My stay at Riu was, by far, the worst resort experience I have ever had. Despite having a reputation as one of the better resort chains, their lack of hygiene and quality service were the least concerning part of my trip. The bartenders at Riu party were intentionally drugging guests, and when I contacted Riu at the corporate level, their response was that they were not responsible for it and I should contact Expedia since I booked through them. They are taking no accountability for less than satisfactory and dangerous experience at their resort.

First, let’s talk about the issues of hygiene and cleanliness at the resort. Upon arrival, there was fecal matter splattered across the bathroom door and the bed sheets smelled like mildew, which is a complaint that other guests shared with us as well. The pools were filled with dead bugs, which I fully understand happens in a tropical climate, but the filter system was ineffective at keeping up with the massive amount of dead bugs floating on the surface.

Next, the service was the worst I have ever experienced at a resort. One of the days we were sitting by the pool, the man who was in charge of taking drink orders on our side of the pool blatantly ignored me and refused to take my drink order. I was sitting in a chair next to my friend the entire time, and the man would approach, pass my chair, ask my friend what he wanted, and then quickly walk away. The first time it happened, we assumed it was a mistake on his part, but the second and third time, we realized it was intentional. I didn’t get a single drink from him during the 5 hours we were by the pool.

Then, there was the bartenders spiking guests drinks at the Riu Party. When my friend (male) and I arrived at the Riu Party on Wednesday night, my friend ordered the first round of drinks. Like always, we watched them make the drinks, and they were similar to the other drinks we had back at the resort – watered down and with very little alcohol. The second round, I ordered the same drinks at the bar on the opposite side. I watched the bartender make the drinks and noticed he was pouring from a bottle simply labeled “Blanco,” instead of the Jose Cuervo they had been pouring throughout the rest of my time there. I asked the bartender, but he couldn’t hear me, so I assumed it was blanco tequila. I took a sip and noticed a distinct difference in taste, but I wrote it off as being a different type of tequila. Halfway through my drink, I told my friend I was feeling very drunk, which was odd for me after only one and a half drinks. My friend, who is double my size in weight and a heavy drinker, said the same thing. I stopped drinking and noticed a girl who was falling over, and her boyfriend was trying to hold her up. Having been roofied once before, I recognized something was wrong with the drinks, and we left immediately. After that, I experienced some memory loss from that night and was sick from Thursday morning through Sunday morning, so the flight home was miserable for me. Luckily, my friend didn’t metabolize the drink the same way I did, and he showed no signs other than some brain fuzziness. The day after the party, some of the guests also reported something wrong with the drinks at the party and feeling sick.

Lastly, I want to mention the food and dining situations. Though I never expect amazing food at resorts, the food was rarely edible. I had tuna overcooked to the point it looked like a chicken breast with scales on the bottom and “ricotta ravioli” that had beef inside instead of ricotta (I don’t eat meat). The coffee at breakfast was like tar, and the cafe on the resort didn’t open until 10:30 am. The 24/7 snack bar was rarely stocked, and when it was, the food was cold. The 24/7 room service was only breakfast items, so there was nothing to eat on the resort after the restaurants closed. Even more odd, none of the restaurants other than Taino had bathrooms, so the only option was to walk to the lobby if you had to use the bathroom during dinner.

Having stayed at many all-inclusive resorts in the past, this experience was, by far, the worst. Many of the guests whom I got to know on the resort informed me of the impeccable reputation Riu has in other countries including Jamaica and Mexico and how their experience at Bavaro did not meet their expectations, so I felt compelled to share my experience at the corporate level before posting a public review. However, after receiving a response where they took ZERO accountability for what goes on at their resorts, I knew I needed to share my experience with others so they don’t end up drugged and sick from a careless company that does not care about the experience they provide their guests.

We stayed 11 nights from 8th April to the 19th, we were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary, TUI had informed the hotel of this and when we arrived our room had been decorated by Rosa our maid.

We had no issues at all, beautiful room with a sea view on the 3rd floor, the pool area can be very busy and loud music close to the pool bar.

We ate in the Italian and Japanese restaurants the food was gorgeous.

The beach was beautiful, but must say this is the first Palace we have stayed in where they have not cleared the seaweed, there was not loads and the sea was clear but the line on the beach was left,

The staff, Lina, Jenny and Nyela, bar area, Noberto and his team in the main buffet were amazing.

There were a couple of things I was disappointed with, seaweed not being cleared and VIP pool area not cleaned.

Don’t let the bad reviews put you off we will definitely return after the refurbishment.

Everybody is great, service was amazing. Restaurants could be way better but food was decent. The rooms were comfortable. A/C working 100%
OVERALL we had a BLAST with family and friends. No doubt that the BEST EMPLOYEES ARE: LUCY & YALKIS. 💗💗💗💗💗