RIU Hotels & Resorts

My husband and I went to the Riu Palace Punta Cana at the end of May this year 2024, originally booked for 9 days (arriving from Fort Lauderdale Florida). Some years back, we had visited a Riu in Mexico and had a very nice experience and so decided to try this Riu hotel.

When we arrived in the early evening and went to our room. The hallway to our room was a dark and most of the hallway lights were not on. The room itself was not clean. But even worse in the bathroom, water was leaking from the ceiling and the paint was peeling. There was water dripping from the ceiling down the shower and walls onto the floor. The shower wall was peeling and there was mold, and the shower was not clean. Evidently, the leak must have been going on for awhile. We did not unpack and immediately went to the front desk and explained the issues. The representative at the front desk said there was nothing they could do as the resort was completely booked, and so were the other neighboring Riu properties. We explained that we could not stay in the room as the room and the water leaking from the bathroom ceiling was unsanitary. We asked for a manager but was told the manager was not on the premises at the moment, so we decided to get something to eat and return to speak with a manager. We went to the main buffet and as I was putting some food on my plate from one of the food stations, we looked at the wall, and there were cockroaches crawling on the wall (not water bugs but cockroaches). We both felt disgusted and left the buffet. We went back to the front desk and told them about the roaches. Again, the rep said there was nothing they can do, we could not move to another sister hotel as they were all full. We asked to speak with a manage but was told the manager was not there and there was nothing they could do for us. We told them we could not stay as the room and the hotel was unsanitary. We asked for a refund but was refused. In the meantime, we secured a room at the Barcelo Bavaro nearby for the rest of our stay. We had no choice as our room had unsanitary water leaking into it and the restaurant had cockroaches. However, the Barcelo Bavaro could not accomodate us until the next morning, so we had no choice but to stay at the Riu until the following morning. The next morning we asked for a refund from Riu Palace Punta Cana but they refused. We checked out and left. But now had paid for 2 hotels!

By the way, the grounds themselves at the Riu Punta Cana were filthy. There were litter and cups on the throughout the grounds and in the pool. It’s one thing being dated, but being filthy, dirty and unsanitary is unacceptable. The adjoining Riu property was just as bad. The staff Riu staff handled the situation poorly and did nothing to help us but still had our payment for the 9 full days and would not refund us. We have pictures and videos of the filth, the leak and the cockroaches yet they did nothing.

Do not go to Riu. There are too many other resorts that are clean and accomodating.

We had a reservation from July 2-9,2024. July 9th at 11:20 am we left the RIU in Punta Cana (reservation number WRC1SDC5) to catch our flight back to Houston Texas. Upon leaving the RIU the four of us were told by Destination Services to place our 8 pieces of luggage by the bus and they would load them all under the bus. We even tipped the gentleman for his services.

However, when we arrived at the airport our 31-inch black suitcase was nowhere to be found. We thought that another customer had taken it from under the bus in error. Knowing that we were sure that at some point it would be returned to us.

That never happened. We contacted RIU to see if someone returned it. The RIU desk informed us that our suitcase never left the lobby and they have it there. They have now placed it in their lost and found.

We are requesting that our suitcase is returned to us or contents refunded.

We have spent time at numerous RIU's (class #[protected]).

My husband has sent in a complaint a week ago and we have heard nothing, we are senior citizens on social security and really can't afford to have this done to us... PLEASE HELP! or at least respond Thank you

