RIU Bambu

I just want to start by saying this hotel is not a 5-Star hotel. At the time of this review, it’s our second day at the resort. We are three adult travelers, It’s the first and the last time I will be staying in a RIU. I usually always go to Royalton hotels and I can assure you that you will get much more pleased. 1. Arrival After a long flight and long wait times at the airport, we arrived at the hotel around 4 PM. We were starving and exhausted. We usually are welcome with fresh drinks and water, this time we were left to dry while waiting in line to check-in. In order to eat, we had to wait 3 hours for restaurants to open. They sent us to the sports bar for snacks. Wait.. it gets worse.. the only snacks are leftover hamburgers and hot-dogs in a fridge where you need to microwave yourself. I have never seen this in a 5-Star hotel. Not even motels have this. 2. Room Room is nice, we paid for an upgrade. It’s clean and has everything you need. But again, far from a 5-Star. 3. Entertainment Where is the music? Bring your own earphones in order to listen to music. There is none so far. Entertainment is pathetic and staff doesn’t speak english well. For me to go to sleep at 9pm, there is a big problem. The pool party is nice if you like to dance and meet new people. 4. Restaurants Service is terrible. You need to run after the waiters to get what you want. The food is even worse. Honestly I am so disappointed of this hotel you have no idea. 5. Bars Not a wide variety. I usually drink sparkling wine, there is none. Every cocktail I ask for, they look at me like I’m an alien. I’m used to travel in different resorts and they always make the drinks I ask. The only thing they understand is beer, rhum, vodka, pina colada and margarita. I’m not a fan of sweet drinks. 6. Facilities Pool areas areas are fine. I spend much of my time at the beach so I don’t mind much. I would focus a bit more on keeping it more clean. There are cigarette butts everywhere. I am not a fan of their towel system. You need to bring a coupon and exchange it for a towel. There is no butler on the beach to bring you towels. 7. Beach Love it. Well-maintained, they clean the seaweeds. That’s the most positive aspect of the hotel. If you are burned from the sun, good luck finding some shade on the beach. There are no umbrellas. Nevertheless, we will still enjoy our vacation. Honestly, believe the reviews! I’m not much of a complainer but calling this a 5-Star Hotel is false advertising. Put your hard-earned money elsewhere!

After ready some of the reviews before we travelled we were a little concerned but the majority of the bad reviews must be from some very hard to please guests. I spent 2 weeks at the Riu Bambu in May with my partner, 5 month old baby and 4 other family members. Staff - the staff were brilliant and couldn’t do more for you if they tried, especially Geelo who served us drink in the main bar and was always around to make sure we had a drink in hand whenever we needed one. Leonardo from the entertainments team also made our holiday extra special, very friendly and would always stop to chat and to make sure we were enjoying our holiday. All staff were brilliant with my 5 month old and they all love children, stopping to interact and make him laugh. Very friendly and polite all round. The food in the hotel is brilliant with 6 special restaurants - Asian, steakhouse, Mexican, gourmet, Spanish and Italian to choose from and the main restaurant that serves so much choice, you can always find something you like. You cannot get bored of the food due to the options you have. Swimming pools - All were clean, the swim up bar can get loud at the weekends but there are quieter pools to sit around if you would rather peace and quiet. Plenty of sunloungers but if you want one with a sunshade or right next to the pool you must get there early to make sure you get a good spot. Excursions - there is a water sports (free canoes and wind surfing) and excursions hut on the beach to book most excursions available in punta Cana. If you want more land excursions there are reps on the resort near the main stage everyday that you can purchase all excursions possible. The beach - the beach is lovely, a little bit of seaweed but expected being in the Atlantic Ocean side of the island. This is not a private beach as there are people walking up and down trying to sell you all sorts of goods but if you say no they are not pushy so this is not a problem. There are also people walking up and down with monkeys, parrots and lizards ensure you make sure your not interested or you will end up with one put on you without even asking you, for a photo opportunity that you have to pay to take photos. Plenty of sun beds but the ones near palm trees get taken up quickly as the trees are the only bit of shade on the beach and when it is hot some shade is needed. Night time at the beach is very different and I wouldn’t advise to go down there alone, there were men hidden and jump out from know where to offer you weed, cigars etc. Rooms - Even know this hotel has had a refurb in the last few years I feel a better job could of been done, although our room was ok to sleep in the minor details have been missed and some parts are a little bit shabby. The cot we were provided with had a snapped bar and they had just taped it up but I felt this was unsafe so he slept in the bed with me for the 2 weeks. Also one major issue for me travelling with a young baby was the Rui resort don’t have kettles in the rooms and this was a big issue for me trying to make bottles as I wanted to ensure the water was safely boiled for him to drink, the reception just told us to use the drinks dispensers at the bar but I did not feel this was 100% sterile. After complaining and being pushed back and forward one of the reception staff ladies managed to find us a coffee dispenser that boiled water that we could use for our room, finally the issue was resolved. The rooms were cleaned daily with fresh towels, no complaints with the cleanliness at all. Drinks in room were replenished every other day. Entertainment - most of the entertainment was good when it was on but when the pool parties or neon parties are on there is no entertainment in the main stage area. Sports bar - 24hr bar and snacks available (nachos and cheese, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and fresh fruit). The pool tables are a bit dated and worn along with minimal games available to play. But if you fancy a late night then this place is open all night long. We went here to watch the champions league final and although it was busy in there the staff ensured they brought in extra chairs for anyone that needed or wanted one to ensure everyone was happy and there was still plenty of room if more people wanted to enter. Overall we had a brilliant holiday and other than a few minor issues, we thoroughly enjoyed staying here.