RIU Hotels & Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

Over the past week and a half I have sent 4 emails and tried to contact the RIU PARAISO to try to get the answers to 3 questions before I book a 2 week holiday in December 25. I have not had even a acknowledgement from any one at RIU and the hotel phone number given by your call centre is always engaged.
For a company such as RIU to ignore a potential customer is not very good CUSTOMER SERVICE
I WILL NOW BE LOOKING TO BOOK AT THE SOL LANZAROTE for our 2 week holiday
[protected]@live.co.uk if any one at RIU is interested

Our story, like so many others, started on april 4th, our 4th wedding anniversary. The hotel riu palace macao in punta cana, dominican republic looked and seemed to be a 5 star resort. Until we made the bad choice of entering the dream’s casino which was attached to the riu palace hotel. My wife and I entered the casino to observe and to see what the casino was like. We were quickly approached by a hostess. She was full of smiles and presented us with $20 in free money to play their new table game in the far right corner of the casino. I asked her if we could use the money to play slot machines and she quickly said “no”, it was only good for that particular table game in the corner. After persistently asking us to give it try, we agreed and she escorted us over to the table.
The dealer told us the game was called “double down”. The dealer was a younger man, probably in his early thirties and nicely dressed. He began explaining the game which consisted of a 2’ x 2’ box which had many holes drilled in it. So when we threw the 8 marble balls in it they would fall into a hole and whatever number was by it would be added up for a total for that roll. To the left of the table was a board which was divided up amongst 50 boxes. Each box had either a number value, a zero, 4 of the boxes were “double your bet”. And there were also 4 sets of colored boxes, so if you rolled all 4 of those numbers, you would get either $1, 000, $2500, $5000, and $10, 000. The dealer said to win the game you must get to 50 points. The game starts with a $10 bet and the jackpot started at $400. We threw our first 8 marbles and the dealer adds up the total, we look on the board of squares and it reads “double your bet”. Our next bet is now $20 each roll and the jackpot doubled to $800. We throw 1 more time and we get another “double your bet”. The dealer quickly lets us know that this has never happened and we are starting off the game very well. He has nothing but positive things to say. While this was going on, there was an older man who frequently stuck his head into the game to see what was going on. I suppose like a pit boss. When he saw we were betting $40 to win $1600. He quickly made a similar comment that he doesn’t see this very often. Meaning the jackpot was increasing so fast and our price per bet was still so low. Keep in mind, the entire time playing, the dealer told us our jackpot was so high that no monies would be taken out of our account. The dealer said they would only need verification of funds. That was all bs. I believe the next roll was a 25, and before long we were at approx. 35 points. Nothing could go wrong for the first dozen or so rolls and you can see on the original hard copies included in this report. Once the bet amount exceed $10k, the dealer requested we showed proof that we could cover the amount in case we decided to leave the game.
You cannot lose in this game, you can only give up. By this time, both the dealer and the older guy are sharing the involvement in this scam. Located next to the table was a door and a small office inside. Set up with a small desk, computer w/ internet and a telephone, making it very easy for a victim to access their bank accounts. The jackpot was now $102, 400 with only 1 more point to get to win. Our next roll is another “double your bet”. Unbelievable! The older man quickly comes back to the table to throw a “private party” sign on the table. We thought it was strange but continued on. We now realize it was to keep other people from being involved and possible exposing their scam.
The jack pot is now $204, 800 and we still only needed 1 more point. Always 1 more point. Without a moment’s notice, the dealer tells us they will allow us to have 3 additional rolls on credit since they are telling us we are definitely going to win. The dealer even pulled out a calculator to show us what the odds are that we will win in the next 3 rolls. Both of us are feeling the pressure, my wife is in tears, I am pacing the casino floor not sure what to do. The older man walks up to me and offers me a xanax (or equivalent) to help calm me down which I did not take, who knows what it could have been. While my wife and I are contemplating our next move, a 3rd person approaches us and starts making small talk. This person is gary, regional casino director for dreams casino’s. A photo of his business card is also attached. We think the dealers’ name was alex and we are not sure about the old man but we will never forget their faces. Gary was speaking to the old man close enough for me to hear him say they needed to call the owner because there is not enough money in the vault to cover the jackpot.
Regretfully we decide to roll another time and the dealer adds up the number quickly and the result is a 0 (no points). Still need 1 more point and according them, there is no way we can lose now, yeah right. We roll one more time and we get a winner!, not so fast, its only $1000 which he quickly subtracts from the total and the dealer states we also get a free roll. So without nothing more to lose, we throw our last free roll and it totaled to a number, I believe it was 49 or something. We looked on the board and yep, 2 points. We are over the 50 point total, we won the jackpot. Without a moment’s notice, the old man shouts out 43 (not exactly sure if that was the number). Number 43 on the squares is a 0 point. He said we did not win. Before I could even ask to recount the marbles they were already scooped up and ready for the next roll.
Gary Robinson, the regional director, previously worked in Vegas, is now getting involved in the discussion. He said not to worry about it tonight, go back to the hotel and get some rest. We can continue the game tomorrow. The dealer wrote down where we left off in the game on a document which has no casino name, no reference to the dreams casino anywhere. I have also included a scan of the original document. The dealer stapled the corners and sides so no one could open it. Gary Robinson offered to meet us the following morning at noon in front of the riu hotel/dreams casino. The night was long, we could hardly sleep and in the morning we agreed that it was a scam. Especially after reading all the similar stories/blogs on the internet. We wanted our vacation back.
The next morning we started walking down to meet gary which wasn’t very far, the casino is actually part of the riu hotel. Just as we came up to the casino, gary pulled up in his suv with a child inside. He said the child was his but who knows. He pulled us both aside and told us he could not sleep all night, that he explained to his wife about the night before and that she told him to do the right thing. Gary explained to us that he and his wife have plans to return back to the usa and to quit the dream casino. He said the game we played was a fraud, there was no way to win and do not roll anymore times. Also, the casino hasn’t paid him and his staff for over a month. He said he was done with that casino, and would help us out. He begins to tell us both, “if we give him his commission (10%), he would give us a “paid in full” receipt with his signature”. He said he felt bad because he hasn’t seen this happen too many times and wreck family’s vacations. We told him we would do it as long as he would give us all the original paperwork and a paid in full receipt. He said he would but not until 6:30 that evening. So we drove up to the bank, remember his kid was in the car so we had no worries. We drove to a bank called blanco bhd, carretera areana gorda. Plaza caney 1, bavaro. Gary came into the bank with us and that bank only allowed us to remove $1000 of the $1750 he requested. Thank god. After we got back into the suv, gary quickly took the $1000 and stamped the document “paid in full” and signed it. The paid in full stamp just happened to be in the center console. I told him he wasn’t getting the remaining $750 until we get the original paperwork. He said the $1000 was good and that he would meet me at 6:30pm like we discussed. As we were driving back to the riu hotel, gary made some comments such that the old man and the dealer were a father and son duo. Interesting, because the prior day, the older man said he wouldn’t be able to pay us the jackpot right away because he would first have to verify our relationship to the dealer.
After paying gary the $1000, we called huntington bank to report the fraud and to lock down all our accounts. The bank said there were 2 charges still pending. She said she would put a stop on these pending transactions immediately. Unfortunately, she did not and the money was withdrawn from our account.
Gary dropped us off at the hotel and said to go and enjoy your vacation and he would see me later at 6:30pm. I went down to the lobby and gary was there waiting. He asked me to get into his car to go for a ride. I told him no way and we began walking away from the riu hotel. After a short conversation between gary and i, he handed over the original hardcopies. He then went on to tell me how much trouble he could get in if someone found out what he did for us. I asked him, is this over, can we go enjoy whatever is left on this vacation. Gary said, well, not so fast, he told me it would be safer if we changed hotel rooms, did not answer any phone calls to the room, and definitely do not answer the door if someone knocks on it. We switched our rooms and the phones rang many times between 11pm to 1:30am the next couple nights. It was none stop but we never answered. We also found notes in our door from the casino.
The next morning I went down to the lobby and demanded to speak to the riu hotel manager. They arranged a meeting in a closed door office. She (dasha) would not talk to me out in the lobby because she didn’t want anyone to hear what I was saying. I told her my wife and I were scammed for a lot of money at the dreams casino and told her we switched our rooms for safety and I wanted to know why we were getting phone calls and notes left at our new room number. I specifically told dasha that I wanted to be left alone. Dasha said “she was not aware of any scams going on in the casino and if there was, there is nothing she could do about it because the dream casino rents the space from the riu hotel”. The harassing phone calls lasted until the night before we left. Since we realized we were scammed, we did some on-line searches to see what other people had experienced at the dream casino. We read many other blogs which described the same scam my wife and I went through. I am including these blogs at the end of this document and could also be accessed thru this link.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147288-d1019356-r154131040-Riu_Palace_Macao_Casino-Dominican_Republic.html#REVIEWS.

