room. But housekeeping did a good Job. The second week A Hotel Rep., Met us at the main dineing room and discussed our problem [Thin Dark haired young lady]and said things are getting better for U and Your wife, now, I said to some degree? I felt like saying. IT COULDN, T GET ANYWorse, as we had about 10 items, since we checked in, and As i said on the survey.If it wasn, t for Rickie Bobbies intertainment group, the dinning room staff, head mans name starts with "T' Bar manager SANTOES, I would of insisted on a 50% refund aND WENT home? tHE mANAGEMENT STAFF That was connected to that lady i described, treated us like DIRT after i complained to her, AND THE FRONT DESK..We had small white bugs in our room, and told it was the weather.Our othere friends rooms had problems also, so i know wer were not the only ones. Since in my business, i see about 34, 000 people a year, and ind security, working the odd time with POLICE Departments, and ROTARY CANADA. It, s my Job to notice things and make out reports, for many different Interested groups. We stayed at the Hotel Sept.14 to Sept28, 2014 Room 62 Maureen Kimber/Bill Shardlow

I am writing regarding the appalling holiday we had at Riu Merengue. This hotel has such poor services and the fact that my 2 and half year old daughter, my wife and I became very ill during the holiday in Porto Plata. My daughter was struck with a virus that caused high temperature and we were suffering from diarrhea throughout the holiday. We did not enjoy our holiday at all and we stayed indoors for the most time. Plus over the weekend the Hotel was swamped with the locals and many of our belongings were stolen. I take this matter up with the management of the hotel, Mr Sousa and after hearing what had happened he offered us a free week holiday in any of the Riu Global Hotels. He assured us that this will be sent to us however after we left he went back on his word and said you need to take this matter up with your travel agency. We will be bringing legal proceedings against this hotel and the management and recommend that no one should use this hotel in the future as there are serious health and safety issues.

I am planning my wedding at this resort in October of this year. I have 27 guest booked my wedding on off season. With that said I can not express how terrible the service has been with planning my wedding. Sophia is the ONLY wedding planner for this resort(which is not something they tell you when you are inquiring about having your wedding there). The wedding planner is extremely rude and unhelpful. Every question that I ask her, (food, flowers, wedding services, etc) she tells me we will discuss this when my groom and I arrive at the resort! She has called and yelled at me stating that she is the only wedding planner at the resort and she is going through personal problems. I understand that things happen but when I am about to spend 10-15 thousand dollars on my wedding at this resort I expect better service. They do not give the bride and groom anything for choosing to have their wedding at there resort. I don't know what to do at this point because I have so many guest already booked. Please help!

Attn:. Mr. Luis Riu Güell
Chief Executive Officer
Attn:. Carmen Riu

I am a US Citizen. I am writing this letter to you regarding the deplorable experience and the unprofessional behavior of the Manager and General Manager at this resort that we had at the Riu Palace Peninsula, Cancun, Mexico.

Room: 908 Suite Jacuzzi OV
Check in: January 08, 2014
Check out: January 13, 2014

Complain:

January 13, 2014 at 12:30pm I got a call to my room from front desk. Front desk ladies said me clear: "You should do your check out before 1:00pm, for avoiding any extra charges for late check-out". I said: "Ok, I will be there in 10 minutes". I was on the front desk at 12:43pm, there are was a line for check out, and when my turn came, it was 12:50pm (Before 1:00pm).
The Manager Jessica Cauto said: "You should pay extra charge for late check-out", I said about the call to my room, and before 1:00pm no any extra charge, but she said: "Yes, you got the call, but you have to pay". We discussed about this mistake around 10 minutes, with her, and after that she said: "Right now is 1:00pm, so you have to pay!" and she smiled mischievously to me. The Manager Jessica Cauto can't speak English fluently so why does she have this position?

All that time the General Manager Alessia Lisco stood behind her and she couldn't help me, and all that time she just looked on this situation without any intervention and resolution of this problem. At the same time, two other customers had the same issue on the front desk, and they did complaint in raised voices.

I absolutely love your 5 star hotels. I paid 3, 200.00USD, and that is ridiculous that they charged with me 15.00USD (Invoice are attached) for not my mistake and they both, the Manager and General Manager couldn't handle that situation, why do an unprofessional service staff have a high position like this?

