RIU Bambu

First start with the fact that I felt cheated by the "five stars claim" I am not snob but I like to know what I had to expect for what I pay. If I saw the "three stars at the price I paid I would have looked for another hotel with better rating for the same money. They had it engraved at the entrance and they declare this on all the sites : Riu Bambu , 5 stars hotel. I am curious what were the criteria because I stayed even in Dominican to some four stars hotels with better accommodation, food and service and service. What are the five starts for ? The size ? The furniture, the towels were cheap and cheap looking, the food was fast food grade and the service average. The pillow cases were almost sheered by usage and the sheets clean but at the end of their life. The service people tried their best to make our stay pleasant and if the vacation was nice it was because of their efforts and...weather. Management of this hotel...non-existent. If there was a management decision to be made people from desk had to go back and forth between the "office" or other obscure place and the tourists. No manager /supervisor came out to discuss/make a decision. No offence but people who praised these hotel didn't check other hotels in the same area. I choose this hotel because the ones I knew were sold out or had prices 2-3 hundreds dollars higher and I thought to try this. Wrong decision, I should had pay the few hundreds! We had booked a family de luxe room with 2 double beds and normal sleeping sofa for 3 persons. It was clearly specified in the reservation, because the initial reservation came back from RIU with 2 twins beds for 3 adults! Luckily I checked! I called the agent and they said that, at that point I had to pay extra to have the room upgraded what I did with very specific details that Riu confirmed that they can provide. When we went to the room it was the "normal" (the smallest) room with a king size bed and a kid's size sleeping sofa. My son is 6'' tall! We tried to get somebody to change the room but it seemed we had to waste the whole day with no results then we settled (through the guy who hat helped with the luggage and discussed with "somebody") for a family room with 2 3/4 beds (less than double ) because at least there we could sleep and open your suit cases. You could dress properly after the shower because the area was all wet. Also not a fan of the sinks in the room, but that I saw in the pictures, my fault I didn't think about this when I booked the room. We didn't have the same schedule and who woke up early disturbed the one sleeping late when using the sink and the other way around at night. The complex is clean but nothing special. It was Christmas time and, while the other hotels in the area were lavishly decorated with lights, this hotel (and the other Riu hotels as far as I saw) has some poor Christmas display with few lights at entrance. They did their best with some tourists that god drunk every night and broke stuff, including a door and we weren't disturbed. First night we were wake up by an fire alarm (no fire) at 3 am and that repeated other two times at same time when we were there...No way to report this... About dinning options : plenty of food and it was freshly cooked, nobody got sick. For breakfast and lunch only two options : Colonial restaurant and Mama Juana with quite limited options and I always felt as in a cleaner fast food with buffet.Colonial was good, Mama Juana wasn't ( we were joking around that one would be punish to eat at Mama Juana if not good).For dinner the same plus Kulinarium rarely opened (the only one "a la carte" ) even they all claim they were at dinner! Asian, a steak house with a looong line every evening, The Italian had morphed in some Mexican restaurant .. For New Year's dinner it was a lot of head ache with reservations and we expected something special...but the only special thing was they wanted everybody fed fast for employees to finish earlier! After that was a kind of a show with some young dancers and a very drank audience because it was nothing special to be done until midnight...Before midnight they distributed some dollar store party stuff but most of the "hats" were already broken or they broke when put on.After 12:00 pm everybody got to rooms...One thing was great for me: THE COFFEE. They had good wine at the table...Room drinks cheap quality but we are not into strong stuff so we didn't miss it. For evening entertainment they pushed people to go to Casino in the neighboring RIU hotels.For no gambling people the hotel was sad at evening...except one show and 2 pool parties (only one was ok) in eight days... The beach was nice even I missed the palapas other hotels had in the aria (but that is a personal preference). Also the nobody cleaned the algae ...at least they didn't smell but it wasn't pleasant to pass them to go deep in water...we are not pool people... It might be a fit for some people: I heard to another hotel with amazing food that people missed the fast food burgers and hot dogs..They had plenty at Riu Bambu.. I won't return there. However, I learn what to look more carefully when booking a hotel. Few things were in the pictures just I had to pay attention to details.

