RIU Hotels & Resorts
reviews and complaints

hope all is going well with you. This email is in reference to my reservation (WRCOA6Y7) 24-29 Apr 2019. This resort was in the process of closing for approximately 5 months on 29 Apr 2019. I did not receive any notification when I made reservations (15 Jan 2019) or when I checked in. I received a memo from hotel staff on 2nd day of my stay stating resort will close for remodeling on 29 Apr 2019 and they needed guest to check out by 12pm.
While in the resort, the resort staff was preparing for the closure. The elevator was out of order which required me to either walk up 4 flights of stair or walk a long distance to the room. There was several safety violations. The elevator had a panel with loose wires and opening in which child could access and fall. The restaurant's ran out of food every day of my stay. On one occasion, we waited 1.5hr for food and they brought meat but no only one potato (for three people to share) because they ran out of food. We arrived at this restaurant at 6:30pm and it wasn't crowded. The buffet restaurant ran out of breakfast items (for omelettes). The last evening meal the buffet served left-over food and the other restaurants were closed for remodeling. The bar had all cheap (bottom shelf) liquor. The bar ran out of certain rum on the first day of our stay. The pool activities was not at the level of any of the other Riu I stayed in. The music was played using a portable boombox.
The reservation staff should have notified me of this remodeling when reservations made. I was not given option to change reservations until after remodeling. I was charged the same fees as if resort was up and running at 100% and it was not. I discussed this issue with resort management. I am requesting that customer relations contact me in regards to this issue. I have attached several pictures for your review.

v/r
Rhonda Y Maccou

Hi we have been to almost every hotel in Mexico and been to the Vallarta many times, I was disappointed this time I know they are closing for refurbishment but it does not mean that they have to let standard drop, .I have never had a problem we are gold card holders and found quite a few problems this visit .we are hoping to come back in December after the refurbishment and hopefully no complaints

We are frequent visitors to Jamaica and have always found it a welcoming and friendly place, first time in a Riu we have been shocked at the level of rudeness displayed by the staff in general, no please or thank you, just demands and being clicked at to comply! The only staff worth a penny are the maids who are friendly and efficient, .
The beach is generally unclean and smells of effluent, the tiles are broken and unsafe the pool could use a good clean also, five star platinum? I do t think so, we were looking forward to a unwinding holiday as we always get in Jamaica, however this is only the first week and I would be happy to go home I have had a bad head every day due to issues. If this had been my first trip here it would have been my last, this hotel is not doing the country any favours at all

We are staying at the Riu Yuncatan in Mexico right now and my partner come down with food poisoning on the 02/05/2019. He got it from the beach restaurant (La Margarita) at lunch time, my partner was the only one to eat the king prawns. Through out the afternoon/ early evening he started to explain of stomach cramps by 19.00 he was being violently sick both way. He ended up in bed all night just drinking litres of water to flush his system out trying to get well for the next day. The next day we planned for our son on who was 13 yrs (his birthday) to swim with dolphins. Because of the high cost we paid we didn't want to miss it. So all of the above ruined our special day.
I did report this to the hotel supervisor on the 03/05/2019 who offers us, as a family to eat in Mexico restaurant for our sons birthday. My partner couldn't go he was still frightened of eating, so my son and I had to eat without him.
While I was speaking to the hotel supervisor on the same day I reported at number of things. Dirty sheets being put on my son bed (Blood stain) they didn't get changed till the next day and how we got to shower in our room in our swimming clothing because we haven't got a door on for privacy. He told us they was going to put a curtain up (which we are still waiting for). I did report this to Rui, s rep Adam when we first arrived but (nothing got done) after taking my room number and email address. We was told at there was lots of things on site for a teenager to do. I did ask Adam about this and he couldn't answer my question (so where).
I did ask hotel supervisor to make a report regarding all of the above because I will be making a paper chase of this. We paid a lot of money for this Paradise holiday and I haven't seen no paradise yet!