Sincerely,
Maxim

Vacationed form Aug 31 to Sept 5th. On Sept 3th was out to lunch at 1:00 them went to the beach for about an hour. then decided we would go to the pool area at the hotel (Rui Palace Paradise Island where we were staying). Was there for 10 minutes and decided I was going to get a mat to float on. When I went to get on of the pool I fell on my knee and elbow. It was a full fall down very hard. About 8 people rushed to help me as they said you really went down hard. I couldn't walk and my left leg, knee took the full hit. My fiancé went to the deck to get help and a wheel chair. they were very slow to respond. I ask for a doctor or nurse or ENT. THey have no one there on the property to help. so they go me up to my room in a wheel chair and said the ENT's were called and on the way. That took 2 hours for them to get there and I wanted to see the manager of the hotel. He was busy (Inigo Berastain, Manager). Finally when the Ent's got there I called on the hotel room phone and said if the manager is not in my room (1224) in 5 minutes I was going to call the police and make a report. He was in the room in about 4 minutes. I explained I was hurt bad and I couldn't walk on my left leg. The ENT (Dodridge Lewis) said my leg easn't broken but it look like a fracture of my knee cap and not to walk on it. The manager offered no help except to use their wheel chair or go to the public hospital and use my charge card to pay for service. I said I think I will wait to get back to the usa and have it checked out. We said 3 other people fall around the poll area while we were there. Pool area was very slick, White oil based paint with no texture. When I got back I went to the hospital emergency room (St Joseph Hospital) and was told my leg was swelled up way too much and something was wrong. They did blood work and said I had Cellulitis. a serious skin infection. I had to stay there to get antiobotics in my blood stream asap. Then they gave me a strong pain meds as I was hurting bad (about an 8 on the pain scale). When I went home I had 4 kinds of meds to take (Keflex, Oxycodone, Motrin 800mg and ROBAXIN 750 mg). I also pull my back out in the fall. I have pictures and witnesses for this ordeal. I expect for Riu Palace To take care of there guest! I believe they should pay my doctors and meds costs and redo make vacation so I can enjoy it. There response was very bad and not prepared at all.. I am 60 years old and I really wanted to enjoy this vacation with my fiancé. What can I do at this point to get RIU to do something! I have all the paper work and witnesses for this issue on Sept 3 and am Still not back to normal after 2 weeks of pain and suffering.
Please hell me with this issue. Vacation was booked by Southwest travel.
Richard Woolsey [protected]

