Riu Palace Las Americas

Let me start with the positives. The food for an all inclusive is outstanding. Over 11 nights we never had a bad meal the whole time we were there. The staff are friendly and work extremely hard and should be applauded. There simply aren’t enough of them to provide a 5 star service. Waiters around some of the pools and the beach are sporadic, at best. Wait times in the Krystal restaurant resulted in the worst service of all.

Twice we came back up to our room at 4pm and had to request a room clean. Which took a further hour despite cleaners being on the floor already.

The hotel building itself is beautiful. Very art deco feel. The rooms, however are tired. The shower was hanging off the wall, the phone didn’t work, the patio door handle came off and it took 3 days and several requests both at reception and via the app to fix. The pool floors are dirty with chipped tiles which I don’t expect to find in a ‘5 star hotel’. Nor do I expect to find yesterdays snacks underneath the Sun loungers around the party pool.

The one time we requested breakfast in our room with a stated time, it failed to appear. More calls to reception who stated there was a ‘glitch’ with the Riu app. There seems to be a lot of ‘glitches’ with this hotel! It finally appeared 2 hours late and the order was wrong.

Maintenance of the hotel is not where it should be which is a management and corporate issue. I’ve heard whispers it’s due to undergo a renovation which would make sense, as there is complete apathy in keeping the previously mentioned areas at the premium level they should be.

This is an adults only hotel but do not expect it to be all peace and quiet. The party pool is lively and the staff work really hard to ensure everyone has a fun time. There are quieter areas too for those who don’t want to spend the day slowly getting drunk.

Overall, this is far from a bad hotel. It’s let down by things that could, and should, be addressed by RIU. It’s a 4 star hotel at best so remember this when you are booking. Finally, if you want to keep your room, be prepared to pay $20 an hour for the privilege. I would have expected some leniency to be applied for the sake of an hour, especially with the above problems experienced. But reception is very robotic and appears to have no leeway to use their discretion.

Would I come back? For the food and the lovely staff who try their best to make everyone happy, yes. The sad thing is, it wouldn’t take much to get to 5 stars without a little investment in the right places. Wake up Riu!

I just love this hotel! This was our 4th time going. I have stayed elsewhere and it did not compare to Riu Las Americas. Service is 5 star. Such a clean hotel, everything sparkles.