We flew from Toronto and checked in with my sister on April 19, 2019 (room 921). My cousins came from Vancouver and checked in on the same date (room 928). Our package was for 7 days and the service we received at the very beginning at reception desk was awful. The staff was rude and did not care about us. They were talking to other guests while talking to us. I have stayed at RiU palace in Los Cabos last year and the service there was amazing so it was very shocking for us to experience this here at Riu Cancun. The staff checked us in and provided no directions to the elevator, did not mention anything about the restaurants at the resort or any fitness or entertainment activities. We were just given a map and left us to explore. There were negative reviews about this place before we booked it but i trusted the brand and still went ahead and booked it for 7 days for 4 people. But it felt like a mistake. On day 5, we went for a swim in the ocean and one of us lost the wrist band. When we went to get a new one, the staff was rude again and almost yelled at us for losing it even though we were aware of the charge and we were ready to pay. I paid for the extra band but it felt ridiculous. I want this complaint to be heard and want some one to get back to me asap.

When retiring to our room after hotel entertainment on our last but one night dated 24/02/2019, we were shocked to find the door that is shared with our neighbours was shut and our key card didn't open it. We spent the next TWO hours backwards and forwards to reception and waiting about. The second time we came back down to reception we were told that the occupants of the room next door were going to unlock it, which when we went back up yet again they had not. Our hotels maintenance had gone home so the one from the palace was called for and had to be collected, after lots more waiting around we were told it would not be possible to open as door code needed reprogramming and would have to be done next day when the riu negril maintenance man returned.
We were at this point so fed up so agreed to another room for the night. During the night I wanted to see if room open as vertigo started and needed medication so tried to call reception and surprise surprise phone in room not working. We really think this issue needs addressing as in an emergency eg someone ill in room and noone being able to get in could be a disaster. Next morning we spoke to tui reps and hotel manager who were really understanding, which was fine but really do not know if anything with initial door problem has been resolved.

We travelled to the Riu Jalisco, neuvo Vallarta on January 11, 2019. My spouse became quite ill, saw the resort doctor and was diagnosed with food poisoning. Hotel management phoned our room the next day and told us we had to go to the hospital to rule out a virus or we would be quarantined to our room and would not be able to leave Mexico. We went to the hospital with 2 other couples, also diagnosed with food poisoning. One couple spent the night in the hospital. Hotel management refused to accept that there was a problem with the food, even though the hospital ruled out a virus. We asked to be moved to a different hotel, they refused. More people became ill, including the couple we traveled with. People flew home early from their trips.
We were to stay 2 weeks in this resort but we moved as the doctor said not to eat any fruits or vegetables unless we could peel them, not to eat any kinds of meat, not to drink alcohol. I want the RIU to refund the cost of our vacation. It was a nightmare.

Copy of email sent to Gresham Hotel and general reservation email.

Forwarded. Regarding booking in the Gresham Dublin, 22 December 2018. Room number 3034.
My CLT-L09. On O2.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Disappointment
From: susan.[protected]@btinternet.com
To: reservations.[protected]@riu.com
CC:
Dear Madam/Sir
Christmas is hard for my parents, they lost my youngest sister 16 months ago and my maternal grandmother in January, my dad also has cancer.
To cheer them up I booked them into the senior suite at your hotel along with theatre tickets. After checking your website I then booked through Expedia.
Imagine my huge disappointment when I was sent photos of their room to discover it was not the senior suite I had booked and paid for but just a suite.
When my parents queried this at reception they were told the room they had was a senior suite but the photos were exactly the room shown on your website as a suite.
An admission of an error might have helped, waiving a small bar bill after the lies didn't really.
I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.
Regards
Susan