The night before the day we were leaving to go home, around 1:30 in the morning, the phone began ringing off the hook. I did not answer, just like I was told. It rang for approx. 10-15 minutes, stopping and restarting again numerous times. Around 2:00am, someone began knocking at our door. I did not answer it, just like I was told. It was 1 person because I can see feet under the door. My wife and I couldn’t sleep all night and wanted to get home as soon as possible. Our plane was scheduled to leave the next day around 3:30pm but that was not soon enough. At 2:30am, I got up to use the bathroom, and there was a note under my door. The note read something like this:
Drug trafficking and vandalism is a very criminal in the dominican republic. We have all your personal documentation. You will never make it out of the country and the police will stop you at the airport.
My wife and I couldn’t fall back to sleep and woke up very early the next day so we could try to catch the first flight back to the usa. That flight left at 12:30pm and the original flight we already paid for was leaving at 3:30pm. Like I said, we just wanted to get back home. We also emptied out all our clothes too to make sure no one came into our room prior and planted drugs in our suitcases. So we left out the back of the riu hotel and worked our way around to the hotel next door (also owned by riu) so no one could see us when we left. We did not trust the riu hotel staff anymore. We called a taxi and left for the airport. We were the first ones to arrive at the airport. The gates didn’t open until 9am. Once we figured out that american airlines was the first plane out, which was to miami, we booked the flight. We just wanted to get home. Just as the gate attendant was handing us our boarding passes, my wife turned around and gary from the casino was standing directly behind us. He yelled something in spanish to the airline attendant. The attendant asked if we knew him. We said he’s been scamming us at the hotel. She quickly gave us our passes and we headed directly to the security entrance into the airport. How did gary find out we left for the airport early? No one knew except if we were being watched or someone at the riu hotel notified them. We believe many people were in on this scam. Gary followed us the entire time yelling out to us, “you will never make it out of the airport; the police are looking for you.” we didn’t stop and kept on walking. Finally we made it through security, as we looked back, we could still see gary standing there on his cell phone speaking in spanish. I never knew what he was saying or who he was talking too. Unfortunately, we didn’t get out of the airport until 10pm that evening because the plane had a malfunction and we had to wait for the last flight out. The entire time we sat in the airport waiting for something more to happen, thankfully nothing did. My wife and I both received another phone call from gary the following morning but we ignored it.
This needs to be stopped. The dates on the blogs go back approx. 10 years. We believe apple vacations and riu hotel macao are aware of the casino scams but still promote this casino has their entertainment and profit from it as well.