Our story, like so many others, started on april 4th, our 4th wedding anniversary. The hotel riu palace macao in punta cana, dominican republic looked and seemed to be a 5 star resort. Until we made the bad choice of entering the dream’s casino which was attached to the riu palace hotel. My wife and I entered the casino to observe and to see what the casino was like. We were quickly approached by a hostess. She was full of smiles and presented us with $20 in free money to play their new table game in the far right corner of the casino. I asked her if we could use the money to play slot machines and she quickly said “no”, it was only good for that particular table game in the corner. After persistently asking us to give it try, we agreed and she escorted us over to the table.
The dealer told us the game was called “double down”. The dealer was a younger man, probably in his early thirties and nicely dressed. He began explaining the game which consisted of a 2’ x 2’ box which had many holes drilled in it. So when we threw the 8 marble balls in it they would fall into a hole and whatever number was by it would be added up for a total for that roll. To the left of the table was a board which was divided up amongst 50 boxes. Each box had either a number value, a zero, 4 of the boxes were “double your bet”. And there were also 4 sets of colored boxes, so if you rolled all 4 of those numbers, you would get either $1, 000, $2500, $5000, and $10, 000. The dealer said to win the game you must get to 50 points. The game starts with a $10 bet and the jackpot started at $400. We threw our first 8 marbles and the dealer adds up the total, we look on the board of squares and it reads “double your bet”. Our next bet is now $20 each roll and the jackpot doubled to $800. We throw 1 more time and we get another “double your bet”. The dealer quickly lets us know that this has never happened and we are starting off the game very well. He has nothing but positive things to say. While this was going on, there was an older man who frequently stuck his head into the game to see what was going on. I suppose like a pit boss. When he saw we were betting $40 to win $1600. He quickly made a similar comment that he doesn’t see this very often. Meaning the jackpot was increasing so fast and our price per bet was still so low. Keep in mind, the entire time playing, the dealer told us our jackpot was so high that no monies would be taken out of our account. The dealer said they would only need verification of funds. That was all bs. I believe the next roll was a 25, and before long we were at approx. 35 points. Nothing could go wrong for the first dozen or so rolls and you can see on the original hard copies included in this report. Once the bet amount exceed $10k, the dealer requested we showed proof that we could cover the amount in case we decided to leave the game.
You cannot lose in this game, you can only give up. By this time, both the dealer and the older guy are sharing the involvement in this scam. Located next to the table was a door and a small office inside. Set up with a small desk, computer w/ internet and a telephone, making it very easy for a victim to access their bank accounts. The jackpot was now $102, 400 with only 1 more point to get to win. Our next roll is another “double your bet”. Unbelievable! The older man quickly comes back to the table to throw a “private party” sign on the table. We thought it was strange but continued on. We now realize it was to keep other people from being involved and possible exposing their scam.
The jack pot is now $204, 800 and we still only needed 1 more point. Always 1 more point. Without a moment’s notice, the dealer tells us they will allow us to have 3 additional rolls on credit since they are telling us we are definitely going to win. The dealer even pulled out a calculator to show us what the odds are that we will win in the next 3 rolls. Both of us are feeling the pressure, my wife is in tears, I am pacing the casino floor not sure what to do. The older man walks up to me and offers me a xanax (or equivalent) to help calm me down which I did not take, who knows what it could have been. While my wife and I are contemplating our next move, a 3rd person approaches us and starts making small talk. This person is gary, regional casino director for dreams casino’s. A photo of his business card is also attached. We think the dealers’ name was alex and we are not sure about the old man but we will never forget their faces. Gary was speaking to the old man close enough for me to hear him say they needed to call the owner because there is not enough money in the vault to cover the jackpot.
Regretfully we decide to roll another time and the dealer adds up the number quickly and the result is a 0 (no points). Still need 1 more point and according them, there is no way we can lose now, yeah right. We roll one more time and we get a winner!, not so fast, its only $1000 which he quickly subtracts from the total and the dealer states we also get a free roll. So without nothing more to lose, we throw our last free roll and it totaled to a number, I believe it was 49 or something. We looked on the board and yep, 2 points. We are over the 50 point total, we won the jackpot. Without a moment’s notice, the old man shouts out 43 (not exactly sure if that was the number). Number 43 on the squares is a 0 point. He said we did not win. Before I could even ask to recount the marbles they were already scooped up and ready for the next roll.
Gary the regional director is now getting involved in the discussion. He said not to worry about it tonight, go back to the hotel and get some rest. We can continue the game tomorrow. The dealer wrote down where we left off in the game on a document which has no casino name, no reference to the dreams casino anywhere. I have also included a scan of the original document. The dealer stapled the corners and sides so no one could open it. Gary offered to meet us the following morning at noon in front of the riu hotel/dreams casino. The night was long, we could hardly sleep and in the morning we agreed that it was a scam. Especially after reading all the similar stories/blogs on the internet. We wanted our vacation back.
The next morning we started walking down to meet gary which wasn’t very far, the casino is actually part of the riu hotel. Just as we came up to the casino, gary pulled up in his suv with a child inside. He said the child was his but who knows. He pulled us both aside and told us he could not sleep all night, that he explained to his wife about the night before and that she told him to do the right thing. Gary explained to us that he and his wife have plans to return back to the usa and to quit the dream casino. He said the game we played was a fraud, there was no way to win and do not roll anymore times. Also, the casino hasn’t paid him and his staff for over a month. He said he was done with that casino, and would help us out. He begins to tell us both, “if we give him his commission (10%), he would give us a “paid in full” receipt with his signature”. He said he felt bad because he hasn’t seen this happen too many times and wreck family’s vacations. We told him we would do it as long as he would give us all the original paperwork and a paid in full receipt. He said he would but not until 6:30 that evening. So we drove up to the bank, remember his kid was in the car so we had no worries. We drove to a bank called blanco bhd, carretera areana gorda. Plaza caney 1, bavaro. Gary came into the bank with us and that bank only allowed us to remove $1000 of the $1750 he requested. Thank god. After we got back into the suv, gary quickly took the $1000 and stamped the document “paid in full” and signed it. The paid in full stamp just happened to be in the center console. I told him he wasn’t getting the remaining $750 until we get the original paperwork. He said the $1000 was good and that he would meet me at 6:30pm like we discussed. As we were driving back to the riu hotel, gary made some comments such that the old man and the dealer were a father and son duo. Interesting, because the prior day, the older man said he wouldn’t be able to pay us the jackpot right away because he would first have to verify our relationship to the dealer.
After paying gary the $1000, we called huntington bank to report the fraud and to lock down all our accounts. The bank said there were 2 charges still pending. She said she would put a stop on these pending transactions immediately. Unfortunately, she did not and the money was withdrawn from our account.
Gary dropped us off at the hotel and said to go and enjoy your vacation and he would see me later at 6:30pm. I went down to the lobby and gary was there waiting. He asked me to get into his car to go for a ride. I told him no way and we began walking away from the riu hotel. After a short conversation between gary and i, he handed over the original hardcopies. He then went on to tell me how much trouble he could get in if someone found out what he did for us. I asked him, is this over, can we go enjoy whatever is left on this vacation. Gary said, well, not so fast, he told me it would be safer if we changed hotel rooms, did not answer any phone calls to the room, and definitely do not answer the door if someone knocks on it. We switched our rooms and the phones rang many times between 11pm to 1:30am the next couple nights. It was none stop but we never answered. We also found notes in our door from the casino.
The next morning I went down to the lobby and demanded to speak to the riu hotel manager. They arranged a meeting in a closed door office. She (dasha) would not talk to me out in the lobby because she didn’t want anyone to hear what I was saying. I told her my wife and I were scammed for a lot of money at the dreams casino and told her we switched our rooms for safety and I wanted to know why we were getting phone calls and notes left at our new room number. I specifically told dasha that I wanted to be left alone. Dasha said “she was not aware of any scams going on in the casino and if there was, there is nothing she could do about it because the dream casino rents the space from the riu hotel”. The harassing phone calls lasted until the night before we left. Since we realized we were scammed, we did some on-line searches to see what other people had experienced at the dream casino. We read many other blogs which described the same scam my wife and I went through. I am including these blogs at the end of this document and could also be accessed thru this link.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147288-d1019356-r154131040-Riu_Palace_Macao_Casino-Dominican_Republic.html#REVIEWS.