Hi, we, ve not long returned from Riu Macao Dominican Republic, . Absolutly discusted by the rooms .the 1st room air con barely worked neither did the t.v. . We had maintenance man out who said it was fine. After 5 day we couldnt put up no longer we paid to upgrade to the jacuzi suite.much to our discust 2 patio doors were broke, a cigeratte found under the sofa, a dodgy cable had melts and was dangerous, handles broken. This was meant to be there top room. . Barering in mind this was a so called 5star hotel .room was musty . .slept one night in there and there was a mouldy damp smell.in the morning we checked the pillows 4 pillows were black mould it was discusting .i called the manager up to see it who then fobbed us off with clean cases . . Not acceptable. . .in the end the supervisor cleaner came and took them all away apologising .the manager was useless who tried to palm up off to another room we didnt want to move for the 3rd time. It was a joke. . A 5 star hotel with four musty mouldy pillows . . I have got pictures of this and the cigerette under sofa. The mainenance man fixed the doors. Air con barely worked in this room either.the hotel was more like a measley 3 star .very dated. After getin engaged we were very let down. Iv stayed in 4 rius and this has put us off for life. . The holiday cost a lot and we were masively disapoint we should never have gone through this .i will attach the pictures of the pillows

We are disappointed to be writing this email are regular travellers, at least twice a year, to your hotels and this is the first complaint we have ever made. The above was for our recent trip to Aruba staying at the Riu Palace Antillas. We booked this hotel being a palace, as this holiday was for a special occassion. We booked it to celebrate my wife and brother in laws special birthdays. While the public areas of the hotel, food and staff were exceptional, we were most dissapointed with the accommodation areas. They were of a very poor standard and we have attached photos for you to see. The hallways were shabby and stained, and our room had mould in the bathroom, and peeling ceilings. The bathroom fittings were also very shabby. The room was clean, but very shabby and dated. Not what we have come to expect from Riu Palace hotels, or Tui. We are Riu Gold members, and our number is [protected]. We even have another trip booked for 8/11 to the Riu hotel New York Plaza. We have always regarded Riu Hotels in a very high standard, however feel very let down by the standard of this hotel. Please could you review the attached photos, and we look forward to hearing from you in due course. Mr and Mrs R Ward.

My Mother slipped on tiles at this hotel as the mats had not been placed out during a rainstorm. She fell and sustained a traumatic brain injury and was told by the hospital she could not fly home in 3 days' time or she would be at risk of a stroke due to heavy brain bruising. My father spoke with the "Director" of the hotel to ask if their stay could be extended by a day or 2 to allow my Mother to recover somewhat before flying. The man's response was a flat "No." He had no interest, gave no offer of help, no apology that mats had not been placed although the mats were laid down when Mom & Dad returned from the hospital. He didn't want to be troubled at all by my mother's inconvenient brain injury, although he knew of her fall due. When the man was rude to my Dad, my Dad said he would contact his lawyer. The response was: "Your lawyer will fight with my lawyer and my lawyer will win." Absolutely appalling. The only thing this "Director" should be directing is his own application for UNEMPLOYMENT insurance.

We paid for WiFi hotel and our Bahamas Paradise Island Hotel has been down n citing us 20$ a day for two cell phones

40$ credit we should receive

Customer service was unable to assist us with an earlier flight home as I am not feeling well and insurance customer service numbers given to us not working

Your Philippines customer service people are horrible no help no seat assignments given Nothing

We will not be sharing a good review with No assistance

Duane & Nancy Zellers

Iron number [protected]

We would like a 6am flight home and not thru New York as my wife is not feeling well