I have been trying to contact customer service about my stay and no one has yet to get back to me. I stayed at the RIU paradise island from March 25-29th. I had a horrible experience and would like someone to reach out to talk to me about it. Here is a short story of what was experienced- I arrived and checked in. I was given room 202. I took photos of how dirty the room was. There was balls of black hair all over the bed, a used condom, and dirt/dust everywhere. The room was filthy. I requested a new room and was told no. I paid to spend the night at a different hotel until it was cleaned the next day. This room does not offer an ocean view that I paid for. Yet again, I took pictures to prove this. I will provide pictures anytime. We were told we had to make reservations with two to three days in advance so we could not eat at any other place but the buffet. The mini fridge in the room was never refilled. I only drank soda and water. I called three times in one day to ask for more water bottles nothing. Two different nights I ordered a sandwich from room service and neither showed up, so I walked to a store and bought food after the second time of waiting over 90 minutes. I feel I should be entitled to a partial refund, or at least have someone reach out to me. This is the second time I am contacting Riu. Expedia also told me they filed a complaint but have heard nothing in return. PLEASE contact me. At the vary least I want to submit my photos of the room and how dirty it was so this does not happen again. it was so unfair that I had to pay for this terrible experience. I have stayed at the RIU in Cancun maybe times with a great experience. This on the other hand was the worst hotel experience I have ever had.

A. I had made prior reservation for a party of 2 at Hotel Riu Vallarta from 3/27/2024-3/2/2024. The reservation was for a Jr. Suite with king bed and ocean view.

B. Upon our arrival to Hotel Riu Vallarta, quite to our disappointment, we found out the hotel was under construction/remodeling. The whole lobby was being jackhammered! The level of noise and the amount of circulating dust and cement particles was staggering.

I immediately sought the assistant of hotel's front desk manager (Ernesto) to find us another Riu hotel and to arrange for our transfer to that hotel. After more than an hour, he informed us that he can arrange for a regular room with king bed at Riu Palace Pacifico, which only has a partial ocean view.

He also explained that the hotel would additionally cost us more than $650!

He also mentioned that he will arrange for our transfer to that hotel. Considering that we did not have any other choice, we accepted the offer. Quite surprisingly upon arrival to the new hotel, we ended up paying the taxi transportation fee out of our pocket!

C. Upon arrival to the Riu Palace Pacifico, quite astonishingly, we were informed that they are working with the Riu Reservation department to find us a room and that they cannot guarantee that we will have a room.

After another hour or so of waiting, we were informed that the only room that they can provide us was double bed room.

After multiple interactions and long conversations with the front desk manager (Aricela), we were informed that "Riu has NEVER guarantees a specific type of bed or view and guests must accept whatever is made available to them".

I explained to her that, since early 2020s, I have stayed at various Riu hotels on more than 30 occasions and based on my experience that is absolutely a false information. I informed her that is why a Jr. Suite and/or Ocean View has a higher nightly fee.

Regardless, after waiting another hour or so, she mentioned that all we can do is to stay the night at in the room with double beds and then potentially move to another room with a king bed the following day.

Reluctantly, considering that we did not have any other choice, we accepted her suggestion.

After coming back from eating a very late lunch, the front desk informed us that, somehow "miraculously", they have been able to identify a partial ocean view room with a king size bed.

We did not get to our room way past 4:30-5 PM.

Needless to say this was a very harsh and stressful beginning to our vacation.

Furthermore, I have to emphasize that Aricela's overall approach to "problem solving and management" was extremely heavy-handed and quite unacceptable. She was trying very hard to make us feel like we were the parties at fault and that the whole fiasco was caused by us!

Few topics that needs to be highlighted:

1. WE WERE NEVER NOTIFIED OR INFORMED IN ADVANCE (either by the reservation desk and/or the hotel web-site) THAT THE HOTEL WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION/REMODELING.

2. This whole fiasco cost us approximately an additional $650 in hotel fees.

3. A review of relevant social media reflects comments by other Hotel Riu Vallarta guest their difficult experiencing related to the hotel being under construction/remodeling.

4. These guests have also acknowledged that they were also not informed or notified about the hotel construction in advance.

5. As a customer service courtesy, these guests were offered either a 10% discount from their current bill or a 15% discount on a future stay at a Riu Hotel.