The night before the day we were leaving to go home, around 1:30 in the morning, the phone began ringing off the hook. I did not answer, just like I was told. It rang for approx. 10-15 minutes, stopping and restarting again numerous times. Around 2:00am, someone began knocking at our door. I did not answer it, just like I was told. It was 1 person because I can see feet under the door. My wife and I couldn’t sleep all night and wanted to get home as soon as possible. Our plane was scheduled to leave the next day around 3:30pm but that was not soon enough. At 2:30am, I got up to use the bathroom, and there was a note under my door. The note read something like this:
Drug trafficking and vandalism is a very criminal in the dominican republic. We have all your personal documentation. You will never make it out of the country and the police will stop you at the airport.
My wife and I couldn’t fall back to sleep and woke up very early the next day so we could try to catch the first flight back to the usa. That flight left at 12:30pm and the original flight we already paid for was leaving at 3:30pm. Like I said, we just wanted to get back home. We also emptied out all our clothes too to make sure no one came into our room prior and planted drugs in our suitcases. So we left out the back of the riu hotel and worked our way around to the hotel next door (also owned by riu) so no one could see us when we left. We did not trust the riu hotel staff anymore. We called a taxi and left for the airport. We were the first ones to arrive at the airport. The gates didn’t open until 9am. Once we figured out that american airlines was the first plane out, which was to miami, we booked the flight. We just wanted to get home. Just as the gate attendant was handing us our boarding passes, my wife turned around and gary from the casino was standing directly behind us. He yelled something in spanish to the airline attendant. The attendant asked if we knew him. We said he’s been scamming us at the hotel. She quickly gave us our passes and we headed directly to the security entrance into the airport. How did gary find out we left for the airport early? No one knew except if we were being watched or someone at the riu hotel notified them. We believe many people were in on this scam. Gary followed us the entire time yelling out to us, “you will never make it out of the airport; the police are looking for you.” we didn’t stop and kept on walking. Finally we made it through security, as we looked back, we could still see gary standing there on his cell phone speaking in spanish. I never knew what he was saying or who he was talking too. Unfortunately, we didn’t get out of the airport until 10pm that evening because the plane had a malfunction and we had to wait for the last flight out. The entire time we sat in the airport waiting for something more to happen, thankfully nothing did. My wife and I both received another phone call from gary the following morning but we ignored it.
This needs to be stopped. The dates on the blogs go back approx. 10 years. We believe apple vacations and riu hotel macao are aware of the casino scams but still promote this casino has their entertainment and profit from it as well.

Riu Santa Fe Los Cobos uses BBG as their service provider. The free 90 min choice per day, has to be used all at once, can't be broken as you then have to wait for a 24 hour period. The service is very poor, always drops, once I deceided that there may be a upgrade so I tried later in the day, of course, my initial try was earlier, had to wait 24 Hours? Also, there was a connction issue, me, the customer would have to speak to the BBG tech support, the Hotel wan't allowed to speak to the support on why the Poor Connection, that they the Riu are pay for, to the paying customer of the hotel- ME !