Please help us

[protected]
[protected]@yahoo.com

I stayed at the Riu Republica on September 27, 2018 and the service was awful. We had to request that our room be cleaned practically everyday and when it was cleaned it was usually very late into the day. The bed was made hastily and the floors were never swept. On our last two days it wasn't cleaned at all. Each time we contacted the front desk or asked one of the people responsible for cleaning it to help us they'd promised to come back or send someone and it never happened. There were a trillion ants in the room on more than one occasion. We asked for someone to check the air conditioner several times and again no one ever came.The elevator was also out of order for three of the five days we were there. I saw an elderly couple climb the stairs to the 4th floor and they didn't seem too happy about it either. The staff was extremely rude and it didn't help that I was unable to communicate with many of them because they didn't speak English. I couldn't connect to the internet and asked for help at the front desk. The young woman I spoke to told me to ask the person I was traveling with to help me. I brought a stack of singles to tip anyone who serviced me but I had a hard time parting with my hard earned money for such poor service. I ate mostly fruit and vegetables because the food was tasteless. One of the men stirring red sauce for pasta splashed it all over my pink shorts with no apology. When we booked our excursion the Amstar Rep (Ceasar) advised my boyfriend to wear dark glasses because there were a lot of mounds on the island and he didn't want him to get in trouble with me. By mounds he meant breast and butt's. I was highly offended and it caused tension between us. His behavior was very unprofessional to say the least and it was unsolicited. I stayed at the Riu in Jamaica and I had no complaints whatsoever. This experienced ruined my vacation and I will think long and hard about staying at any hotel owned by RIU in the future. I would like a full refund and an apology.

Hello

We stayed in the ochi rios hotel from 14th sept - 28th sept.

My mother in law stayed 18th sept for the night (room 3012) mrs Fearon.

Whilst we waited for the room to be ready which took longer than the 3pm time given which your front desk dealt with perfectly. We say on the lounges by the pool. They were meant to be clean and no one had used them as it was so early in the morning when they arrived. When my mother in law got up from sitting her trousers were all damanged. I have pictures she can not wear them again and the hotel said we had to contact you. Directly... which I found maddness.
My email is [protected]@hotmail.co.uk
[protected]

Having dined at the Sir George, Riu Vallarta, Mexico, restaurant two evenings ago we decided to eat there for our wedding anniversary.
What a mistake we made!

We arrived at 19.35 to be told that a table would not be ready until 21:00 and were given a pager.
We arrived back at the restaurant at 21.05 and were seated. We were offered drinks which we accepted being water and wine.
We got talking to other guests who advised they had been waiting for food for over an hour. This surprised us given our previous experience.

Our appetisers arrived and although the soup was very good the pastry with goats cheese was terrible. It was dry and inedible!
After waiting for 100 minutes after arriving and having needed to refill the water glassses and wine glasses ourselves we decide to leave the restaurant as we had an early start the following morning.
We have raised this issue with Javier, the Duty Manager and expressed our dispppointment. Initially Javier did
not understand the gravity of our complaint and offered the explanation that the hotel was busy. I appreciate the hotel is busy however the hotel is clearly not busy enough to decline our holiday booking!
Having stayed a minimum of 14 occasions at Riu hotels across the world this is the first time that I feel the need to complain!
I am disappointed that our wedding anniversary ended so badly. We have stayed Riu hotels for our anniversary for the last 12 years and wonder whether this will be the last!
We were looking at the Riu in Sri Lanka for next September but will seriously need to think about it!

I am totally disappointed in the Riu Republica. I have stayed at all the Riu hotels and this one is the worst to say it is all adult. The food was extremely cold regardless of what time I ate. I went early for dinner at 630 still cold., I went early for lunch still cold, I went mid breakfast still cold. This was the worst birthday ever and I got sick

My family (my husband and two children) and I have stayed at the Club Hotel Riu Negril (for the duration of two weeks) on five separate occasions, we have stayed at the Ochi Rio's Riu once and we have also stayed in the Riu in Lanzarote; we love the Clubhotel Negril so much so, that in 2016, my husband and I stayed for 3 weeks and got married there. Each time we stay in the Club hotel resort, we have other families from England join us and also a friend and her family from Canada meets to reunite. It is usually a magical and very pleasant experience.