I booked a trip through Vacation Express on May 7, 2024, to Mexico with 7 nights’ accommodations occupying 1 room at Riu Palace Peninsula. For a Junior Suite Ocean View All Inclusive. Check in date 6-15-24 / check out date 6-22-24. I was assured that the Resort was a 5 star with clean amenities. I trusted Vacation Express & once my money was collected, I no longer mattered neither was I protected. The Hotel keeps responding that they accommodated us by switching properties. Us switching properties was never by choice meaning we had to switch otherwise we would have been miserable in a nasty dirty room without properly running air conditioner. When this Vacation was planned my choice of Hotel Property was RIU PENINSULA based on the descriptions on the website of amenities. This Resort is listed as 5 star which is not true based in factual incidents & situations that happened upon arrival. I didn’t make these claims up. EVERYTHING I HAVE LISTED & STATED HAPPENED IS FACTS. Me having to switch to another property was not what I planned or paid for. Me switching to another property does not make everything that happened VOID. We switched because we had no other choice offered. We were inconvenienced & all I keep hearing as a response is that we switched properties. When we arrived at RIU PENINSULA we should have been given a clean room with all amenities working properly. The room had not been properly cleaned. The bed linens & the mattress was worn & stained & was not a pleasant site (see included pictures) I am not satisfied because I did not get what I paid for neither was my Vacation spent at the property I chose. We had to sleep sitting up in table chairs the very first night, we then had to walk around for a whole day (the very next day) in our bathing suites because there was not a room to accommodate us until after 4:30pm. We walked around without a change of clothes & was not allowed in any restaurant of our personal preference because no swimwear is allowed in the restaurant that we wanted to dine in. Once we received a new room the air conditioning didn’t work properly. Then the front desk employees laughed at us & thought what was happening to us was a joke. The front desk employees were rude, unprofessional, not friendly or helpful to me. We were moved in the middle of the night through the streets of Mexico & was told that we would still have transportation to our Excursions through Nexus the next morning which was false (I paid over $500 for Excursions & the pickup spot was RIU Peninsula & I was assured that transportation was still going to pick us up at RIU KUKULKAN the next morning which was another lie made to me. I raced around the next morning in panic attempting to arrange transportation back to RIU PENINSULA because I was told by the driver that our pickup location could not be changed. I had to pay extra money for an expensive Taxi. This was the Vacation from Hell. Because of all these things that went wrong, the inconvenience, the lies, the rudeness, the unpleasant & unprofessional workers, the discriminatory act in the lobby at the front desk & my dissatisfaction about EVERYTHING is the reason I’m asking for my money to be refunded. These are the reasons I’m requesting compensation & regardless of us being moved to a different property does not make up for all the things that we endured. One problem after the next. None of this was our fault. We paid up front & the property was not up to standards nor was the room ready. This was an inconvenience & very frustrating. I am disappointed with my stay at RIU & I do not feel that I received the level of service I paid for. We traveled a long distance & My family was looking forward to a nice relaxing week in Mexico at RIU PENINSULA & that didn’t happen. I have been reaching out to Vacation Express and RIU Hotel & have not been able to get any resolution. I am requesting a full refund of all monies paid to Vacation Express (Vendor Travel Agents use for bookings) The nature of my dispute being neither RIU Hotel nor Vacation Express accommodated or provided services that were paid for. I have been attempting to speak to someone & resolve these issues since June 15th 2024. STAY AWAY & BOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE

So, we went the end of March 2024, and we were supposed to stay there for a week for a birthday celebration. Unfortunately, the same day of our arrival, there was a death in the family causing to have to change our plans and return home. That night I called JetBlue Vacations and explained the situation and explained to them we needed a flight back home. I was told by JetBlue Vacations to speak with the hotel and inform them of the situation and we should get a refund for the unused nights. So, I went to the front desk that night (mind you it's the first day at the resort) and asked to speak to a manager. I was told there was no manager on shift and to return the next morning. The next morning before departing to the airport, I spoke to the shift manager and explained the situation. I was told to "not worry about it" that they would credit us the remaining 5 days that we did not use, and they will inform JetBlue Vacations of our early departure so we can get credited. Fast forward to middle of July 2024 (4 months later), JetBlue Vacations has not credited/refunded us for the 5 days of unused stay and neither has RIU. DO NOT stay at this resort as they are liars and thieves. This is sad of me to say because I have stayed at this hotel before and it's a big disappointment. I usually do not leave reviews because it is based on one's individual experience, BUT if you find yourself in this unique situation then make sure you get everything documented by the hotel because RIU Republica (Punta Cana) will tell you "don't worry about it, trust us we will get it done for you" and "you do not need any paperwork, we will send everything over to JetBlue".

Shared our room with mosquitoes, cockroaches and mould in the bathroom. The fragrance aroma of sewage wafted some areas of the well kept gardens. Food was bland and often overcooked, especially the fish and bacon. Unlike the Riu Hotel in Maderia, where the quality and variety was excellent. Drinks were poorly prepared and not worth bothering with.

Positive were the entertainment staff and the energy that they put into their work. Generally staff were very good and friendly.

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with my recent stay at the RIU Palace Aquarelle in Falmouth. The level of service and numerous issues I encountered made this the worst experience I have ever had at any resort.

First, the customer service was extremely poor. Many staff members were rude and unapproachable, only engaging if spoken to first. Out of ten employees, perhaps only one would acknowledge guests. Additionally, the restaurants were fully booked on my first day, and I could not get a reservation until days later. When I finally did dine there, the food was cold and unsatisfactory.

A more serious issue occurred when I left money in my room to tip a waiter. Upon returning, I discovered that $8 was missing — $1 from my roommate and $7 from me. Despite reporting this to security, who checked my room and questioned why I hadn’t used the safe, nothing was done to recover the money. The security team stated they questioned the staff, none of whom admitted to taking the money. I also discussed the matter with the public relations manager, but no resolution was offered.

I was further disappointed to find children allowed in the adults-only area, without any guards to enforce this restriction. The towel policy requiring guests to exchange cards for towels was also inconvenient.

Most critically, I experienced a severe safety issue. As I was leaving one of the steakhouse restaurants, a waiter dropped a glass, which was not promptly cleaned up. Consequently, a shard of glass went through my shoe and lodged in my foot, causing significant bleeding. Despite the immediate pain and visible bleeding, no nurse came to assist. I was placed in a wheelchair and taken to the nurse’s station, where the nurse was unable to remove the glass.

Upon returning to my room, despite a "Do Not Disturb" sign, I found housekeeping inside restocking items. This was particularly concerning given the earlier theft. Although the head of security promised to address this, I never received any follow-up. I also spoke with the hotel manager, Belim, regarding these issues, but received no satisfactory resolution. The housekeeper was walking by calling out room number to another housekeeper and I said that's my room number the housekeeper's name was lashawn and stated she was not talking to me and said another number I do not trust them. I felt they was caught and went to another room. they were propping doors and stealing. we reported and they said not worry about it head of security.

I hope you will take these matters seriously and address them promptly to ensure future guests do not encounter similar problems. I never received a call from management about the matter in hand.

RIU Palace Aquarelle Jamaica

In 2019 we stayed at the Riu Palace in Aruba we loved everything about it. This month we chose to go to the Riu Palace in Paradise Island, Bahamas. The differences are night and day. The room 's shower water smelled like a bad sewer every morning that permeated through the room. The A/C's controls wouldn't allow for temperature adjustments. It's vent leaked 3 different days filling a waste bucket with water each night. There were cockroaches in the room. The variety and quality of the food was very poor, i.e., overcooked, dried out, same choices every day. The "specialty" restaurants' food was even worse and we felt very rushed at all of them (45 minutes to eat a 3-course meal). The drinks at all locations were extremely weak and the choice of name brands was extremely limited. We encountered at least 8 other couples who shared the same opinion of this location including two who cut their vacation short and went home! The staff was pleasant until one would register a complaint and then they became very defensive, as if they were tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. If this was our first stay at a Riu we would never had gone to another one again!

I booked the resort in Costa Rica from June 5-9th. The room reeked of mildew and so did the whole resort. There was no clubs or lounges as advertised and nothing to do at night due them conducting construction on the Lounges/clubs ect, which we had no knowledge of until we arrived. When ordered a bottle of Champaign to my room i received two coffee cups with champaign Suran wrapped which is totally unacceptable when it an all-inclusive resort. Also, the bartenders misrepresent by giving you cheap liquor when I requested Top Shelve to avoid being ill; and they are angry when you catch them. I even catch one bartender pouring water in the Don Julio bottle. In addition, the $600 Resort Credit wasn't a credit it was multiple coupons, false advertising. My clothes still reek of mildew/mold after being home almost a week. I just want a partial refund because i did not get what was promised and its defiantly a misrepresentation of what you will receive or what's included and hopefully I dont get sick from the mold.