We stayed at Riu Cancun recently. One night I sat on one of our plastic balcony chairs and it broke right out from under me. Mind you, I am not a large or heavy person. There was something obviously defective with the chair. Upon checkout we were told we were responsible for paying to replace the chair after I explained how it happened. How I had simply sat in the chair and it all of the sudden broke out from under me. Didn't matter to them, they told me there was nothing they could do, would not listen and charged me $70 to replace it. they REFUSED to let me speak to a manager, and instead directed me to the customer service girl who was just as useless. They hinted that I must have done it on purpose, that I may have been drunk or carelessly flopped down on it. So now I've paid for a piece of defective furniture that another gut may have done something to and they were not understanding or willing to listen to me.

I went to the Riu from Sept 28 to Oct 11, 2012 and my stay was not comfortable like it was last year. My mother and I were placed in room 1205 and on the 2nd day we started to notice cockroaches, first there was one and at night we would see another one. When we went to the front desk to complain, housekeeping came upstairs and sprayed the room but more cockroaches came out at night and early in the morning. We did ask for a room change and we were place in rm 1306 which was fine until we saw a cockroach again. While I was staying at the Riu we invited our family to come and spend a night at the Riu, they were staying at another hotel. When they met us for breakfast the next day they told me they saw cockroaches in there room as well. I felt so bad because they were not having that problem at the hotel they were staying at. I felt very disappointed and truly I don't know if I would go back.

Luis Riu, President and CEO
Carmen Riu and Luis Riu, Jr.

Dear all,

I hope this finds you well. I am writing to report an incident happened in one of your hotels, which made me feel very disappointed.

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Riu Cancun (Cancun – MX) in the room 209 from 10/12 to 10/21/12 and I had my Iphone stolen from the room. We kept all our belongings (cell phone, laptop and cameras) locked inside the safe every day, however, the only day I left it opened because we left in a hurry for the Chichen Itza tour, it was taken from inside the safe. I spent the whole day remembering that I had left the safe open, but, at the same time, trying to convince myself that there wouldn’t be any problems ... After all, we were in a "5 stars" hotel.

Once we arrived back at hotel around 8 PM, there was a warning "do not disturb" on the bedroom door, it had not been organized and my iPhone was no longer there. At the same time, we advised the reception and two guards came to the room. They searched everything: bags, closets, looked under furniture to ensure that the phone wasn’t really there. As they did not found it, they made us lots of questions and said they would conduct an investigation.

The next day we were informed that the hotel staff (maid and minibar) is instructed to not clean and not fill the minibar if they come into a room where the safe is open and that they must put the sign on the door. In our case, it was the maid who reported the safe open, but the person who supplies the minibar had already passed through the room. Only two people entered the room and nothing was done by the hotel management! They only said that they were interrogated and, obviously, said they didn’t take the phone. Whoever has stolen is still working there.
Moreover, we had to hear phrases like "your phone was supposedly stolen" or "we do not know if it was actually stolen or if you lost it, " implying that I might be lying.

Several times I said I had used my phone with the assistant Paola at the front desk of the hotel and they could check the lobby cameras and see that I really had my cell phone when I checked in at the hotel.

I am writing this email because I am still extremely disappointed with the stealing – I’ve chosen the hotel carefully, researched many in Cancun. Besides fun, our intention was also to relax and enjoy the hotel, but how can this happen if there is no security inside the rooms? My Iphone was not in the pool, in the restaurant or lobby where there are several people all the time. He was inside the room, where only two people entered! And I am shocked with the fact that there are no cameras in the hallways and elevators, and the hotel receives an extremely high number of guests every day.

I am looking forward to know what are the procedures to solve this kind of matters. I've sent an email to '[protected]@riu.com' as Mr. Miguel Perez (Riu Cancun Subdirector) oriented us, but I haven't received any answer at all.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Maria Rita

Fake Counterfeit Vodka being served Riu Palace Macao Punta Cana Dominican Republic.

I was staying at Riu Palace Macao, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from 07 Sep - 21 Sep 2012.

The management & staff are knowingly and with consent serving fake counterfiet Vodka from Premium Branded bottles of Smirnoff red label and Stolchen Vodka.

