Riu Lupita - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5127 reviews

• 

  Service and staff attitude needs improvement

  I booked Riu Lupita last minute, and knowing it’s a budget-class property, I adjusted my expectations accordingly. Overall, the stay has been fine so far in terms of the basics: the resort is clean, the grounds are pleasant, and the food is acceptable for the category. However, there is one major issue that significantly detracts from the experience: staff training and service consistency. The lack of a uniform service standard is very noticeable. Politeness, attentiveness, and willingness to help seem to depend entirely on the individual staff member mood rather than being an expected norm. The front desk and main bar staff have generally been good, but the buffet staff experience has been consistently poor, and this is based on patterns observed over multiple days, not isolated incidents. I am currently on my third day at the resort. Also, the buffet is the main restaurant there. At the buffet, I have repeatedly sat through entire meals - sometimes close to an hour, without anyone offering water or asking if I’d like a drink-even water. On one occasion, I noticed staff carrying a tray of drinks and briefly thought, “Oh, they do serve drinks here,” but that turned out to be the exception rather than the rule. Like I asked for water during dinner and never received one. One incident there stood out in particular: At the coffee machine, another guest and I were waiting our turn while a waiter was making coffee for someone else. A waitress then approached him and asked him to make coffee for her guests-despite clearly seeing two guests already waiting. He proceeded to serve both his guest and hers first. After that, the only functioning coffee machine broke. When I asked the same waiter if I could get a cup of coffee for my table, I was simply told the machine was broken. I also noticed what appeared to be a manager doing rounds in the buffet area, but the focus seemed to be solely on food checks rather than observing how staff were interacting with guests - or, more accurately, not interacting. This is disappointing because staff attitude and service quality are often the easiest and least costly areas to improve, and yet they have the biggest impact on guest experience. Right now, poor service is actively tarnishing what could otherwise be a solid stay for this class of resort. Riu Lupita would benefit greatly from investing in better staff training, clearer service expectations, and basic hospitality standards. As it stands, the inconsistency and lack of attentiveness are simply not acceptable.

  Dec 21, 2025
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  Excellent 10 day holiday at RIU Lupita

  Just returned yesterday from 10 days at RIU Lupita, everything from check-in to check-out and everything in between was excellent, the staff are unbelievable, I’m not sure I’ve come across a nicer, friendlier or more hard working bunch of people. They really did go above and beyond to ensure everyone enjoyed their stay. It’s hard to actually pick any particular person or group out, but I’d maybe say the entertainment team just edged it, mainly because you see them most throughout the day and their job must be so difficult but they clearly love what they do. The food and restaurants were great plenty of options all round, and themed nights too in the main restaurant. The pools were all clean and nice sizes with an adults only pool for those needing that. The room was a nice size with a mini bar fridge and always cleaned everyday. The hotel grounds are stunning, so much lovely wildlife and trees, bushes, plants, all maintained perfectly which is so lovely and relaxing to be around. None of the animals bother you at all, just don’t feed them which is exactly what they tell you at check in, so anyone complaining clearly hasn’t listened to what they were told. There is a beach bar, pool and plenty of sun beds down there, it is walking distance about 30/40 mins, but if that’s too far there is a bus every 30 mins, which runs all day. Please give this hotel a go, it really is worth every penny.

  Dec 20, 2025
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  Great value for money

  I recommend this hotel, its a lot cheaper than Riu Palace Mexico, where we stayed last time but the holiday was still very good. OK not on beach, the free shuttle, every half hr, you can set your watch to, friendly drivers, watch if anyone running for bus and wait, great if its a downpour! Rooms a bit old fashioned but so was the Palace. Very clean, plenty storage, bed was hard but I put 2 thick blankets under base sheet and it made it comfy for me. Shower gel in shower, good water pressure, always ae to control heat. Hand wash, hairdryer, plenty of towels, refreshed regularly. Buffet meals very good, fresh fruits, great choices, something for everyone. Mexican restraunt, disappointing, no atmosphere, lighting too bright, clearing away around you, felt rushed, food ok. The Italian, better choice of foods, main course arrived while still eating starter! Never got up early enough to book steak house. Plenty sunbeds around pool and at beach, palm trees are the only shade but as the sun moves around, so can you, lovely experience down by the sea. Plenty of games to participate in if you want. Entertainment staff always happy, friendly, speak all languages. Reception staff very helpful, our door lock broke and they sorted it within the day. We would definitely stay here again if we ever come to Playa Del Carmen. Thank you to all the staff.

