RIU Hotels & Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

RIU Palace Mexico Fiasco (Riviera Maya). My husband and I booked a 6 Apple (Apple Vacations) Square Deal for Riviera Maya. We were assigned to the RIU Palace Mexico from 7 to 14 June 2008. We had stayed at RIU's previously and know them to be a decent hotel but nowhere near a 6 Apple (Highest category Apple Vacations assigns).

This particular RIU was worse than anything I have ever experienced in a hotel anywhere and we travel a good deal. Giving it a 3 Apple rating would be generous! The staff was in no way up to par. I can only recall running into two employees that made us feel we were on vacation.

The room situation was simply ridiculous. Upon check in we asked for an ocean view and were told they did not have ocean views. We were told we could get either a pool or courtyard view if we waited for an hour or so. We waited and returned to receive our room key. We got to the room (1125) to find we were facing the trees at the back of the resort and the back of the neighboring resort. We also found a well lived in room. When I called the front desk to ask for the room we were told we'd get I was told that rooms with view were $40 extra per person, per night. When I informed the young lady we were told we would get a room with a view if we waited the additional money was reiterated. After going back and forth a while I was told we could get a room with a view in two days, but I had to come to the front desk by 10 am on the day of the move to let them know we wanted to move. I still don't understand that, but we agreed.

Later we find we have a colony of ants parading up a bed side dresser and a ledge where my husband had clothes. We had to track down a housekeeper in the halls to come combat the bugs. We had to stick it out in this room until we could move. The next surprise was the realization that the neighboring hotel's night club was right on the other side of the fence we faced. It was a long and loud night.

Our next morning, Sunday, we found out we had to go to a designated location between 8:30 and 10:30 each morning to make a dinner reservation. This was horrible, what an unwelcome daily vacation activity. When I went to the front desk to complaint to a supervisor, I waited for about 15 minutes to talk to a woman who told me no one had ever complained about their system and, at least 4 times told me I could make the reservation anytime within the 2 hour window. This trip was off to a bad start!

The second day, Monday, I went to the desk early to confirm we want to take the room with a view. I asked more than once that they have some one check the new room for bugs before we moved. It seemed as though I was bother in the young lady, but she finally said she would. We returned to the desk later and receive the new key.

We entered the new room (1063) to find another well lived in room. I headed to the window and opened the darkening drapes to find bugs crawling up the drapes. I immediately called the desk to ask for help. It took 20 minutes or so before someone arrived. The man killed the bugs I pointed out plus some that he found in another place. He cleaned up and left us with the can of Raid. That was certainly not a comforting thing.

I began looking around the room and here is a list of what was found:
- BUGS
- A rusty safe
- Corroding handle on toilet
- Crude/mold at base of toilet lid
- Rusting wall connection/water cut off for toilet
- Broken bar for the handheld shower head
- Crude/mold around and above the shower curtain bar
- Crude abound the tub
- Crude in the bottom of the tub
- Broken bath gel dispenser and bath get sitting to the side
- Silver finish coming off of the assistance bar for the tub.
- Ill fitting cover for the Kleenex receptacle in the sink
- Green crude around facet handles of the sink and bidet
- Stained bed sheets
- Stained pillow cases
- Cushions that were too small for the love seat
- Chipped soap dish on the sink
- Corroding magnifying mirror
- Dirty vent and surround
- Dirty/molding room service menu
- Stains on the walls
- Paint chipping off of the handles to the patio

When the front desk was notified of the problems, I got no assistance.

Having book an Apple Vacation, I decided to see our representative when he returned the next morning. We went out to enjoy the grounds and have dinner. The maid had come while we were out. She left the light on and the bugs were having a great time flying around in the lighted room. I spent the next while chasing bugs with Raid bug spray. I was a basket case. Once I was finally able to wind down, the chase was on again. After not seeing anything move for a while I finally laid down. It was a horrible night of feeling like things were crawling all over us.

The next morning I got up to go see Luis, but first I saw bugs crawling on the 2nd bed and then a couple in the bed we were in. I felt sick!