After a long flight from Manchester we arrived , Usual pandemonium at the airport we arrived at the hotel. Its Massive but the check-in was easy and the staff very pleasant. Without even asking we were given an upgraded room and our bags were taken there. Within moments of finding our room there were our bags and we quickly got changed and started to explore the grounds. Our room was in the 7000 area about a 10 minute walk from reception. The room was big and airconditioned with an additional ceiling fan, A smallish balcony but adequate to sit and chat play cards and just relax, We didn't have anyone opposite so the view was pleasant and it was quiet except from a service road which seemed to have a small amount of traffic and staff going to and fro to work. we were on the 3rd floor so if you have a problem climbing stairs ask to be on a lower one. The room was big great quality bed and great shower , Plenty of hot water, Clean towels every day, The room was serviced every day and if needed the bed changed if needed, The room comprised of a fridge to keep drinks cold which was filled with water and coke and 7 up every 2 days, a mini bar with local spirits . There were Ice machines dotted in each bedroom block for our convenience, And a safe also iron and board. Once downstairs there was a pool with lots of sun beds, the pool with sunken seats and a swim up bar. My only compaint so far was the bar drinks were poor quality but one could still get drunk and many did. The staff were always very pleasant but did play the pool music to loud .Next to this pool was the Spanish Resturant, the food was of decient quality and was only open at night, we found it good but always cold in there, Air con very effective . Breakfast was always in or arround the main hotel, Quantity no problem, quality was good, one could help themselfs to any amount of tea, coffee, and soft drinks and the staff wer very efficant, pleaant. There are plenty of indivual restrants to visit at no extra charge, Chineese, a steak resturant which was always very popular so one can have anything to eat they fancy. The bars were always full but never too busy to have to wait long for service. The beach was only a short walk and very busy, lots of free sunbeds and the bar was never far away. The beach was lined with Palm trees and great sand, a shame the smokes disnt look after it as well , lots of fag ends all over. Water sports to be had if one wanted to do them, at a cost . We were bitten quite a few times and I still have the 20ars from whatever bit us and that was in February 2019 even hough we covered ourselves in insect repellent . As night falls and the evening entertainment starts the stage area becomes busy, we didnt watch much of the entertainment because it was poor. So to conclude : The hotel is spotless and the grounds wer immaculate, the staff work hard in all departments . The food was good and plentyful , The drinks were ok , we drank tea, soft drinks all with ice and no problems with the old tummy. So The RUI Bambo would be a place i would visit again. The staff and management should be comlimented on the whole experience . Thanks Bambu Lastly the airport is a nightmare !

We (my wife, daughter and I) spent 3 weeks at the Riu Bambu from mid November to early December 2018. This was our second time having previously visited the hotel in 2011. The hotel has been expanded and revamped since our first visit, most noticeably there are now three large swimming pools instead of one. The hotel and it’s grounds are huge but well kept. We stayed in a ground floor family room in Villa 20 which was quite close to the reception area. Very comfortable with two double beds and a sofa bed. The air conditioning was excellent and very welcome at the end of the day. Wi-Fi reception in the room was very good and we could even watch Netflix which was a bonus. The bathroom had a double sink and a walk in shower which was piping hot and quite powerful. The mini bar fridge was stocked with soft drinks, water and beer and there were four bottles of spirits (whisky, vodka, gin and rum) in an optics dispensing cabinet. A man visited the room every two days to restock whatever drinks you wanted. If you ever ran low on bottled water you could also collect it from the reception desk. There were no tea or coffee making facilities in the room so we took our own kettle, coffee etc, but our room was quite close to the Sports Bar which is open 24 hours and also serves coffee and snack food. The room was cleaned thoroughly on a daily basis by the maids. The only downside to our block was the cleaning cupboard which was situated in the hallway close to our room and the maids who seemed to go to and from it until late at night. This wouldn’t normally be a problem but like many of the other original accommodation blocks the design of the hallways amplifies even the slightest noise, so the cleaning cupboard let alone thoughtless guests coming back late with no volume control, did become an annoying issue. The main Colonial restaurant served an excellent variety of food at all meal times. I struggle to understand how some people can complain about the quality of the food, it was lovely. Most of the waiters and waitresses were very attentive and polite. We also visited (on numerous occasions) the Italian Restaurant which served some lovely dishes and also the Kulinarium restaurant which was also good but the food took ages to arrive between courses (some guests walked out,) so after one visit we didn’t return. The swimming pools were clean, with plenty of sun beds to go round. The pools never seemed to be crowded, although the one closest to the swim up bar was definitely busier that the other one next to it. The beach was also very clean and again sun beds were in plentiful supply. Although the beach didn’t have any parasols, the palm trees provide plenty of cover from the sun if that is what you want (which we did.) Although it was mid November to early December the temperatures were typically around 30 degrees (86f.) The beach bar/pool bars were well staffed and service was generally quick. The beer isn’t particularly good but the cocktails were great. The poolside and public area toilets were kept very clean although the main pool/beach bar toilet did sometimes get a little messy but then again it was very well used. In summary the hotel was very clean and comfortable, the staff were polite and helpful and I wouldn’t hesitate to book again **Tip – If you suffer with headaches take sufficient paracetamol tablets. To buy them in the hotel complex pharmacy will cost you a fortune - 2 tablets for US $5.