Hotel Riu Touareg

Travelled to this hotel from Manchester in January and it did not disappoint! I have fallen in love with Cape Verde and I cannot wait to return. When we first arrived into the Airport (if you can call it that, its tiny haha) it did take some time for our bags to arrive, however I didnt mind waiting outside in the sunshine and being greeted by some goats whilst my partner grabbed the bags! We arranged prior to our arrival, a private transfer via Giggling Geckos which was great, the driver was super friendly and chatty and got us to the hotel before the Tui transfer bus so we got checked in straight away and managed to upgrade to the Adults only section. First thoughts on seeing the hotel, it looks like a huge sand castle and a little piece of heaven, stunning! Porters took our suitcases and we arrived in our room which was spacious, clean and bright, mini bar fully stocked and optics to help yourself too free of charge. Our balcony overlooked the road to the right side of the hotel (where we often seen the resident donkeys :)) and also a view of the sea, the balcony was a great size. Okay so the weather.. wow. So ridiculously hot, do not underestimate it and I highly recommend taking a higher factor than you would normally use, the sun is extremely strong here with the UV index usually sitting at 10 (max is 11!) The island is very windy and there is a constant wind which is lovely but dangerous as you dont realise just how hot it gets! If you do happen to burn like I did, ask the gardener for some Aloe Vera and he will cut some off for you. The water at the pools are very cold but you do get used to it after the initial plunge! The adults only bar is great and the staff are lovely, if you dont fancy any drinks of the menu, they will happily make you anything you want, however they dont in the main part of the hotel (also bar staff can accept tips). They put out small snacks at lunchtime here aswell. Adults only has it's own section on the beach and isnt busy at all and is just a short few minutes walk from the back of the pool with plenty of loungers. You cannot go in the sea at this part of the island due to it being so dangerous and almost constantly red flagged, however if you choose to do any excursions (I'd recommend giggling geckos as they also give back to the community) they can take you to parts of the island where you can swim in the sea. 2 huge buffet restaurants on site and 5 themed restaurants, we only tried adults only restaurant and it was an a la carte type, it was lovely. We regret not trying the chinese restaurant as we heard from fellow travellers that it was delicious. You can only book and attend the same restaurant once a week, I suggest on arrival to the hotel and check in, book the restaurants you wish to attend for your duration. Night time in January, I didnt find it too cold but I did pop on a thin jumper as it sometimes got abit of a chill. Entertainment .. well, what can I say, they try their best to please a huge audience! There is a karaoke bar just off of the main stage and also a pacha nightclub (quite an odd one but we had a good laugh anyway!) Shops.. there is 1 shop onsite for essentials and snacks etc.. try to pre plan and take everything including your kitchen sink as everything is SO expensive in this shop! I'm by far a cheap skate but even I found the prices ridiculous. You will not find another shop on the island so ensure you have all essentials (paracetamol etc) there are a few other clothing and African ornaments shop, also expensive! Buy souvenirs on excursions. On another note, cat lovers rejoice! The hotel have lots of residential cats! All super friendly and assume they are there to keep any vermin away (we didnt see any). If your not a fan of cats, dont worry, if you do not speak to them they wont bother you. If you take some treats, they'll be your best friend for the duration of your stay and cuddle up to you! They are looked after and you'll see food bowls filled to the brim with biscuits around the complex. They get treated for fleas etc and neutered also but if you are lucky you may see some kittens around! As cape verde is quite a poor place, they highly appreciate any donations (again giggling geckos can arrange and even take you to orphanages or animal sanctuary to deliver these). Security is a big thing at this hotel and all staff seem to be checked prior to leaving the premises so I was advised if leaving any items for house keeping, to leave a note saying you give permission and which items you have left for them to take :) All in all I highly recommend this hotel and I cant wait to return soon!

It was last year that we visited and resisted a review at the time to see how they would deal with our issues. We hoped to write how they dealt with an issue we’ll. sadly this is not the case. Normally I’d not see the point in reviewing so long after the event, but hopefully this will help anyone else who has issues with any RIU/Tui hotels, and what you need to do to get them to listen to you.    Basically if you want cheap sun go for it. Nothing wrong with that. Stunning unspoilt beaches as the island’s not taken off as much as others. Worth seeing before tourists really move in on it. The hotel itself is huge.  The rooms further from the reception by the adults only area were quiet and more relaxing. The bar staff are friendlier than the rest and these were the areas that were kept clean. They were also rather generous with drink measures! We found the food nice for a buffet food with a good variety, when it was cooked that is.  The pool was busy for us but plenty of sun beds on the beach. Sadly the residents littered the beach with cigarette butts. Bins are provided but these didn’t seem to be used.  However, if you do have issues you may be left high and dry. Hopefully, things have improved since our experience.    The main issues that we had were:  1- Random people off the street would wander in and steal from the Tui swap box. Not nice and didn’t feel safe. 2- The communal toilets were dirty. Use your imagination.  3- The room wasn’t  turned over from the last guests and took a few days to be completely cleaned from them. This included dirty sheets and open tea and coffee sachets. The reception never seemed to know what we were talking about when we went to ask about the room being cleaned.  Pictures sent to TUI. 4- We ate in the Boa Vista restaurant and were given raw chicken and beef. We mentioned it to the staff and ate nothing else and left. They were very nice but didn’t really know what to do. All pictures sent to Tui. 5- The restaurants were not clean and food left out with flies crawling on them. We were pleased to see hand gel as you walked in but this was empty every time we went in. 6- My partner was seen by an onsite doctor after becoming seriously ill in the night. They told us, and provided a signed letter saying they had gastroenteritis. We were told this was rife in the hotel and looking at reviews from the time and newspaper articles, this was true.  She was told not to go in the pool and ask for extra water at the bar. The bar would not give us an extra water bottle duspite the circumstance. After months of complaining to Tui they told us the rep hadn’t reported it so would do nothing regarding the illness. Despite us reporting this illness to the rep and the rep booking the onsite doctors appointment. They were provided with all pictures and doctors notes. They did compensate for the room issues which was appreciated. But wanted nothing to do with the illness which ruined the remainder of the stay. We were there 10 nights and half of this was spent in the room or lobby with my partner sipping water and only allowed to eat rice. ( on doctors advice) The all inclusive was wasted for her. They referred our complaint to the hotel months and months later, after some very dismissive conversations. RIU stance was we couldn’t prove it came from there.    We won’t return to any RIU again after the way we were dealt with. In the hotel and after. Mistakes do happen but it’s how they are dealt with that matter. And it’s disappointing at firstly the length of time this took and then the dismissive nature they seemed to take.  Where there were clearly issues. A doctors note from their own doctor wasn’t enough which is concerning.  Could be a 5 but after other 5 stars we’ve been to in the world this is more like a 3 star.  If you book you’ll have a nice time if you go in not expecting too much. Important if you do have issues, and hopefully you don’t, make sure your rep actually logs the issue and you get a copy in writing to prove this or the travel agent and hotel won’t want to know.   Just to clarify, we weren’t looking for excessive compensation, all we had asked for was £120 to cover the medical bill, we don’t see why we should be out of pocket for becoming ill through no fault of our own.