I saw the Apple Rep, Luis, and told him of the unacceptable conditions in the room and the poor service around the hotel. He just gave me a blank look. I told him how we had bugs in the 1st room and even after asking the desk staff to check the second room we had bugs in it also. Luis told me that maybe this was just a "general" problem like that would make it okay. I explained that for what we paid and for what Apple said we were going to get, this was unacceptable. I had taken pictures with my cell phone and showed them to Luis. This did not cause Luis to be any more helpful.

Luis asked what I wanted him to do about it and I told him to move us to an actual top rated hotel. He acted as if I did not say anything to him. I told him that no one from the hotel management, nor he, had ever even asked to come see the room that housed these horrid conditions. Again there was no response.

I was furious and frustrated. I asked to speak to his supervisor. After a while he got a supervisor on the phone. He spoke with her and then gave the phone to me so I could repeat my plight. She apologized, saying she'd contact the hotel. Luis came back to say we could move back to the first room (1125) we were in. I explained to him that that was not an option, because that room had bugs. Why would we go back to that room?

Luis left and came back again to say he and a housekeeping supervisor would come see the room. Luis and I went to room 1063 and I showed him the laundry list of problems. Minutes later the housekeeping supervisor came. It was the same many who had sprayed the day before. Luis showed him the problems, during which two men appeared with industrial fumigation canisters.

Apple was not going to move us to a decent, top of the line hotel. Our offer was to move to our first bug infested room or let them work on the on new room. Having no recourse, we got things together exited the room and let them work on the room. We returned hours later to find a few things fixed and there were no bugs in plain sight. I tried to tell Luis but he was not around. He did call later.

After we returned from dinner that night, Tuesday, we did not see bugs. You do not know how relieved I was. I wish all of the problems had disappeared. Even so, we still could not enjoy the room and I was tense for the whole vacation. I never got rid of the felling that things were crawling on me. I still shutter when I think of it.

We feel like we were robbed. We paid too much to end up in a place that does not value it's customers and takes no pride in there service or their accommodations. We have yet to hear a response from Apple Vacations or the RIU Hotels.

We are thoroughly disgusted!

This is a copy of my complaint that I sent to Apple Vacations. This is their process for submitting complaints however, it has been 3 weeks and I have heard no response other than they are investigating:

I have a serious complaint about my recent trip that needs addressing as soon as possible. My mother and I stayed at the Riu Ocho Rios from 4/2/08 thru 4/7/08. Upon arriving at the resort, we were taken to our room. It did not meet our expectations as we upgraded to a junior suite ocean view and there was no ocean view. We were than taken to another room across the resort and we were put off right away at the overwhelming smell of mildew/musk in the room. Our baggage person said he can take care of the smell and returned with a spray bottle and sprayed down the room. It helped initially and we quickly left the room to have dinner. Upon returning late that night, we were once again overwhelmed with the amount of mildew smell and so slept with the sliding door completely opened which meant no air conditioning. My mother suffers from fairly severe allergies and was very uncomfortable. First thing the next morning, I went to the front desk once again to ask about switching rooms. They stated they were at full occupancy and just wrote my name on a sheet of paper. I did not hear back from them throughout the rest of our vacation. Please note my mother is not very mobile and having to switch rooms once already was a big inconvenience as the resort is very large. We just resorted to keeping the sliding door open at all times and I really believe that by the 3rd night we were somewhat acclimated to the smell. The huge problem is in the damage to all of our clothing (I even have a couple pairs of shoes tainted by the foul smell). We did not realize just how bad the mildew to our clothes was until opening our suitcases when at home. My husband actually made us put everything outside in the garage. I have 2 air filters running in my house because the smell in now in my house. Since returning home, I have washed our clothes 4 times, and have used various techniques in ridding the mildew smell to no avail. Both our suitcases have been airing outside since our return but I believe those are also ruined for future use. I am extremely disappointed and frustrated and angry. Not only is this a considerable amount of work I have to do upon returning from a vacation but these clothes are damaged to the point of being not wearable. I am demanding recourse for all the items ruined.

