Riu Vallarta

I want to start my review by telling you that most of the staff members of this resort are hard working people and very courteous to the guest. Some staff members need to be re educate on service expectations. The lack of people skills and courteous is very notorious among some of the staff members such as the staff at the bars/ lifeguards and the front desk. Jaime is the person who check us in ... The experience with this individual was very poor. He seemed bother because I was asking questions. I’m not sure if he was having a bad day but the welcoming was extremely poor. The hotel is huge, it looks like an asylum for people with mental problems and it’s very dirty. As you approach the hotel you can see the paint of the hotel is falling apart and super outdated. Need a remodel ASAP. The room smelled like humid and the curtains where ripped and the sun will hit my face every single day. I didn’t eat at the restaurants because it requieres a tuxedo to eat here and pretty stupid policy when the temperature it’s over 100F everyday in my opinion.... The buffet was exceptional in my opinion from the quality of the food to the service. The staff the works in the buffet have my respect. Impecable service from them. They made my stay here a little more enjoyable. The pool are so crowded and dirty . People leave the towels on the chairs and don’t come back for hours making it impossible for anyone to get any chairs. (Most of the people that do this are local tourist) I noticed it the entire week. The beach was phenomenal this is the place I enjoyed the most to be honest. This hotel is very cheap and you get what you pay for . The key for room looks like a public restroom key lol...They lack Of technology in here as well. The entertainment is very good and the people that provide it are very outgoing thumbs up for that. Overall if your not in to a lot of kids running wild and total disarray stayed somewhere else. We visit some friends at the Riu Palace and I completely regret booking this nasty hotel I should’ve payed a little More and probably have a more enjoyable experience. People stayed somewhere else or if your in a tied budget and don’t mind the mediocre service stay here. The check out line is ridiculously long make sure to be 3 hours before or they’ll try to charge you for Checking out late be careful with this scam and also try to stay in the first and second floor Since the elevator was down the entire week and your going to be waking up And down the stairs ...maximum capacity 5 people and 9 floors so Imagine that ...

We visited this hotel in June Arriving on 21 until 5th July we have visited many Rui hotels before hence our booking,oh how we wished we had checked the Mexican school holidays before booking.we arrived on Thursday and were shown to our beautiful room a junior suite over looking the sea ,fabulous first day , we thought we were for another wonderful holiday but that wasn’t to be ,the Mexico people arrived amongst others on Friday and all hell let loose,they saved sunbeds by the dozen , with anytime from a broken rubber ring a pair of kids pants to a child, it was impossible to sit near the adult pool or use any of the Sun beds that are built in the water which was another thing we liked when looking to booked.It was also the World Cup whilst we were there which was no problem for us ,we don’t follow football but the hotel catered well for those who do. That made another problem because we knew that the group of people we encountered had seats reserved for the football with towels as well as at least two lots of ten sunbeds which a lot of were not used until about 4pm. The staff we’re good but were not really interested we felt in there UK visitors,I even had my hotel towel taken from my sunbed,we had walked down to the beach and it was gone Fifteen minutes later,this really upset me as I have holidayed for the last twenty years ,and have never had a problem, the only upside of this hotel for me was The Sir George Restaurant, we booked to go and it was the most delicious fillet steak we have ever eaten,so thank you to The Captain(won) he was great as were Oliver and Rosa in the buffet,if it hadn’t been for those people I don’t know how we would of survived the rest our our two weeks in Rio Vallarta.just check school holidays before you book this hotel, we would never go back, ps we have six children and eight grandchildren so we have no problem with the children just the parents who let their children urinate in the bushes in front of us although there are toilets both side of the pools. Josephine Gilbert, Lincolnshire,UK.

I went to the RIU with my hubby and 4 boys, ages 21,19,17 & 13. First of all if you’re going here you need strong insect repellent. I started taking Brewers Yeast and garlic supplements a month before we went as I was told this would stop the bites...it doesn’t!! And I used Avon’s Skin so Soft again it doesn’t work out in Mexico!! All of us got bitten and it wasn’t just us either. Anyhoo, the only reason I haven’t given the hotel 5 stars is that as previous reviews have said the hotel is dated and needs a referbishment. However having said this the hotel is lovely and clean and the staff work so hard! The complex itself is huge. Great restaurants and lovely food. I can’t say enough about the staff as they work so hard and can’t do enough for you! Lovely people....they speak great English to my appalling Spanish!! It’s very busy this time of year as you would expect. The hotel has a night club which came in very handy for my 2 eldest and they said it was really good and enjoyed it for the 2 weeks we where there. We went with TUI and the staff were very good. We went on a few excursions which were great....silver package with the dolphins and the luxury sailing was amazing! However we went to Rhythms of the Night and it was a bit of a nightmare. First of all it rained and rained....it was an open air theatre and you had to use umbrellas! Second of all my husband has to wear a leg brace ( which we told the rep about when we booked) and he struggled walking up the steep slopes that they have on the beach (where you watch the show). I wouldn’t recommend it if you have walking difficulties, a woman on the same night was waiting to have a knee replacement and she struggled also. However the excursions were to do with TUI not the hotel...just thought I’d let you know! We had a fantastic holiday and the hotel had something for all of our boys and me and hubby. The beach is gorgeous and the cocktails fabulous and fantastic staff! I would definitely go again :D