Riu Papayas

I will start on a positive note with the good. - Re-vamp was of a high standard bathrooms nicely done and good finish to the hotel bar areas etc. - Staff very friendly always have a smile on their face. - Nice lounge bar with comfy seating area and quick service at the bar. - Very clean WC facilities and reception area. - We moved room which was much more adequate and a good standard. - Spanish restaurant is AMAZING we would’ve ate their every night if we could however they shut off all speciality restaurants due to COVID-19 - received a returning customer gift from RIU The Bad ... - No designated smoking areas around the pool, not nice when children are around. Also a smoking area outside for evening meal, again not nice when eating and put us off eating outside. - No table service at the meal, serve yourself drinks etc (never had this in a hotel let alone a Riu before) - initially we were in a very very small room with our baby there was no space in it at all. The bathroom was practically as big as the living space. - asked for a quiet room prior to our visit, we were out in a VERY noisy room looking out at another hotels entertainment (they did move us eventually) - often the floor in the dining room was dirty and we were always there to eat upon it opening - pigeons flying in and around the food in the restaurant - towel change only open 9-12 not long enough most are open all day - we had a call to say the Japanese was closed the night we were due to eat in it however it was open with people eating in it. Very annoying. - too many sunbeds rammed in and around the pool so you can barely move your bed unless you’re front row. - juices and drinks all from machines. No offer of hot drinks at lunch or evening meal. A member of my party only drinks water and green tea, green tea we asked for in the restaurant and they said they didn’t serve it there apart from breakfast. The water was awful tasting unless it was from a bottle. - hot drink machines constantly broken. - no specific juices like most hotels asked for cranberry they couldn’t offer this. - the food was awful, the comments saying it was nice I am so confused. There was no choice, most days no signs saying what you were eating. Veg were dripping in boiled water and butter , other things dripping in grease and oil. No poached eggs at breakfast. No variety of food seemed to be the same day in and day out. Lots of leftover food from breakfast was used at lunch eg. Scrambled egg with bacon on top. I would 100% say this does not justify a 4* rating, yes the interior and decor does but everything else does not. My first review comments which I would rate a 1* - The main reason for my low star is for the first rude member of staff that we have come across. I will leave a full review at the end of my trip. It is my first family holiday with my daughter. You have to be extremely early to secure sunbeds that get the sun all day long also with a parasol. A lot of the sunbeds are penned in and if you have a pushchair you are unable to sit at them as there is no space for your child in their pram. This morning we found two sunbeds however there were no parasols near and it was out from the sunshade. We asked a member of the pool staff if he could help us with a parasol for my daughter to protect her from the sun. He was old and grumpy and grunted NO to us pointing at the large Venetian sunshade. He then walked off with no explanation and no politeness. Now why would I sit under that with my daughter and have to shut it and shut out every single others persons sun who wants to sunbathe and sit there? I wouldn’t! I have stayed in MANY Rius around the world and have NEVER had this problem or encountered RUDE staff regardless of where I have wanted to sit and if there are sun shades or not. I am visiting three more RIUs this year and hope to not receive the same service especially as a RIU Gold Class Member. Therefore not child friendly and the man would rather my child sit and burn in the sun or block out 20 peoples sun for me shutting the shade. It would be embarrassing and create a scene if I asked for it to be shut and other holiday makers didn’t agree!

We booked our trip to Gran Canaria fairly last minute as our trip to Hong Kong was cancelled due to the virus. We did a little research, but not as much as we usually do. This hotel was impressive from the minute we arrived. Greeted at the door by a friendly gentleman, check in was smooth and the room spacious, airy and light with fairly comfy beds. The hotel was immaculate, clean throughout with hand sanitizer dispensers in various places across the complex. The staff were welcoming and friendly, and never overbearing. Even the entertainment crew encouraged engagement but didn't force anyone to take part. They really worked hard and totally earnt their money. The bar staff were personable and efficient. Housekeeping not intrusive and almost knew when we were leaving the room and how long we'd be out. Our room was always cleaned by 2pm each day. The hotel was in a great location close to shops and an easy walk to the beach. The bus service just outside was excellent. The food was of great quality and well flavoured; a good mix of dishes. There wasn't a great deal of variation from day to day and therefore i think you'd get bored of the food if you stayed longer than a week. The asian restaurant was ok, but no better than the buffet restaurant. My only negative comments would be the pool. It's a lovely large pool surrounded by plenty of sunbeds; but my goodness the water is cold!! Yes, i would highly recommend this hotel; would i go back - probably not for a few years. I'd like to see the other islands first.

We visited this hotel in February 23-2nd March and we had a lovely time, albeit landing in a sandstorm and the hotel being caked in sand for 2 days! (I know this isn’t the hotels fault but felt cleaning up could have been done sooner!) Every night my son got caked in sand at the entertainment area. A quick mop of the floor and stage wouldn’t have taken long and made this more pleasant for the guests. I was really disappointed that the management wanted to charge us €100 for keeping our room on until 4 pm when the hotel wasn’t even full. On the morning of departure my partner went to reception and asked for a thermometer as our baby wasn’t well. They didn’t have one. He was very lethargic and had developed an awful chesty cough. We wanted to check his temperature before we got on our flight. It was a little concerning considering the coronavirus outbreak that’s happened. My partner requested that we keep our room on so that we could keep him comfortable and they asked for €100 which I think is disgusting. To charge a young family when RIU are a huge hotel chain. We had already spent over €1,400 euros to stay there for a week. In the end my partner got them down to €75 but this is still far too steep. Especially when our baby was sick. For me this is not the policies of a caring family run hotel and we probably will not go to Riu again. It was such a shame because we had a lovely time and the bar staff/ entertainment team do a magnificent job, hats off to all of them, they are fantastic with all of the guests and the children. The food in the main restaurant does become repetitive you just have to be careful that you choose something different every day. It was however to a good standard. We ate in the Spanish restaurant and found this to be mediocre. We went to the Asian restaurant a few times and really enjoyed the food in there. These restaurants are buffet style, other than the Spanish, your main course and dessert are bought to your table. Kids stuff ; The kids splash park & pool was a nice area that is gated to stop little ones from running out. My only complaint was that the water was freezing and wasn’t heated so our son could only play in there for five minutes and then had to be bought out to warm up. He got really upset each time as he wanted to stay in there and play. There isn’t a baby change in the toilets by the pool bar which meant having to go back to reception each time! This is something that could be easily rectified and make things a lot easier for families. The kids club is for ages 4+ but I took our son in anyway (18months) and stayed with him so that he could play with the building blocks, plasticine and colouring in. Calú the kids turtle that dresses up visited the hotel Monday to Friday but didn’t work weekends?! This was a shame because our son really wanted to see him again before we left, he kept pointing at the Calu pictures. This is just a person dressed in a costume so I’m not sure why they can’t do this at the weekend. The kids kind of come to expect it and look forward to it at the kids mini disco everyday. Rooms; The rooms are okay! All accessed by lifts or stairs. We had an awful stench coming from the shower every time we used it. The rooms were kept clean every day by the housekeeping staff and they did a good job of it. Clean towels were provided however these all need to be replaced! Very thin and rough on your skin. The maintenance team keep the grounds of the hotel looking really smart and tidy but this isn’t a huge hotel that you can walk around for a leisurely stroll like a resort. However, you can walk outside of the hotel and it takes roughly 15 minutes to get to the beach. There are plenty of bars and shops in player Del Inglés.