Unfortunately, this is not my only complaint. I would like to preference that I used to be in the travel industry and worked in Marketing at Orbitz for years. I mention this so that you understand that I have realistic expectations at a resort such as the Riu. I believe it was the 3rd day of our stay that it rained the entire day. This forced us inside. My sister who was also traveling with us decided to catch the rain hitting the ocean on her camera. As she snapped a shot, a bartender named McCain turned around and rudely told her to not take his picture and to ask next time. She quickly explained that the picture was of the view and ocean and not of him. He continued to be extremely rude to the point that she left in tears. I than went to speak to McCain by the bar thinking he misunderstood the whole situation. He then proceeded to tell me that I needed to respect him and that we should go away and that he does not care what we have to say. I honestly don’t remember all that he said as I was completely in shock and upset. The ironic thing is that she wanted to show him the picture to prove she did not take his picture but he just kept telling us to leave and that we are rude and disrespectful. I believe he was also some type of bar manager or head bartender as well, which just makes no sense at all. I have traveled all over the world and have stayed at all types of resorts from low end, middle to high end. I have never EVER been so upset by someone who is suppose to be assisting in the vacationers’ enjoyment. We had to avoid that specific bar for the rest of the trip.

In all my years of travel, I have never regretted a trip, until now.

Arrived at the RIU Jalisco Resort the night of the 6th of January checked in were told there were no keys to the room safes available until the next morning, went to our rooms (3 rooms 6 family members). Dropped off our luggage and went down to the beach spent about an hour at the beach then returned to or rooms to change while returning to the rooms one of the resorts security men followed us back into the hotel then to our rooms watched us exit our rooms as we went to the sports bar for a night cap , returned 45 minutes later to find someone had entered our rooms and stole all the cash in each room a total of $1300.00 hotel management was to say at the least unsympathetic to what took place and even after spending the next day dealing with the Mexican Police filling out reports that same security man was working the day shift when we left. It looks to me like the hotel is supplementing it's employees wages by allowing these crimes to take place. To this point no one in the RIU organizational has contacted us since our return . P.S. a Canadian family lost over $3500.00 that same night.

Riu hotels & resorts - www.riu.com

Attn: ms. monica serrano

Riu palace resort

Luis riu, president and ceo

Carmen riu and luis riu, jr.

Riu palace resort

Cc: leonel fernandez reyna felicio jimenez jeff, duty officer

President minister of tourism american embassy

Dominican republic dominican republic dominican republic

New york times new york daily news new york post

Travel editor travel editor travel editor

Dear ms. serrano:

We are writing this letter to you with a copy to all of the above regarding the deplorable experience we had at riu palace macao resort, punta cana, dominican republic and the unprofessional behavior of the staff at the resort and the authorities in your country.

My husband, who was born and is a citizen of the dominican republic and whose family still resides there, and I decided to renew our wedding vows for our 25th wedding anniversary at the riu palace macao on october 8th 2007. (we arrived on october 5, 2007.) we reserved rooms for our guests who were traveling with us from the united states and over 60 people were attending the ceremony and reception to help us celebrate our special day. all reservations and plans for our wedding and reception were confirmed many months in advance. before we go into what happened on october 8, 2007, let me tell you what transpired from the first day of our stay.

Our guests, robert dobles, his wife sylvia and their daughter laura were staying in room #3336. their cell phone and ipod were stolen from their room. our niece, priscilla arias was staying in room #3338 and while she was bathing she heard someone trying to open the balcony doors, thinking it was her sister trying to get in she went to look, it was not her sister, it was someone trying to break into her room. she startled him since he probably thought the room was empty and he ran and climbed to the roof. she went to get my husband and our friends who tried to find him but were unable to. both of these instances were reported to sub-director, franklin trinidad when we were finally able to locate him many hours later. he was very nonchalantabout both these incidents and his response was that there was a safe in the rooms for valuables and that he was already working 'two hours over his usual work time'. he did not feel it was necessary to address the incident with our 19-year-old niece who could have been badly hurt or worse if she was attacked. safety of your guests does not seem to be an important matter to your hotel if mr. trinidad is your representative. while we were speaking to mr. trinidad, we met two women who were staying in room #3317 who also had their cell phone stolen. mr. trinidad shrugged his shoulders at their story and did not seem concerned. I guess robberies in your hotel are a normal occurrence. we inquired with the front desk if a police report was issued for the robbery and break-in and we were told that no police report gets issued only a 'resort report' will be issued. the two women in room #3317 reported the incident to their travel agent who contacted the resort and told the resort representative that they were not going to refer vacationers to riu palace macao unless the women's issue was resolved. the women were immediately compensated for their trouble. (priscilla arias had her room changed to #3357 after the attempted break-in)