6. WE WERE NEVER OFFERED EITHER OF THESE CHOICES!

I stayed at the Riu Paradise Island hotel 21-26 December 2024. I was harassed by 2 security guards. I complained to the Riu hotels and filed a formal complaint. The hotel lied and said they told me to pay for guests that visited me at the hotel, which would have been absurd since the guests that visited me never stayed at the hotel. I have stayed at the Riu on more than one occassions and have been placed in rooms that did not appear as advertised. I was served burned food. I was placed in a filthy room, etc. I think this time, I got the message. I am not welcomed at the Riu hotels and this might have been my last stay because of the harassment and the hotel's refusal to deal with what I experienced.

We are forwarding this letter of complaint to Tui uk and ABTA

Michael Verdun Thomas

Wetherlam

Ginhall Lane

Leominster

HR6 8RD

[protected]@aol.com

+[protected]

Tui UK & Ireland

Alexandra House Swansea SA1 5ED

20 October 2023

Re: Unsatisfactory Holiday at Hotel Touareg Boa Vista on 4th October 2023

Booking reference: [protected]

To whom it may concern,

I have just returned from a holiday at Hotel Touareg Boa Vista which was most disappointing.

I went with Wife.

Please find below a list of my complaints:

Day 1) 4th October 2023

Up on arriving at the reception we were informed that our room was not ready and it would be another two and half hours bef0re it would. We were exhausted from rising early in the morning then travelling for many hours. In order to help with a quick check in we registered our passport details and check in on line with the hotels App prior to our departure hoping it would speed the process up when we arrived total waste of time. It took just as long when we arrived as it would have done if we had not check in via the App.

We were unable to refresh our selves after a long journey and had to wait in very high temperature for a long period. After the specified time we returned to the reception and again we were told our room was not available and they were upgrading us to a junior suite which was in block 3 room 6161. Well on arriving we were shocked and disappointed at the filthy condition of the room and the building itself.

The windows were filthy dirty it looked like they never had been cleaned in decades there was black mildew on the walls along the ceiling line around the air-conditioning unit. Cracks in the ceiling plaster flaking of the walls, and then I looked under the bed. It was absolutely disgusting dust and dirty worse than anything I had ever seen plus a full bottle of water. I wouldn’t have put my dog into those conditions never mind a human being the hotel and Tui should be ashamed.

I went straight back to reception and made a formal complaint to staff members telling what I thought of their so called five star hotel more like 0 stars. And once again the excuse we have nothing available until 2pm tomorrow. We agreed to wait until then however I told the staff member that we would look at the room first before agree on any move. So in the meantime I photographed all the issues we found and they were submitted to you later in a complaint I made directly to you via your app.

We changed into our swimwear and head for the main swimming pool and yet an even greater shock awaited us when we arrived there. The pool was in a deplorable state of lack of maintenance, tiles surrounding the pool were broken or completely missing. The surrounding the pool was crumbling away or completely gone there were trip hazards everywhere. And these were minor compared to the pool itself Black mould growing in the bottom of the pool and on the sides. The edges inside the pool itself were filthy dirty and had not been cleaned. During our stay we did not see one person cleaning the inside of the pool just sweeping the dirt and dust from the crumbling paved areas surrounding the pool. Photographs were taken and submitted to you via a formal complaint via your app once again.

Day 2) 5th October 2023

Missed breakfast went straight down to the main pool, before reporting to reception in order to view new room. Meet member of staff at reception began trek to view room in block 9 and what a trek. I suffer with Asthma by the time we reached block 9 I became extremely short of breath, up to second floor and lead us into the room. Which had been completely refurbished or was new? And it was very nice. However due to the distance to was totally unsuitable for the reason giving. On the way back to reception I became very short of breath and had to take my Ventolin medication the staff member could see I was struggling greatly.

Once again at reception the person concerned said they had nothing available till 2pm tomorrow, it was getting very frustrating and annoying to be dealt with in this manner totally unacceptable. We returned to the pool for the rest of the day. When lying n the sun bed I noticed a very red blotch on my left arm after coming out of the pool. I assumed it was a touch of sunburn and thought nothing of it.

