Reviewed on Jun 17, 2018

We arrived Thursday morning the same day as Hurricane Bud decided to hit, so it rained nonstop that day. It was pouring rain in the lobby and not because it was being blown in by the winds, it was actually coming from the leaking roof. They only had two computers at the front desk so check in/out was chaotic....

We arrived Thursday morning the same day as Hurricane Bud decided to hit, so it rained nonstop that day. It was pouring rain in the lobby and not because it was being blown in by the winds, it was actually coming from the leaking roof. They only had two computers at the front desk so check in/out was chaotic. Since we arrived early that morning they would not give us our room until after 3pm, which was okay since we could still go to the restaurants. I mean restaurant because only one was open and the food was not fresh nor good. Fast forward to check in. We get our rooms and bags then had to walk in the torrential rain to get to our room in building 4, with no assistance from the staff and no elevator so had to carry luggage up 3 flights of stairs. My room was okay except for the slow draining toilet which eventually clogged and stopped flushing all together. They came the next day to fix. Unfortunately my sister was not as lucky as soon as she entered her room there was no power and the rain was pouring in from the balcony and from the light fixtures in bathroom which was odd because there was another room above her, so probably was raining in that room too. Since they were not answering phones at front desk she walked back to the lobby in the rain only to be told they will not change her room. The manager acted so nonchalant and unconcerned, offering to give her towels to put down to catch water. When she asked for his Corporate info to file a complaint he told her to contact her travel agent and he would contact his company. They sent someone to fix power, but only after others came complaining with the same problem and leaking rooms. Sadly, they would not give those folks another room either. You would think given the weather conditions and chaos the hotel staff would be more accommodating and would try to make their guest more comfortable since stuck on the resort. I failed to mention since it was a hurricane downgraded to a tropical storm the hotel posted signs saying not to leave the property as they will not allow access back in. It finally stopped raining around 8pm so we could move around the resort while jumping over puddles of water and trying not to slip on the wet tile. So for dinner they opened up a second restaurant and this was a buffet that had the exact same menu that they had earlier in the other restaurant. Again food was blah. By 10pm the resort was dead. The bar/restaurant that was supposed to stay open 24/7 closed at 10pm so if you missed dinner the guest couldn’t eat until the next morning and since the bar closed nothing to do. They even turned off the lights in the front lobby. I guess to deter people from coming to complain. So I’m sitting in my room with a tv with no English channels when my sister called saying the power has gone out for a third time. This time I went to the lobby with her. Again the same thing front desk would not change her room and said they would send someone up to check the power. While she was talking to the front desk staff I started to talking to the manager. At first I was told there were no rooms available to switch and they were booked to capacity. I was like this resort is supposed to have 1100 rooms and you are saying no open rooms. Then I inquired about rooms on their Sister property which was next door and she said they were booked too due to flight cancellations they had to keep people at the property. The whole time we were at the front desk, maintenance was at room trying to restore power. The manager got a call from maintenance then she miraculously found another room in their booked to capacity system. Even though the room was in a different building which was even farther my sister was just happy to get a room that had power and not leaking. Manager said she would have maintenance wait at the room to help move luggage. We make it back to room and maintenance said he fixed the power so she don’t have to move and he had called the manager and canceled new room. This was my sister’s breaking point and she let him have it to the point where he said you have the keys go ahead and move, but he didn’t help. By the way while we were talking to him outside the room the power went out again, go figure. Needless to say I helped her pack up the hot room, child and all and went to the new room. My first day and time in Cabo was a bust. Our remaining time there was a little better since the sun was out and you no longer had to worry about slipping on the wet tile. They opened up a few more restaurants and again the food was blah. The bars stayed opened like they were supposed to. Didn’t get to do any excursions because there was not a concierge onsite to help set up even though they say there is one on their website. We went into town and got harassed by vendors trying to sell excursions, but didn’t know which ones were trustworthy and would’ve felt more comfortable knowing it was a company that the hotel suggested or worked with. The only positive thing I have to say about the resort was the Riu Pool Party which had good music and edible finger foods and the Michael Jackson show was like watching the King of Pop in real life. I don’t know if all the Riu properties is like this one, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

   Reviewed on Jun 17, 2018

Just make sure it's the kind of resort you're looking for. Personally, I regret going and will never return. The beach was rocky and the shoreline and water were inaccessible most of the week. Seemed like everyone there just wanted to get drunk in the pool and party 24/7. The food was okay, but nothing to write home about. The...

Just make sure it's the kind of resort you're looking for. Personally, I regret going and will never return. The beach was rocky and the shoreline and water were inaccessible most of the week. Seemed like everyone there just wanted to get drunk in the pool and party 24/7. The food was okay, but nothing to write home about. The resort is huge and it was hard to have a place to go that was quiet and relaxing. Plus, you have to walk a long way to get anywhere, pool, bar, restaurant, beach, room, etc. The nightly entertainment was either an obnoxious cover band that I could hear at home or comedy relief on stage that was hard to understand. I will say most of the staff were very friendly and helpful. There was never any music playing anywhere either which seemed weird. Too much talking from the staff on stage trying to "entertain". Lastly, it flooded the last day we were there and they shut down the spa and restaurants which was really the only thing we could do. Still not sure why. They do not allow reservations anymore either for dinner and so you have to show up at 6pm to get on a list which was full when we went. The room was nice but our view was of the hotel next door and all we could hear when sitting on the balcony was a loud generator. Definitely not my idea of a place to vacation and relax. Oh and there were kids everywhere which wasn't something I was interested in.

   Reviewed on Jun 17, 2018

Completely overcrowded, service is terrible, under staffed, you have to wait 10 minutes to get a drink at night at the only 3 bars open. The WIFI drops out and is extremely slow (surprised i am even able to post this) the food is awful and the smell makes you feel sick, the pools are dirty. Its so loud, there...