To sum it all up, this was a weekend of RIU Vallarta wanting to charge us for everything and making issues and harrasing us for payments that wasnt our group. Yes we were a group of 40 people not once did we ever do wrong and my mother in law had an accident on herself for not being able to enter her room in a timely fashion also the transportation service was horrible.

Just got back from Riu Ocho rios to where I got sick from the food on my second day. Was sick for the remainder of the trip and had to proceed to the hospital in my home country.
We also experienced the worst service when it came to obtaining water and food for my young children as well as myself. No room service which is my fault for not reading fine print, but who has a children’s base resort and no room service?! My kids starved most of the trip and if we wanted to bring food back to room we were told that wasn’t allowed. I then had to repeatedly ask for water to which was also hard to obtain as we were told we only get water every two days. Even after seeing the onsite nurse and I was leaving the resort, still very sick dehydrated I requested water and was denied.

We paid for a Superior Room with an Ocean View. We were told by customer service in bookings via phone on several occasions that this is a good room with an ocean view. We ended up with a Regular Room with a view of the parking lot and pool (14th Floor). After 2 hours of back and forth with the hotel manager at the hotel, they agreed to let us move to another room but we had to pay $600 extra to get another room. Even this room had a view of the roof. (2nd Floor). The two pools had food and scum in them, and the pool pump was not working right so one pool had to be closed down while we were there. I was told by the Office Manager that this was the second time the pool pump was broken in two weeks. There were chicken bones and hot dogs in both of the pools. People should not be allowed to eat food in or around the pool. The people working there were not friendly and were rude to us. They did not smile, were not happy and we felt ignored especially when it involved cruise ship guests and they paid more attention to their fellow workers than to their hotel guests. They should not serve the cruise ship excursion guests before their hotel paid staying guests. The entertainment was a joke having the same group of people performing all week. The venues should change to different entertainers each night. The music and entertainment in the bar was so loud at night our ears were ringing and we could not stay long and could not hear afterwards. Only rap music with racial slurs was played with no sense of being in the Bahamas. Cultural Bahaman music should be played not rap crap. The hotel itself was run down. There was rusted pipes coming through the walls of the pool. The hotel rooms smelled like mildew and the room thermostats did not allow adjustments. Guests should be able to adjust the temperature. All we could do is turn the thermostat off and on. The room safes are on the floor. You should not have to roll down on the floor to get to the safe. This is not a good set up for adults especially those with disabilities. This was the first RIU hotel we have been to and Riu Palace Paradise Island Bahamas is a poor example and bad reputation of what RIU adult only hotels 5 star proclaims to be. We would like to receive back the money we paid for upgrade of $600.

We arrived at RIU República on March 2, 2025. At check in we were directed to elevators. These elevators were out of order. Found different elevators to find our room. When we woke up Tuesday march 4 there was no running water. Later there was no power. Couldn’t charge phone, no air conditioning, hot room. Still no power on Wednesday and conditions were worse (hot room, no phone access); still no water. Power came back on at 3 am Thursday. Fridge in room had defrosted so water all over the floor. Cleaned that up so we wouldn’t slip. No water again. Filled garbage cans for the rest of the week so we had emergency flush available. Restaurants were unavailable in our portion of the resort during power outage. No entertainment. Hundreds of spring breakers under 21 (outside of RIU stated policy of 21). Stairs to our ocean view (premium) rooms were filthy. Same trash and garbage was in stairwell for entire stay! Same partially eaten pizza on the stairs for 5 days; we assume a rodent took it, as the rest of the trash remained. Large cockroaches. No clean up. Power supply panel wide open and accessible to anyone! No television in room.

Arrived on Sunday, March 2nd,
Sunday. No washcloths all week.
Monday, 3/03/2025, No electricity, No water, no TV.
Tuesday, 03/04/2025 random times, No electricity, no water, no TV
Wednesday,03/05/2025, had cold water, no power. walked down black hallways to a black room to sleep in. Obviously no tv. power came on about 3:30 am. Restaurants were closed in our section. Had to try to eat in the open restaurant in the front section of the resort. The staff worked very hard to take care of customers that needed to eat. Full resort trying to eat out of two places. This was the morning that the girl went missing.
Thursday, 03/06/2025, no water in the afternoon when returning from an excursion. Safe wouldn't open.
Friday, 03/07/2025, repairman replaced the electronics on the safe. Had to stay in the room to facilitate the repair in the AM. Came home from an excursion to no hot water, no TV.
Remarkably, Saturday Everything worked.

Dear RIU Hotel HR and Management,
I would like to file a complaint and grievance against a RIU staff employee, at the Hotel RIU Guanacaste. This employee's name is Jhazmara, and works in guest relations and activities. This person (Jhazmara) stole $60.00 cash out of my wallet, while my wallet was sitting on table. I have witnesses that seen her do this act. She also had solicited myself several times and my friend for sex in trade for money. (Prostitution full solicitation and request). And I do have documented text from Jhazmara proving this solicitation being requested for sex for money). And as the $60.00 theft, I request you or Hotel RIU Guanacaste can reimburse or terminate employment for Jhazmara for these acts. Otherwise, I am filling full police report, and will be forced to give RIU hotels bad reviews, and have all friends and acquaintances do the same on all travel sites and RIU Hotel's website. Also I have house in Coco area, and will publicize these actions on local group sites, and posters all around local areas, and road and entrance to RIU Palace & Hotel RIU Guanacaste.