Day 3 6th October 2023-10-20

During the night my left arm became very itchy and had a burning sensation once again I thought it was sunburn even though I had been using factor 30 all the time. At 2pm we returned to reception and were taken to room 3102 in block 3 a very short distance from the main restaurants. The room was far more presentable and closer to restaurants and bars etc. So we returned to room 6161 in block 6 to get ready to move. We moved in to room 3012 block 3 hoping this would be the last move which it was.

On returning to the pool my arm had begun to swell and the itching and burning was getting worse and this continued tall night long keeping me awake. The room prove to have a number of faults 1) air-conditioning unit was very loud on settings 1-2 setting 3 was better but remained to loud in order to sleep. We kept it turned off at all time other than when we were out relying on the overhead fan to keep cool. 2) When the toilet was flushed the smell of sewage was very strong. By this time we had enough of moving and backwards and forwards to reception and complaining. 3) The bed sheets were far from clean I was about to photograph them to show reception but wife convinced me not to.

Day 4 7th October

Due to the appalling condition of the main pool we moved up to the infinity pool which was very clean and in good order. By this time my left arm had swollen to over twice its size and the itching and burning had become much worse. While at the pool I went on line to research black mould in swimming pools the results were shocking

1) However, although the black algae itself won’t cause illness, it can attract insects or harbour organisms or harmful bacteria like E. coli, which can make swimmers sick. Young children and elderly ones could have life threaten conditions with E. Coli but do TUI and the hotel care of cause not. Money comes first.

2) It’s best to avoid swimming in a pool with black algae until you’ve eradicated it.

Once again I took Photographs of my arm and submitted yet another formal complaint, later I filled an incident from in sent by you and made a direct complain to the Tui reps. their remarks and response were frightening. We are fully aware of all you have reported and told us we have forwarded all you Photographs to our head office but we are totally powerless to do anything.

Then via the app I received a number of messages asking if I required any medical help. Fortunately having travelled extensively worldwide I always carry a number of different medications. One of which is antihistamines once my arm had began swelling, I knew it was an insect bite and took 1 antihistamines 4 times ad day. It took more than five days before the swelling began to reduce. I made a total of six complaints vi the App all recorded with photographs all sent to the TUI reps who said they had forwarded them on?

Day 4 – 14

With all this happening we thought things must begin to improve but how wrong were

On the 11th of October we went to the main restaurant for an evening meal. During the day of the Imelda begun to have severe tummy pains, that evening we were due to go on a turtle watching trip. As we were going to the meeting point Imelda had to rush back into the hotel having very chronic diarrhea. When going onto the beach Imelda was in awful pain and had to go in the dark to the toilet. During the night Imelda was violently sick and constantly on and off the toilet never in 36 years have I seen Imelda being so sick and in so much pain.

Next day was the same so Imelda took rehydration salts and lots of fluid with very no food this lasted many days and Imelda has not as yet made a full recover. One of the other guests who had come to know gave us some more rehydration salts which was very kind of her.

We heard via other guests that a number had been restricted to their rooms due to the same prolems. First thought was the swimming pool as it was so dirty and with the black algae the Tui reps and the hotel management were fully aware of the condition of the pool and still had no concern for the safety of those using it.

We never used the main pool for all the afford mentioned problems then the unthinkable happened all

Guests were barred from using the infinity pool some were threatened with eviction from the complex if they did not move or attempted to use it. And yet we had paid to use that pool we were barred due to the adult’s only pool breaking down as they had paid more for the holiday they had priority over us.

Moving on to the Italian, Asian and Boa Vista restaurants that have to be the worst specialist restaurants we have ever attended. Service was none existent much of the food was uneatable over cooked under cooked very poor choice. Wines were diabolical really cheap and nasty, spirits were the same beer was fine. Before leaving I spoke to one of the managers about some of these issues, he said they were aware of them and were trying to get the group to give more money to address the issues.