  Dec 17, 2025
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  Great place for relaxing fairly quiet vacation

  I’ve got to say we had nothing but positive experiences with this resort from check in to checkout. The staff always smiled and greeted us. After a long day getting to the resort we were greeted with a drink and check-in was fast. The bellboy took our bags and guided us to our rooms showing us the restaurant and bar and the activity pool as well as the quiet pool. He took us to our room and explained this is a very quiet area. We went for dinner at the buffet. The staff there are very polite people and fast to help you. There’s always something good to eat there and a pretty good selection. The fresh fruit was amazing my fav is pineapple We went to the bar and service like everywhere there was excellent At breakfast we met Marco he is a hard worker and very welcoming every breakfast and lunch he goes above and beyond every day to make your holiday special. We did one al la’carte it was Dante’s Italian restaurant. The food and service there was amazing. ( The steak with gorganzola cheese was perfect) At the activity pool there’s always chairs to sit and relax, access to towels is easy and convenient. The only thing somewhat annoying were the coaties a raccoon size animal that are everywhere with exception to the restaurants, if you leave a drink on your table they come and dump it. That’s the only downfall to the resort. We took the bus to the beach and return a few times they almost always are right on time. The beach is beautiful no weeds nice white sand and the lunch buffet was very good pretty good selection. The bartenders are pretty busy but no problem getting taken care of A lot of the workers recognize me after a couple days as chocolate man handing out chocolates every morning after breakfast. The grounds are very well kept. There was a pretty windy day and there were leaves everywhere on the paths. When we got up in the morning and headed for breakfast they had magically cleaned up. The washroom were always kept clean and tidy. Being a small resort there isn’t any need for carts running around the pathways other than the water/pop cart delivery every morning We had to call maintenance once to fix the in room safe he was there fast and fixed it in only a few minutes.

  Dec 03, 2025
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  Rui Lupita = outstanding 🍸🌴🌮

  We visited Riu Lupita in early november with our 3 year old. We've been to this hotel previously and love that it is in a tropical jungle setting with lots of wildlife. It also feels safe within the gated Playacar resort, although there is easy access to Playa del Carmen centre shops and bars - about 20 min walk or 5 mins on regular shuttle bus from Riu Lupita. The food is incredible at Riu Lupita, it's buffet but on another level to other all inclusive hotels I've been to. HUGE selection of authentic Mexican dishes, and everything else you could want: pasta, massive salad bar, tapas, seafood, steaks, plus so much more.. 😍 And beige buffet for the kids 😅 Rooms aren't luxury - but they are lovely and very clean with pretty with everything you need (air-conditioning, fan, bathroom products, plus bar spirits on tap 😅). One small thing that seemed lacking is outdoor light on the balcony. Our 3 yr old was v excited that he had bunk beds in the room! We only let him sleep in lower bunk as top one seemed a bit risky 😬😅 The housekeeping / room servicing / cleaning and general upkeep of the hotel was brilliant. We left a considerable tip as our room was cleaned perfectly every day. All the hotel staff work really hard and are so friendly 🤗 The only exception to this was the receptionist when we checked out of the hotel - she was quite abrupt and insisted that I went back to the hotel room to retrieve my child's wrist band. No idea why. There's a really cute kids club 10-12am & 3-5pm each day. Swimming pools are beautiful and plenty of sunbeds available - only a few idiots seem reserve them before daybreak 🙄😅 It's incredible to see so much wildlife at the hotel: Capybara, Deer, Iguana, Exotic birds, cat's, and so many Coati's everywhere! When you check in - you have to sign an agreement that you won't feed the Coati's. It's really important as they should be foraging in their natural environment. Sadly, I still saw other guests feeding them cakes etc just to get photos with them 😞 I could waffle on for ages but will stop now 😂 Will def be returning to Riu Lupita, and highly recommend 🙌🥰👌

  Nov 18, 2025