Again, I do like your resorts very much and always have had good experiences and trusted staying at your locations.
And I do realize this is probably a isolated incident, I would very much appreciate of your company removing this employee from employment and premises. (Again this employee's name is Jhazmara and is approx. Around age of early 30's or late 20's, and duties are guest relations and activity coordination for onsite activities. I do believe she lives on premises, because that is what she said in sex solicitations, and that we would have to go offsite to perform sexual acts for money, at a different hotel, or private room.)

Thank you for reviewing and taking action on this formal complaint and grievance claim.

If you have any questions, you can reach out to me for more details or information. My Name is Jeff Hartman and my email is [protected]@hotmail.com and my phone # is [protected]. I also have CR cellphone w/ # 6009 4343.

Thank you very much, and hope to get this resolved quickly,

Jeff Hartman - RIU hotel loyal hotel guest & patron

I stayed in the hotel Riu Buenavista in Tenerife between 1st February and 13th February with my friend Miss Stephanie Brodie.
We chose this hotel as it was claimed that they could cater for any dietary requirements or allergies. This we found out not to be true.
Miss Broadie is vegan for health reasons and has a milk allergy and all its derivatives. Despite informing reception and management of her dietary requirements repeatedly they failed to provide an adequate or safe option for her due to poor or non-existent food labelling. This is a breach of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers.
This was compounded by them providing meat as an option on several occasions despite us repeatedly informing them that she is vegan
We paid for an all-inclusive package which we could not take advantage of due to the lack of safe food options or the correct labelling of the food that was on offer.
This was my first experience of a RIU hotel and if this is the standard across the chain it will be my last and I will recommend to everyone that I meet to not stay at a RIU hotel.
I would suggest that you demote and replace senior management as they are ineffective and incompetent.
The restaurant managers and chefs need training in what is required to cater for anyone who has a dietary requirement or allergy

Reservation No. WRC29D3P
There are numerous complaints about the rooms we had during our stay from Jan 18-25. We asked for double beds twice, no they could not provide till Monday. On Monday we switched to a two bed room, room 130, with more issues, however, the worse was the smell of the room, it smelled like sewage. Maintenance Poured liquid down the shower drain three times, by Friday it was so bad, we were both feeling nauseous and had a headache. This was unacceptable and we expect a full refund. Upon our return home, we noticed all of our clothes still smelled of sewage after being washed twice. Please do not provide us with any kind of credit, The only acceptable action on your part would be a full refund. We expected so much better from RIU. Joanne Scully - [protected]@hotmail.com

I booked a double room at Riu Cancu All Inclusive Resort on November 29, 2024, through Expedia for 12/28/24 - 01/04/25. At the time it was NOT listed as ADULTS ONLY. The resort changed the policy to ADULTS ONLY on 12/24 and did not inform me. We were subsequently not able to check in and left to find accommodations at 7:30pm on a Saturday night in Cancun with 2 children. The hotel offered no solution and is refusing to refund me my money even though we ultimately did not stay there.

Good afternoon,

My name is Brent Williams, and I just returned from a 7 day vacation at Riu Republica resort in Punta Cana.

The last 2 days (dec. 24 & Dec. 25) felt like they were out of a horror movie. I would never complain about any business or hotel, but this time gave me severe stress.

Around 4 am on December 24 I began to get very sick. Cough, body aches, sweating, high fever, and after a few hours I could not move out of bed. I am an amateur traveler and forgot to bring 1. Medication, and 2. Physical credit cards, I only had Apple Pay. This was totally my fault.

As my sickness got worse, both of my hands started to go numb. The numbnesss creeped its way up my arms to my shoulders, and my fingers started to curl up. This really worried me, as maybe a month ago I suffered a very bad cut on my hand and wrist (I have attached a picture of the scarring) that became infected shortly after, leaving me in the hospital. Along with the numbness, this cut started to throb and hurt. The cut was healing fine, and I had been given a go ahead to travel, so now I knew I had to go to the doctor.

The room service button on my rooms phone was broken, so I texted a friend to get reception to call me, and when they did I dropped the phone because I couldn't hold it.

Eventually, the doctor showed up and was very rude to me, him and a nurse took me to the doctors office where the doctor started to try and blame me for the illness, saying it's from dehydration. I told him, I've been drinking every day, yes as it's my vacation, but I've also been drinking a glass of water with most drinks, and I also brought liquid iv packs on my trip with me. They put me on an iv and took my temperature, and I told him why I was so worried about the numbness, given my recent cut and infection. The doctor insisted then seemed to change his tone to say it was a flu that caused dehydration, since I was sweating so much. My temperature was 38.8.

After the iv, I started to feel better and went to my room to try and sleep, and drink the pedialyte he gave me. He initially charged me 450 usd, but my credit card had been locked, so I had to wait to pay when I could call my bank. When I got to bed, I couldn't sleep for hours, and around 12:30 am I started feeling very sick again, along with the numbness in my hands and arms. So, I did my best to get out of bed, and went downstairs to ask people for Tylenol or iv. Everybody looked at me sideways, said no and walked away. I was starting to feel like I was in a bad dream.