However, on this particular visit we were extremely disappointed. On arrival, we were informed that the hotel had not received my email, whereby I had requested in advance that all 3 family's (occupying 4 rooms - as my husband and I brought his eldest daughter with us and we therefore required two rooms for our family of 5 poeple) would be located in the first building and close to each other. I had also informed them that we were coming back to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary as we had got married at the Riu and I was enquiring weather we could celebrate it there. The email response was very vague and useless- they had informed me that a gift would be sent to our room for people celebrating a celebration, however it never was. On arrival the receptionist informed us that the email basically meant nothing and she could not honour our request as she did not have authority to do so, she offered one room an upgrade which made absolutely no sense as my family would have been in 2 very separate rooms and therefore we declined.

On our first morning, our friends were locked out of their room at fault of their own, however, my husband walked to reception to collect a key card but it did not work, we then called reception to solve the issue and the man on the phone who was very rude, simply put the phone down. We then had to walk back to reception to request that someone physically came with us with a key issuer to get entrance to the room, only to find out that the handle on the main door to her room was broken.

Throughout the duration of our two week stay, it was extremely clear that the hotel was over vacated, as the staff were over worked and looked absolutely exhausted, they did not have time to deliver their usual hospitality and pleasant presence towards any of us because they were clearly too busy. This includes staff from the gardeners, cleaners, dining and bar staff, who over the years would usually welcome us with a 'good morning' and on many occasions take the opportunity to have a conversation with us because they had time too.

The entertainment staff were also extremely busy and it seemed as though they were unable to provide the usual home from home service they would have provided by welcoming us with conversations and checking in on us frequently to ensure we were having a good stay. Many of the entertainment team tried hard to maintain these relationships... Pencil; Happy Feet, Spotlight, Popsicle and Roly poly strived to deliver the service that we continue to return to the hotel for, but they also seemed very busy and quite rushed. There was one man in particular, in which we had only met this year, who had made both myself and our two daughters children quite uncomfortable, his name was Hotdog and he sat by the plaza bar most evenings, drinking alcohol and saying derogative things that he passed off as a joke, towards the second week of the holiday, I told our daughters to completely avoid him.

On every occasion that we have visited the Club hotel there has been no end of clean beach towels, it usually rains and we casually go over to the beach hut and collect a clean towel from the towel hut, however we could not do that on thus occassion beacuse everytime we needed a cleab towek they were never there. On one occasion we were due to go on an excursion and the shuttle was waiting on us to collect our towels; I was extremely disappointed that at quarter past 8 the hut was not open, there was a huge line and I was refused at reception to provide me with an alternative. Therefore the shuttle had to wait and we were late collecting participants from other hotels.

This was also the same issue with bath towels; I called reception on four of occasions throughout our stay to report that either there weren't any or there wasn't enough towels, however as promised, house keeping never arrived and therefore we had to share our towels and use beach towels as floor mats.

During our stay, whiist it was raining and we were in the room, we received three prank calls to our room 3006, I called reception to inform them of this, they informed me they would investigate and call back, yet they did not return the call, these promises were never honoured and as a result there is a lack of good quality customer service.

We have always been advised that the Club Hotel Riu, has a private beach, therefore we feel safe to allow our children to walk from the room to the beach or the pool alone, however this year we were not informed by the Riu or Tui that it is now a private beach and the vendors are allowed to be present. This made me feel extremely cross as I feel that we should have been informed of this change.

I am unsure of whether the hotel could not cope with 93% occupancy due to the fact that the Riu Tropcial palace was being refurbished, however, the food this year was also very unpleasant, there was always a huge rush for lunch with food quite often running out and a long wait for other food to arrive. As a result we often dined out at restaurants down the road. We were not informed on arrival that the resteraunts no longer used a booking system and therefore when we wanted to dine at the resteraunts we were required to queue, we therefore cut our days short to ensure that when we wanted to eat at one too the resteraunts we would arrive at 6:20pm to ensure we got a table. At the Italian resteraunt, the bowls were very dirty and

Most often at almost all of the resteraunts the plates were still dirty, even when they were just brought out, I brought this to the attention of many dinning staff on many occasions. On the onlu night that we ate at Luigi's all of the bowls were extremely dirty. There were two separate occasions that the plates were so hot, myself and my either year old son burnt our fingers as we picked them up. The food in the sports bar was inedible, on one occassion my husband was bedroom bound due to sickness and diarrhoea, this was because he ate a burger from the sports bar. I also had one and experienced similar symptoms but not as terrible as my husband's.