For 3 days I tried all 3 bars to get a Vodka seven up with none serving the real vodka that was supposed to be in the Branded bottles being used to pour from and they all had the bad smell and horrid taste.

I tried all 3 bars of just vodka to make sure it was not the mixer, the mixer (sprite/seven up) was fine.

After 3 days of having to leave numerous horrid tasting drinks of "Vodka seven up' and proving it was not the mixer, I' complained to the Duty manager, Manny.

I took with me two glasses with only the so called vodka in, one glass was from a Smirnoff Vodka Red Label Bottle the other from a Stolchen vodka bottle.

Both had exactly the same horrible taste and smell.

Manny took me to see the Bar supervisor, Benitino who got a sealed bottle of Red Label Smirnoff vodka from the store and we opened it and tested it against the two counterfeit drinks provided.

They agreed it was obvious the two fake drinks were not real and gave me the Smirnoff bottle to have drinks from that night.

I naturally expected the next day for all the Fake Counterfeit Smirnoff and Stolchen to be removed from the bars, but it was not...

I complained again the next night and nothing was done, no one did anything but to tell me to keep asking the barman to get me another drink, which was pointless as I got the same fake counterfeit drink again no matter whether I ordered Smirnoff or Stolchen.

The next morning (09.30) I complained to the tour operator Rep, Juan Carlos, who went to see the manager and they then took me to see the Bar Manager, Jesus.

I explained again about the fake counterfeit drink being poured and served from premium branded bottles of Smirnoff Vodka and Stolchen.

Jesus told the barman to get a sealed bottle off the shelf, I said get the opened ones from the bar and a sealed one, the opened Smirnoff Red Label from the bar had the horrid smelling nasty tasting counterfeit fake product in which was again proved without doubt when we opened the sealed bottle to compare.

That day and night the drinks from all the bars were the correct real product in Smirnoff and Stolchen... hoooray

BUT, The following night the counterfeit was back in the bars with the horrid smelling nasty tasting fake counterfeit product again being served in every bar from branded bottles of Smirnoff & Stolchen.

I immediately complained to the manager, Widny, who was not the least bit interested and told me to ask the barmen for another drink or use the 'Real' vodka they had put in my room bar.

Now, it is fairly obvious that the Management are condoning and allowing fake counterfeit liquid to be served from Premium Branded labels of Smirnoff and Stolchen, two internationally renowned brands, which is illegal, or the management are knowingly buying counterfeit product for use in the bars and deliberately trying to fool the customers to think they are being served the premium brand they have PAID for, which is also illegal.

Neither of the above is acceptable and I am seriously considering whether I will use a Riu ever again having previously stayed at Riu in Mexico and 2 others in Dominican Republic & was considering trying the Aruba for next year.

I am sure these internationally renowned brands would not be happy to hear of another commercial robbery and the use of fake counterfeit nasty smelling horrid tasting product being deliberately & knowingly served from their premium branded bottles which would make many not want to buy the product to use at home.

I sent the above complaint to Riu but it goes to the same hotel for them to cover up!

I did say and e mail that the Director Miguel Rodriguez may want to let your staff know of the recent case (March 2012) of the Spanish bar owner who has been jailed for 3years for selling and serving counterfeit fake Smirnoff Vodka.

It would not surprise me if Smirnoff & Stolchen reconsider whether they permit the continued supply of their products to the Riu chain worldwide, not just the Palace Macao.

I naturally expected a response within 4 days from the Riu chain which professes to provide top quality service & attention to detail in order to guarantee their clients complete satisfaction' ?

This is obviously not happening here and I am certainly not planning or considering returning to this place and now am reconsidering the use of any Riu again.

After 3 more days of complaining and still getting served the ‘Wrong Vodka I got an appointment to see the Director General, Miguel Rodriguez at 7.45 pm as he was not available during the day...

I went down to see him at 7.45 pm and was told he was not there... I refused to leave and told them I was going to contact UK and the local rep immediately by Mobile phone while standing at the desk, two minutes later I was taken to his office behind reception where he had obviously been.

His reaction to my written complaint above that was sent direct to him was that I had now been Identified to all staff and they had been told I was to get the ‘Real Vodka’ no more mistakes... and continued with, I could have another sealed bottle of the Real Smirnoff.

Yes I was absolutely amazed that he did not try and deny the fact that they ARE using premium branded bottles of Smirnoff Red label Vodka and Stolchen Vodka to serve a bad smelling bad tasting substitute instead of the real product.

Oh and I still havent found a Main Office for this Chain to complain to as it appaers that emails go to the same hotel for them to cover up