In all this is the worst holiday we have ever experienced with Tui absolutely disgusting hence this letter

We contacted your representative at the resort on 4 October 2023, but they were unable to resolve the matter and advised us to complain upon our return home.

Under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 you have a responsibility to provide all the elements of the package contracted for as they were described. We are legally entitled to receive compensation from you for loss of value, consequential losses and for the disappointment and loss of enjoyment we suffered. As you failed to provide us with the holiday we booked we are seeking a full refund plus compensation from you for the problems we encountered, and for the distress and disappointment we suffered as a result.

I have also sent a copy of this letter and enclosure to ABTA (of which I note you are a member).

I look forward to receiving a response from you within 14 days of receipt of this letter.

Yours faithfully, Michael Verdun Thomas

PS I have many more photos of the appalling condition of this hotel

Hello on the 15th October i went to riu montego bay and was servied by Juan and another man at the front desk

I paid in cash $92,000 JMD , but my room was reserved in £461 GBP.

1st i was over charged and 2nd the man that served me tried to tell me that my money i gave him was short and when i wasn't looking he attempted to put the money in his pocket. I saw him with my own 2 eyes

I've stayed at riu many times and i won't be staying again. They are thief's. And they make jamaican people look bad.

This ruined my whole birthday trip and put me in and a bad mood for the duration of my stay

I only realised that i was overcharged when leaving today and i looked at the exchange rates. And i didn't want to ruin my birthday trip

You can check the cameras as i counted out th3 money on the desk after he tried to say they was only $84,000

Juan and his accomplish jawyon (i think his name was) were acting like professional thief's and probably do this alll the time. It makes me sick that some one in a position of power would steal like a common theif

I have learnt that you should never pay in cash.

I was going to post a video on social media warning people to stat FAR away from your company

I stayed in the room 4132 on the 15th October to the 18th.

I would like a FULL refund

My husband and I visited Ocho Rios Jamaica on October 3,2023 through October 11,2023. I'm an active walker and on October 5,2023 while returning from my walk, I hit my foot on a raised concrete located on the walkway from the front entrance gate to the resort. I fell and slid forward. I sustained large abrasions and pain to my right elbow and right knee. I reported the fall and injuries to the resort nurse and the Relations Manager. Due to my open wounds and pain, our excursions had to be cancelled and I could not use the pool, the beach or participate in daily activities. Our vacation was ruined. The walkway is unsafe and needs to be repaired to prevent future incident like this from occurring.

Joan Coombs

[protected]

[protected]@aol.com

During my time at your hotel RIU Montego Jamaica last week, the air conditioning had gone out throughout the resort for a couple of days, i was with my 75-year-old mother and things became difficult at times. I as well as the rest of the family has spoken to the Assistant General Manager Luis Ramierz who stated that the company was well aware of the problem and to contact you for perhaps some type of compensation.

We booked to stay at the Riu Hotel in Montego Bay, I asked for a room upgrade but was told there were no rooms available so i upgraded to the Hotel Palace, booking reference WRC1HYJZ On the 6th August 2023.

The room was lovely but you could not sit on the balcony due to it being over the service area, it was awful, noisy and smoky, I was shocked at this as we paid for a garden view. I have attached a couple of videos, I have more if you want them. I upgraded to the Palace thinking it would be better but it was so very disappointing 😡

My wife & I arrived at the Baja California RIU on Friday 9/22 under confirmation RNT4VMMZ, the next day Saturday we returned to our room that night to find we had no water, the front desk assured us that this was temporary & that the water would be on in a couple of hours - the next morning we awoke to still no water with no way to shower or clean up this continued all day Saturday within a hot humid sticky environment, Sunday still no water early am, even told at breakfast that the problem was resolved only to return to the room to find still no water - the water came on briefly before going out to an outing but once we returned it was off again. At check out time on Monday morning we still had no water to clean up before our trip home.

D. Dukes