After this, I went to the lobby to ask them to call the pharmacist to deliver meds, and waited maybe 45 minutes. At this point, I was very unwell. The staff refused to give me Tylenol, and honestly were being very rude and standoffish. Almost like I was inconveniencing them. When the delivery came, I hoped my card would work, but it didn't. I BEGGED the staff and delivery guy to let me e-transfer, pay pal, anything until I could call my bank in the am, it was only 10 pills. But they just stared blankly at each other shaking their heads. After this, a group of girls walked into the lobby and the staffs demeanour completely changed from frowning and glaring like they were at me, to partying , yelling and flirting with the girls. This was Christmas morning, around 1:30 am. The last hour had been very demoralizing for me to say the least.

After this I went back to bed to try and sleep. It was maybe around 3 i started feeling extremely unwell. I knew I needed a hospital, but I wasn't sure they would help me, so my intent was to go try my best to walk to the lobby, lie on the floor and demand an ambulance. They way they treated me so far I was afraid they wouldn't act in haste. So I did, it took me about 10-20 minutes to talk myself into going back to the lobby, when I got there I laid on the ground, I could barely walk at this point and I was dripping sweat. I honestly thought I might faint, so before I left my room I wrote a note to take down, stating I needed a hospital, and I needed help to sleep. I hadn't slept in almost 2 days at this point.

When I got on the ground and yelled for an ambulance, nobody came to my aid. I was in visible pain, and nobody did anything for about 30 seconds. But I did hear the staff laughing, whether that was at me, or something else, I'll never know. Then, one staff strolls over to me slowly and says something, and I got angry and said call me an ambulance right now. So he very slowly walked back to the desk, I heard more laughter, and I was writhing on the floor in discomfort. I should preface this by saying, I'm a boxing coach, and a very tough person. I would never fake something like this, especially knowing how much it would cost me without insurance.

They didn't call an ambulance, they called the doctor, meaning I would have to pay him another $450 usd. He put me on an iv and said my temperature was "almost a fever" at 37.5, but I thought that was odd because I was feeling worse than before. And once I got to the hospital just a half later, it was 39.1.

At the hospital nobody really spoke English and I had to communicate via Google translate. They hooked me up to a sleeping iv, but I was so stressed out knowing I had a flight in a few hours, and I still needed to figure out my credit card or I would be stranded, I stayed wide awake through the medication. Eventually, I was taken to the office to pay the 2500 Canadian they said I owed for the 6 hour stay and iv's and blood test.

To note** I was not given and feedback on what was wrong with me, why my arms went numb and my cut hurt, or even what kind of illness I was experiencing.

I spent maybe 2 hours in the office, with time running out to get back to check out and make my flight, and I was getting more and more stressed out. At this point I hadn't slept in days. They refused to let me leave until I figured out how to pay them. I even offered to sign an affidavit. Eventually I figured it out, and made it back to the hotel with 2 minutes to spare to check out. And the receptionist acted angry toward me when I went to pay my bill, stating it was "my fault" all this happened. I told her the staff there were the rudest people I've ever met. I'm a Newfoundlander and pride myself on being kind to people, but I was treated like an absolute dog the last 2 days of my trip. And I'd never been sicker, not to mention the anxiety I was feeling over why my arms were numb, and my very serious injury was throbbing.

The doctor waived his fee for the 2 visits, I suspect he got his cut from the hospital and wanted to look like a good guy, but I can't really speculate. I barely made my flight, after getting shouted at by airport staff and security, very aggressively. All in all this was unbelievably unacceptable, I can understand why Dominicans might hate foreigners , I empathize with that. But they treated my this way while I was feeling maybe the worst I have in a very long time. And the fact I collapsed in the lobby and nobody came to help, but everybody laughed, made me feel like an animal.

I was very worried I wasn't going to make it home and was going to have to spend thousands more, without sleep, and with my sickness getting worse.

I would like to bring my concerns to a manager or someone in charge before I take this complaint further.

I have never complained about a business in my life, I'm a very laissez-faire person and don't like to involve myself in drama, but this has made an impact on me in a very bad way. I'll never return to this country, and I may never go to a resort again.

Please advise,

Thank you

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to share my feedback regarding my recent stay at the RIU Palace Aruba, which was my husband and I's first visit to Aruba, celebrating our wedding anniversary. We checked in on Sunday, December 15, and checked out on Thursday, December 19.

Unfortunately, we encountered numerous issues from the moment we arrived. We had paid a significant amount of money for an "ocean view" room, but we were placed on the 3rd floor, with a view mostly obstructed by trees. When we requested a different room, our request was declined.

Additionally, the outside jacuzzi area lacked adequate hot water, and the inside hot tub was not clean. In our shower, we found eyelashes near the towels, indicating that the room had not been properly cleaned beforehand. This was quite disturbing. Furthermore, there was urine on the toilet seat, and dust was present throughout the room.