It was quite frustrating that none of the showers were working at beach or by the two main pools, which meant that it was difficult to get rid of excess sand before getting in to the pool. There was a bucket filled with water, optional to wash feet in, however, I would consider that extremely unhygeninc since there were so many that would have needed to use the same water. The general cleanisness of the bar pool was dissapointing too, it was unkept quite often during this visit. There was a major incident with a drink couple in the pool which frightened my son and made the rest of us feel uncomfortable.

My friend's daughter (Liane Morgan) had her phone taken from somewhere on the complex she asked the manger to call.the police and instead of dealing with it herself she left and failed to inform the staff on shift, of the situation. THe police were never called and the incident was never resolved.

The cleaner who cleaned our rooms, failed to lock the back doors on two seperate occassions, which was putting our belongings at risk. The TV in our room was broken, with a black line down the front of the screen which made it very annoying watching it while it rained. There was only one bin in room 3006, which meant for sanitation purposes we had to leave it in the bathroom and share this bin as a bin for general living too, which was extremely uncomfortable as at the start of the holiday, there were also no sanitary bags to dispose of sanitary products. So they had to sit in the bin in the bathroom until the cleaner came. The shower in the bathroom of room 3006 was also blocked, every time it was used it flooded back up to a two inch puddle whilst in use, that all five of us used the shower in 3007, as we could not report the issue using the phone in room 3006 because the number 9 dial, to call reception did not work. The hairdryer in room 3007 did not work either, which meant there were three females waiting you use the hairdryer in the evening after showering. The toilet's were never bleached properly so they continuously smelt of urine. Which led us to believe the rooms weren't as clean as they have been on our previous visits. On many occasions sheets were not changed as there was chocolate on the sheets from two days before. All but once when I called reception to request something from house keeping, they never responded.

The atmosphere in the hotel, from staff across all departments has completely changed and made out holiday feel less warm and welcoming. All staff seem over worked and nonchelent towards guests because of these issues.

This email highlights the very obvious lack if attention and care on part of the management team, it also reflects the quality of the hotel. If a company advertises itself as a five star, it needs to deliver a five star service, the service including the room decour, offered at the Clubhotel Riu is very far from five star. These incidents have never happened to us before during a stay at the Riu and most definitely shouldn't be happening in a five star hotel.

It is a shame that my family, friends and I looked forward to returning the Club hotel every other year and experiencing other Riu hotels because of our experiences at the Club, but further to our last visit. We have decided that we would not return to the Club Hotel Rio or any other Riu's.

My details are-
Sara Francis +[protected]
Sara.[protected]@outlook.com

Zlata & Zoran Kaludjerovic
385 Ironwood Rd.
Guelph, On N1G 3P2
Phone: [protected]

September 19, 2018

RE: Service Complaint regarding booking reservation No [protected]- trip to Panama, RIU Playa Blanca all- inclusive resort

To Whom it may Concern;

This letter is in regards to our recent trip to Panama, Riu Playa Blanca all-inclusive resort, from August 30, 2018 - September 06, 2018 and frustrations and disappointing experiences that we had during our stay.

For my husband and me it was our wedding anniversary and we're looking forward to this trip. For few months we're planning this trip and we're certain that we'll return home with unforgettable memories from this country and resort. We travel extensively, and we like to visit and explore new places. We choose this resort because we were familiar with RIU hotels and its class. We had great experience with few other RIU Resorts where we have stayed before, RIU Palace Cao San Lucas, RIU Jalisco Puerto Vallarta, RIU Palace Punta Cana. All of them were top-end resorts, high end, what we are always looking for.