We met with your so-called wedding planner, magnolia on saturday, october 6, 2007, to confirm all aspects of our ceremony and reception on october 8, 2007, and to discuss alternate plans for our ceremony in case it rained. our 24-year-old daughter, my mother, cousin, our best man and his wife were also present when we discussed plans with magnolia. our main concern was the weather and what alternate plans were in place if it rained. magnolia stated repeatedly that 'it is not going to rain'. each time we asked her to tell us what the alternate plan was if it did rain she said, 'it is not going to rain'. no matter how many times we asked, she would not elaborate on any alternate plans if it rained. she told us that we were not to worry everything would be taken care of. needless to say, it rained, and her alternate plan was to put over 60 people in a small, dingy, moldy smelling room near the kitchen for our wedding ceremony and reception. this was done only after our guests, my husband and myself were allowed to sit in the rain until her alternate plan was in place. october 8, 2007 was supposed to be our special day. we were married 25 years ago by a justice of the peace and we wanted this day, 25 years later, to be special. well it was, it was 'especially horrible'.

We spent the entire morning of our ceremony waiting to speak to mr. trinidad. we went to the reception desk at 9:00 am on october 8th and when the front desk contacted mr. tinidad, he said he would be there in 20 minutes. he did not show up until 11:00 am and was not the least bit concerned or apologetic about keeping us waiting. as a matter of fact, he stated that he is not a 'robot' whatever that is supposed to mean. we have recorded proof of mr. tirnidad's condescending conversation. by this time, we were angry and upset and insisted upon speaking to mr. tinidad's superior. mr. miguel rodriguez who we were told was the 'director' finally spoke to us. we wanted to know what he was going to do about securing the safety of our guests and the guests of your hotel. he stated that 'there would be security on our floor and that we could put our valuables in the safe deposit boxes in the rooms'. this did not comfort us at all. the only time we saw security guards posted on the night of october 8th, and the police were still not contacted about the robberies and break-ins. my mother-in-law, alma arias a dominican citizen and resident, finally had to contact the local police and a report was made.

On friday, october 12, 2007, we 'bumped' into mr. trinidad and asked him how we could get a copy of the police report. he told me we had to go to the police station in person. we asked him to arrange transportation and make arrangements for us to speak to someone once we got to the police station. mr. trinidad made arrangements for us to speak to the person who was 'supposedly' in charge of the robbery. when we arrived at the police station the person we saw refused to give us his name. we explained what transpired at the hotel and that another one of our guests had a pair of $150.00 sneakers stolen from his room. he made a joke of this and told us, 'he had a pair of sneakers he could give him'. everything was a big joke to him. my husband was very angry and this 'person' taunted my husband by getting on his knees and begging my husband to hit him'. we have witnesses to what transpired at the police station and cannot believe the way we were treated. this person then told us we had to go to the 'tourist police station', we had to buy stamps and then come back to him. by this time, we had enough. we went back to the hotel and asked to speak to miguel rodriguez. while my husband was speaking to mr. rodriguez, I called the american embassy to relate what was going on and how threatened we all felt, how we were being 'taunted' by franklin trinidad and that we were all afraid to be alone at any time anywhere in your hotel. the american embassy representative told mr. rodriguez to keep mr. trinidad away from our group.

Also on a side note, on october 11, 2007 one of our guests julio negro room #3341, rented a quad with his son for a sight seeing tour. at 11:45 am on october 11, 2007, he passed the tourist police precinct and saw your director, franklin trinidad standing in front of the precinct with officers in uniform, drinking beer.

Needless to say, our 25th wedding anniversary, renewal of vows and our vacation along with our guest's vacation, were ruined. we were devastated and heartbroken. I needed to seek medical attention upon my return to the united states and now find myself under doctor's care due what we were put through. we spent what should have been one of the happiest times of our lives scared, embarrassed and humiliated. it was a nightmare. what we planned for months, was totally ruined by your unprofessional staff and government officials. we did not receive any satisfaction in any way from anyone associated with your hotel. no one said 'i'm sorry'. no one tried to help us in any way. you should all be ashamed of yourselves and your countrymen.

We promise you, we will not let this rest. we will now become your 'nightmare'.

Yours truly,

Virginia and julio arias