Riu Costa del Sol

This is quite a large hotel and as soon as we arrived in reception, there were many people waiting to be checked in. We had to wait half an hour for our room to be ready. No problem as we had a drink whilst we waited. We had paid for a partial sea view and high room and were delighted. Room 1904 on the ninth floor was a larger room with a super sea view. It was spotlessly clean and was maintained to a high standard throughout the week. The food and drinks were very good, tried the Spanish Restaurant on the first night and the Italian one a few days later. Both were very good but we were only offered one drink in the Italian. The hotel is run to a high standard, staff polite, cheerful and helpful. My only criticism is that smokers congregate at entrances, especially the buffet restaurant and reception. Not nice having to walk through the smoke haze! Torremolinos centre is about a 20 minute walk along the very pleasant promenade and Benalmadena about the same again. The weather was not brilliant but we managed to walk to the centre most days and even to Benalmadena once. All in all a very pleasant week in a well managed hotel. I certainly would consider this hotel again if were were to return to Torremolinos.

This is a Thomson platinum hotel. Good points of this hotel: Very clean and modern hotel Lovely rooms with comfy beds Good range of drinks Excellent staff throughout Entertainment good most nights, yes they mine, but many artists mime. (Wasn't keen on the sketches though) Cold buffet good, loads of fruit,salad. Bad points: Smoking is everywhere, you can't escape it. Smokers are at every entrance, in the hallways. You can smell it in your room. Need to have designated areas. Food: I would not expect a platinum hotel to provide packet soup mixes, frozen vegetables, smash potato mash, the same fish and meat everyday, just generally poor quality but plenty of it. Chopped salad usually had octopus or other seafood in it (not everyone's taste).No variation on breakfast, same streaky bacon and small frankfurter sausages and pre cooked omelettes everyday.Cereals cheap quality however porridge lovely Drinks: good but weak We preferred to eat in the smaller restaurant, lot easier and same food. Tried the Italian, was ok. Couldn't get into the Asian night (booked up). Overall, we were disappointed after reading the good reviews ( we ignored the reviews about sickness etc). We did eat out one night at the Goltier restaurant nearby, which was lovely, 60euros but worth it. Area etc: It's the last hotel on the prom so a bit of a way out of town. Enjoyed a walk to Torremilinos and got the lift to the top, then walked down the steps. Got the train to Malaga and did a trip to Marbella and porta banus which we really enjoyed. Would we stay at this hotel again? Definitely not, due to the smoking and the food. This hotel could be so much better. This has put us off all inclusive. One night at dinner, there were people there in red jackets doing a survey about the hotel,and the staff were out to impress. From reviews of previous RIU customers, this hotel does not seem to meet their standards. Interesting?