But, unfortunately with this resort we made mistake as it was categorized and rated incorrectly. This Panama location is way inferior to all other ones, although the 5- star resort should be the same class, with the same service quality in any country. This resort wasn't exactly what we had anticipated. Although it's relatively new property, opened in 2014 already it could use some renovations and an upgrade its services. Some of the issues were not just the fault of the resort, but there were other issues that could have been handled better by the staff. The time spent in this resort was our worst experience so far.

With this letter we would like to express our deepest disappointment with RIU hotels and Sunwing's services, firstly and most importantly by incorrect advertising and consequently selling an overrated hotel.

These would be our main complains:

1. Hotel categorization (beach, grounds, restaurants, entertainment, service)

Sunwing is selling and advertising this hotel as a 5 stars property misleading guests. This resort should not be rated more than 3+ stars as it has many organizational and service issues. All together this is just a budget hotel with many issues. As I have already mentioned this is not the first RIU all-inclusive resort where we have stayed in, and we consider ourselves easy going.

- Beach

One of the most important parts for any hotel is the size, layout and natural beauty of the beach. The hotels that are categorized as a 5 stars resorts must have a beach that is clean and quite to provide relaxation and enjoyment to their guests. Instead of this at this resort at the beach there is a sewer/storm runoff that is deposited directly into the ocean, giving the ocean and beach an awful septic smell, and very murky appearance. In addition, there are vendors with horse rides that are very unpleasant, running the whole day through the beach, offering weed, cocaine etc. The beach was filthy and horse manure was everywhere. There is not enough umbrellas and the palm trees to provide shade. No waiter's services at the beach.

- Restaurants

This resort has 2 buffet restaurants and 3 specialty restaurants. Every day buffet restaurants were jam packed all week long. It seemed that a lot of locals came in for one night or weekend and wanted to take full advantage of their all-inclusive package for the time that they were there. Food lines, drink lines, you could not get away from the crowds. It was awful. With better organization and more personal any 5-star hotel will handle this differently.

The buffet restaurants felt more like busy cafeterias. The variety of food, however, it never changed - same thing from day to day. There was plenty of food, but nothing was prepared nicely, everything was without taste.

The specialty restaurants were more likely like buffet restaurants again. The food was better there but, nothing to brag about. The Steak House food was the best from all 3 but, but it is in an open venue area (no doors, no windows), so there were flying bugs, mosquitoes etc. and they would spray the area in front of you and your served food.

The drinks selection and quality in any bar or restaurant were very bad and limited. No brand name liquors at all. We tried few cocktails but could not find a decent one for the entire week.
The wines- only house wines available and both red and white were cheap wines, many times sour, or diluted with water. There was no option to order and pay for a decent bottle of wine if you wanted.

The overall appearance of the restaurants, food, drinks and services quality was far away from the 5-star resort, more likely like a 3.5-star hotel.

- Pool Area

There were 4 pools. All overcrowded and very busy, noisy. All pool areas were not maintained properly.

The pools looked like15 years old. Very basic with slides very faded and old looking.

- Animation-entertainment team and activities

The entertainment team was extremely rude by not paying any attention to other guests that were not Spanish background. So, only Spanish language was used. All announcements were in Spanish, so you won't be aware of many activities during the day since you won't understand announcements. No consideration for guests that were speaking other languages. This happened to me in two occasions, during bocce game and twice during bingo activities. I had to ask personnel and remind them that there might be some guests who are not speaking Spanish. I asked them nicely if they can translate announcements in English too. They even didn't apologize, just made some jokes on my account.

It was the same during evening entertainment and shows. They will translate only one or two sentences at the end. It is normal to find multiculturalism in resorts all around the world these days. And that's a beauty of travelling. But, in this resort it is not recognized. This is just a bad and unacceptable service attitude and something that management supports.