To complicate matters, on the second-to-last day of our stay, we experienced a leak in the entrance area near the mini bar, which required us to use multiple towels to mitigate the issue.

Lastly, the overall customer service we received was subpar, and we found the food to be below our expectations. Sadly, our first experience in Aruba did not meet the standards we had anticipated.

I hope that you will take these concerns seriously and address the issues raised.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I stayed at the Riu Palace in Montego Bay from12/4/2024 until 12/9/2024. This was my 3rd time there. On or about 12/6/2024 my phone charger was taken out of my room. I immediately contacted the front desk & security. All of my belongings and my entire room was searched, it was not found. The did a card read and the only people who came in and out were me, my sister and housekeeping. The following day, they spoke to housekeeping and checked her belongings. She did not have it. I advised she took it but by the time I found out, she was gone for the day. When they questioned her, it was the next day. Why would she bring it back?
I am a travel agent and will not recommend this resort again!

9/26 approximately 220-230 was taken from our room after the maid cleaned. My daughter had about $90.00 about 50 ones and a few 20s from a black wallet from her purse. I had about 40 dollars in ones and some 20s. in a bank envelop inside my carry bag. Both were left out because my husband left the room not knowing we had cash still out. I have to say the approx amount because this was our first full day and we had just began giving out tips from our original stack of 50 ones and 20s. I reported the incident at the hotel and it is hard to even remember the amount, but honestly I felt like they questioned my claim and said they could do nothing and could not prove, the theft. Well it was very real to us and dampened our spirits while at the RIU and so we opt out of cleaning services the entire stay. We swtich our towels, made our beds, threw out our pwn trash. All of which we were entitled but could not trust your staff to do. I know people cannot always be trusted, but I was not pleased with the non uncaring attitude of the staff that called me about the incident a day or so later. I loved the RIU on prior visits and I never in life had a maid steal from me. My daughter is a travel agent and she is hesitate to share Riu as a hotel. Although we know one person should not s spoil the whole trip. Please know your maid took our money so you may want to consider any future claims. The amount she took was not our life savings and we planned to give away in tips so, it did not break us, but no one wants to feel guarded on vacation.

We had a poor experience with your front desk clerk "Iris" very rude to me.
I explained the room key would not open the door "gate" from Riu Santa Fe property when we returned back to Riu Palace Baja. She, in a condescending tone told me I did not know how to use my key to open up gate. So she called a bellman and told me I should walk back down with him to test the door. I replied to her I know how to open the gate why don't you walk down with him and you will see the gate does not work. She refused because that was not her job and reiterated the door works fine I just do not know how to use my key to open it.
The bellman returned and told us the gate does NOT work with the key.
I felt insulted by your employee "Iris". Maybe someone could give her some anger management classes and be kind to your customer.

Jonathan Knoerdel
[protected]

I stayed at the Rui Palace Tropical Bay in Negril Jamaica from 9/18-9/22/24.
My name is Lakeya Stevenson and I roomed with my daughter Ke'ziah Stevenson-Francis
Bill no- 4731/[protected]
I stayed in the garden view room #4203
Total amount $1471.60
I am requesting a monetary refund of some sort. My toilet did not work the entire trip. You had to flush the toilet at least 3-4 times after each use before it would go down. I called on this matter several times and the issue was never resolved. The AC unit did not properly work. There were times when the room would be nice and cool and then other times when it felt as if the unit was off. The last issue was ants. They were everywhere. I think there should be some type of extermination often to avoid this issue. The staff was pleasant. The service at the pools and bars was amazing, but the rooms should be just as good. I traveled a long way to enjoy myself and not run into these issues that were never resolved from Wednesday to Sunday. It was embarrassing when other family members came into the room and the toilet wouldn't flush.

On May 25, 2024 I placed a call to book through Priceline for hotel and flight reservations (bundle package) for a trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica for July 1 thru July 5th. All the information was given for the guests which was my son and his companion, costing $1356.12 However, there was an issue with the DATEs ONLY that they keyed in, which was July 2 thru July 5th. Once I saw the error I called and shared the mistake and told them to make the necessary changes with the reservation…. the names, the flight and the resort where to stay the same. So in the process I had to cancel, rebook with payment, and days later received my refund. However, that’s not what happened, they keyed in only his first and middle name. My son was traveling internationally with a passport and vacationing at the Riu Adults, Montego Bay, Jamaica. Only Resort for his stay. Upon arrival he was not able to check in because Priceline did not put his last name on the itinerary. From that moment on the resort would n... f $1356.12 is what I’m requesting as a charge back, because all parties were paid initially. Priceline and Riu are partners and the issue is on their end, I could not change or key in the information all by myself, neither of them would make an exception when flight details showed a full name. It never occurred to me that Priceline altered the names when they did the rebook was for DATES only. When one travels out of the country everything has to match, but upon arrival at a resort to put a customer through all that aggravation is traumatizing. The businesses had us pay twice is fraudulent especially when there were no other options given. I have reached out on prior occasions and have been ignored. Attached is documentation to show all that was done. Although this is being submitted now, I was unsure what to do after I was given the runaround from both parties. Thank you for looking into this matter for me as I await your decision with the utmost thoroughness and fairness.

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