Completely overcrowded, service is terrible, under staffed, you have to wait 10 minutes to get a drink at night at the only 3 bars open. The WIFI drops out and is extremely slow (surprised i am even able to post this) the food is awful and the smell makes you feel sick, the pools are dirty. Its so loud, there is a nightclub which is open until all hours and you can hear it. Whatever you do, ask for a room away from the pool party. They have no idea how to prepare for rain, our room was flooded and my partner spent all morning trying to stop the rain from getting in. When we woke there was water all over the floor, the poor cleaning staff. When we returned to our room after not being able to leave due to rain and mind you they closed the one shop so you werent even able to buy cigarettes, the roof had leaked all over the bed and the lights kept turning on and off. If you want to have an early night and maybe watch a movie, make sure you can understand spanish as there are only 2 english speaking chanels. Alternatively, watch something on your device... oh wait, you wont be able to as the WIFI wont allow you to. Highly reccomend spending the extra money and staying somewhere half decent as this does not deserve 5 stars.

   Reviewed on Jun 17, 2018

We are a family of 4 (kids are 4 & 8) and we went to the Riu Santa Fe for our yearly family vacation. We got a great deal on this budget all inclusive. We knew this was not a top of the line all inclusive, so when my husband and I were thinking about our trip a lot of...

We are a family of 4 (kids are 4 & 8) and we went to the Riu Santa Fe for our yearly family vacation. We got a great deal on this budget all inclusive. We knew this was not a top of the line all inclusive, so when my husband and I were thinking about our trip a lot of the negative reviews have validity, but nothing was enough to ruin our trip. We rented a car so we could venture off property without paying for a cab. Easy & plentiful parking. Check-in was painless and the welcome drinks were nice after traveling. This is a large resort, so plan on walking. It is all flat though and we enjoyed our walks through the nicely landscaped resort. We were put in building 7 because we requested an ocean view room. The view was beautiful and the balcony was large. The room was a little outdated, the tv was very small (we never even turned it) but our a/c worked great and it was always comfortable in our room. The WiFi did stop working in our room after a few days, but it didn’t bother us enough to go wait in line to troubleshoot. The building did have some funky smells, but some of them are older and cleaning can only do so much. There were issues with plumbing in the public bathrooms, but I believe most of those were caused by the storm. We were there for Tropical Storm Bud, which was an inconvenience, but not the hotel’s fault. People did get a little desperate for food and with only two restaurants open at a time, it got a little crazy. There was flooding (the hotel entrance was closed for a bit), but overall the staff dealt with the situation very well. The kids water park, adult water slides, and infinity pool were great. We never had issues finding seats at the infinity pool, but we did go in the morning and late afternoons when it is probably a little quieter. We enjoyed the background music and family friendly activities at the infinity pool. We also ventured down to the beach and it was beautiful. We knew about the severe rip currents so had no plans to go into the water. The vendors were not bothersome, but they will ask if you want any of their items if you go down on the sand. The party pool was extremely loud and if you want party, I would recommend a room in buildings 8 or 9. Some of the music was inappropriate for young ears, but loud enough to be heard at the kids water park. Was definitely something I would recommend watching. We enjoyed the food at the buffets and the Asian restaurant. We will miss the little quesadillas, guacamole, fresh fruit, and pots of coffee. We did not have excellent service at all of the restaurants so if you need something, I would recommend getting it for yourself. There are self service drinks at the buffets. Our girls enjoyed the nightly kids activities and shows. There were always fun things for the kids to do. Overall there are a lot of people on property and I feel like the staff does their best to try to make everyone happy. I would remind everyone that you are in Mexico and therefore should expect TV and music to be in Spanish. This resort caters to all kinds of tourists, not just ones from the U.S. There are definitely people who are there to party and get crazy, but there were plenty of families and people there to relax that we never felt overwhelmed by intoxicated party people. The food was good, the views beautiful, and the entertainment was satisfying for a nice budget friendly all inclusive.

   Reviewed on Jun 16, 2018

Let me start with we were accidentally dropped off at the RIU Palace right next door. Upon arrival immediately someone greeted us and asked to take our bags. When we realize we were at the wrong hotel they offered us a taxi to take us next door. When we arrived there was no one there to greet us or...

Let me start with we were accidentally dropped off at the RIU Palace right next door. Upon arrival immediately someone greeted us and asked to take our bags. When we realize we were at the wrong hotel they offered us a taxi to take us next door. When we arrived there was no one there to greet us or ask to take our luggage. The front dest clerk was very friendly and from that point all of the staff was really nice. I have no complaints about that. After checking into our room I discovered our safe would not lock closed. I called the front desk and was told they would send someone right away. No one ever showed up to fix it. I went to a friends room and realized how different our rooms looked. It didn’t bother me at first because the room was clean and we didn’t plan on being in the room much anyways. But our room compared to there’s looked like it had been ransacked. The pictures on the walls were missing. The valance was missing, it looked like the curtains had been repaired. It definitely didn’t look as nice as there’s for it to be the exact same type of room. No biggie though. Sometimes people get wild. It wasn’t enough to make me ask for a different room. The night before we left I called the front desk asking for clean towels. Because we showered after our room had been cleaned so we needed fresh ones. I fell asleep and totally forgot. But no one had knocked to bring them. I would’ve heard them because I am a light sleeper. I called for the towels again in the morning. I let the clerk know that I had called about the safe and no one showed up as well. He apologized and said he would send someone right away with the towels. Once again no one showed up. This was the only thing that really disappointed me about my stay. I would stay there again because it was decent for the price. They had activities for everyone. But only if I am with a group that has children. I know for the next time to get extra towels in advance 😉