- Resort/Grounds

This resort is only 4 years old, but some areas need upgrading ALREADY. Cracks in the walls, pool tiles missing etc. The up keep of the resort is horrible. Peeling paint and dirty floors, toilets in common areas.

Not enough elevators for the whole property. The waiting times at elevators were sometimes 10-15min.

2. Delayed return

At the time of Departure there was huge disorganization by Sunwing. We have arrived in Toronto 3.5 hours later than anticipated. So, the return from Rio Hato Panama took more than 12 hours. More than when you are travelling to Europe.

There was an apparent issue with the gas supply vehicle. So, we're twice getting into the plane, rerouted to Panama City. All that without any service offers from Sunwing, not even water. People were hungry and had to pay for meals etc.

Basically, by all mentioned above I believe you could have a clear picture of our vacation. As I have mentioned before we are travelling extensively, and we're very familiar with the standards off the 5 stars hotels. And it is not the first all-inclusive property we have stayed in. Sincerely, this was one of the worsts experiences we've ever had concerning all inclusive. At least we're expecting some compensation. If we travel 3-4 times per year and spend at least $10, 000.00 for the trips we expect to return from our vacations satisfied and relaxed.

In this instance for us the RIU Hotels were the provider of services. Our recommendations would be that you sell and advertise resorts by their own conditions and quality of services and overall management. If you overrate the resort you're providing false information's to your clients. The travelers should be correctly informed up front. For us this was just a disappointing experience.

If for your customer satisfaction is important situations like this should be handled differently. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.

It's a well-known fact that no business can exist without customers and if you don't recognize customers' complaints and needs and don't provide consistent service you'll soon start losing them.

Awaiting your reply.

Yours truly,

Zlata Kaludjerovic

Hello there,

I am sadly to inform you of a serious Salmonella food poisoning incident that happened to myself where I ended up in hospital from a chicken wing at the Riu Palace Peninsula in the 24 hour sports bar. I ate around 11pm on the 3rd December 2017 and woke up at 8am being ill all day on the 4th December 2017 where I ended up in hospital. The Hotel doctor was called out and I had to go straight to hospital. I would like to add that I am also a type 1 diabetic which did not help towards the salmonella making it more traumatic and harder to treat. I had to be rushed to hospital as I could not keep anything down and this was after a antisickness injection. I caught infections from the Salmonella also where I had to be put on medication throughout my holiday this has had an long term affect because I am now only getting better from it. I am not one to complain and it has taken me this long but because of the extent of the Salmonella and also how your staff acted upon when I returned to the hotel was out of order they could clearly see I was in a unfit state where they was very abrupt at me because my band was cut off when my friend tried to explain that I have been in hospital on drips & machines. I have hospital notes and doctors messages from Galenia to back my case up and in writing that it was salmonella from your hotel as I have not eaten anywhere else and also I knew exactly what it was. If someone can get incontact with me so I can talk through what happened it would be much appreciated I do not partically want to go down the solicitor root...
I have also seen a lot of other people has had food poisoning from this hotel & also whilst I was there
I hope you can understand
Many thanks

I'm staying at the Riu Palace Punta Cana and I am very disappointed in the customer service at the front desk. After we booked our flight was changed to depart at a later time. We inquired about a late check out in order to accommodate for the change in time. When we arrived at the hotel, the manager notified us to come back the day before we leave. When we went back to speak with him, a different manager informed us there was nothing he could do and that if we wanted to stay it would be $10 per hour then later in conversation he changed his wording to $10 per person per hour. He had an aggressive tone and was unwilling to even try to accommodate and gave us the impress that the hotel didn't care about our needs or providing the customer service that, he stated, we paid for. As people who have worked in customer service, we understand the need to meet and surpass the customers expectations. However in this case our needs were not met nor acknowledged. The manager did not care for the fact our wait time between check out and our departure time was 5 or more hours. This is a very unfortunate way to end our vacation. If people ask us about our stay, we will inform them of the lack of customer service and recomend that they do not waste their money for a management staff that does not care about the well being of their guests.