RIU Ocho Rios

​Overall, the hotel is excellent, with immaculate grounds and a hardworking team of staff, waitstaff, and housekeepers who keep the 5-star standards high. While our room was kept spotless daily and had very comfortable beds, the double rooms with balcony are due for an update, as evidenced by rusty light fixtures, a marked mirror, ceiling condensation spots, and a shower screen in need of a deep clean. Our main drawback was the evening atmosphere: with no relaxed cocktail lounge or quiet background music area, you’re forced between the noisy main show venue which had children's entertainment, a reggae band and then a sit down event show or the sports bar. After a loud day by the pool, there was nowhere sophisticated to sit and unwind, or if we had a quiet day by the pool and wanted somewhere to let our hair down and dance there was not that opportunity other than the Saturday night riu neon and white party and also a monday evening at the pool area bar there was like a dance hall party/reggae kind of atmosphere. So most nights we ended up heading to the room early. While it was a good stay, I probably wouldn't return as I'd prefer to try the other RIU properties in Jamaica next time.

⭐ 1/5 — Extremely Disappointing and Unsafe Experience

I am extremely disappointed with my stay at RIU Ocho Rios. What was supposed to be an enjoyable and relaxing holiday became stressful, frustrating and ultimately resulted in me being injured because of an issue with my room that I had already reported more than once.

From the very first day I checked in, on 3rd September 2026, I experienced problems. The room I was initially given was dirty and not at the standard I would expect from a hotel advertised as a 5-star resort. I had only just arrived for my holiday and already had to spend my time making complaints instead of being able to settle in and enjoy myself. After reporting the condition of the room, I eventually had to be moved to another room.

Unfortunately, changing rooms did not put an end to the problems.

I then discovered a serious issue with the bathroom and shower area. The bathroom floor was becoming soaked with water, including at times when the shower was not being used. Whenever the shower was used, the situation became considerably worse, with water flooding out from the bathroom towards the bedroom area.

This was not something I ignored. I reported the flooding to reception TWICE because I was concerned about the amount of water on the floor and the obvious risk of someone slipping and injuring themselves. Maintenance was sent to the room to inspect the problem, yet despite my reports and the maintenance visits, the flooding continued.

This is what makes what happened next particularly upsetting.

After repeatedly reporting the problem and continuing to experience the same flooding, I slipped while coming out of the bathroom and twisted my foot. My foot became badly swollen and painful, and I was left struggling with my mobility.

This completely affected my holiday. I had only just started my trip, yet instead of being able to enjoy the resort and the holiday I had paid for, I was dealing with pain, swelling and difficulty moving around. I was incredibly frustrated because I had already brought the problem to the hotel’s attention more than once before I was injured.

In my opinion, the most unacceptable part of this situation is that the injury potentially could have been prevented had the repeated reports about the flooding been properly resolved. I did what I was supposed to do as a guest: I notified reception, allowed maintenance to inspect the issue and raised the problem again when it continued. I should not have had to wait until I was physically injured for the seriousness of a wet and flooded floor to become apparent.

Following my injury, I went back to reception and spoke with the manager, Yanick. She apologised for what had happened, but when I raised the issue of a refund, I was told that they could not provide one because refunds were not dealt with by them.

I was given something cold to use on my swollen foot and was offered a late checkout until 3pm. Although I acknowledge the apology and late checkout, I did not consider this an adequate response to the seriousness of what had happened.

A 3pm checkout does not compensate for being injured during a holiday because of a room issue I had repeatedly reported. It does not give me back the time I lost from my holiday, nor does it compensate for the pain, swelling, inconvenience and limitations I experienced afterwards.

What concerns me even more is how much worse this incident could have been. A fall on a wet floor can cause a serious injury. I could have sustained a fracture or another injury that left me completely unable to move. Guest safety should be taken extremely seriously, particularly when a hazard has already been brought to the hotel’s attention on multiple occasions.

I paid for a holiday expecting a clean, comfortable and safe room. Instead, my experience began with a dirty room, followed by having to change rooms, repeated bathroom flooding, multiple reports to reception, maintenance visits that did not resolve the problem, and finally an injury that significantly affected the remainder of my holiday.

This was not a minor inconvenience.

I have made a formal complaint regarding my experience and requested a refund, and I am still awaiting a satisfactory response.

I would strongly advise anyone considering RIU Ocho Rios to document and report any maintenance or safety problems immediately and keep evidence of everything. Based on my personal experience, simply reporting the problem did not result in it being properly resolved before I was injured.

For a resort of this size and reputation, I expected significantly better standards of cleanliness, maintenance, guest safety and complaint handling.

I came to Jamaica expecting to make wonderful memories and enjoy my holiday. Instead, part of my lasting memory of RIU Ocho Rios will be repeatedly reporting a flooded bathroom, slipping and injuring my foot, struggling with the resulting swelling and mobility problems, and spending time during my holiday trying to have a safety issue taken seriously.

I am extremely disappointed with the way my stay turned out, and I am still seeking an appropriate resolution and refund for what happened.

I would not want another guest to experience the same situation.