Riu Palace Peninsula - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9365 reviews

• 

  Rude staff, not worth coming.

  Rudest staff I’ve ever had. Everyone seems annoyed you’re there. Countless times you ask for something politely and you get a sigh or they seem angry. Most restaurants were closed on Saturday (we stayed 3 nights). The food is actually good. The room is mediocre at best. Overall would never come back.

  Apr 05, 2026
• 

  Not the typical Riu experience

  The Riu Palace has been my go-to resort since 2009, and I’ve stayed at many properties in multiple countries. This trip, however, was extremely disappointing. My husband and I, there to celebrate our anniversary, were told upon arrival that we couldn’t have the king bed room we booked, only a room with two double beds. The guest in front of me in line was told the same – he yelled and made a scene, and was given the king bed room. I didn’t want to do that, and instead agreed to pay an extra charge to stay in the adults only area so we could have a king. We specifically asked if our upgraded room would be facing the highway and were assured it was a garden view room. It wasn’t – you could see and hear the traffic from our balcony. That night we tried to go to two specialty restaurants. Both were EMPTY, but we were still turned away at both. I’ve never had this happen at a Riu before. Sure, you have to wait if they are busy. But it was obvious they were understaffed and accepting fewer guests than normal. I found out this resort was days away from closing for six months for renovations, which I didn't know when I booked the trip. You could tell they had already started the process of shutting down, and that we were not going to receive a typical Riu experience, which we didn’t. But of course the price I paid for the trip was the same as always. I might not have said anything, but a staff member at the sports bar was extremely condescending to my husband when he went for coffee the next morning, and I decided to express my disappointment with everything that happened in our first 12 hours there to the staff. Lalo at the front desk did offer me a refund on the extra I paid for the adults only room if I was willing to move to a king bed room in the main building, which is what I had originally booked. Now, suddenly, it was available? Why couldn’t I have just gotten what I had paid for the day before? It’s like I wasn’t an important enough guest – or I guess a loud enough guest. And at that point, I had heard multiple complaints from guests about the elevators not working in the main building, and I thought things might only get worse if I moved rooms. Lalo told me to come back after 12 p.m. when a different manager was available and maybe they could do something else for me then. I waited in line for 20 minutes for him to basically tell me the same thing he said earlier in the day. In the middle of our conversation, another front desk worked interrupted us and starting talking to Lalo. I proceeded to stand there for another five minutes like an idiot as the two of them ignored me, then finally walked away in disgust. What was the point of making me come back and waste all that time on vacation? It only made me more angry. We also had an experience on the beach I wanted to mention. My husband, who is Black, decided to have a cigar on the beach. The hotel has ash trays scattered around, and there are no “No Smoking” signs outside. But apparently it is illegal to smoke on the beach in Mexico, and we didn’t know that. After less than 10 minutes, the Mexican police arrived. They first approached the only other Black male guest on the beach and asked if he had been smoking. Then they came over to my husband. We had no idea what was going on. The cops took pictures of us with their cell phones, then let us go. It seemed obvious that someone had called the cops and reported a Black male smoking on the beach. Either that, or the police came on their own and targeted the only two Black male guests on the beach, one of whom was not smoking or doing anything illegal. Neither possibility is one that would make me feel comfortable returning to Cancun with my husband. This was my seventh trip to the area, and there have always been people smoking on the beach, and the police have never questioned anyone. But I have also only traveled with other white guests in the past. We finally got into a specialty restaurant on our last night. Again, it was empty and we were initially turned away. The host showed me that 29 people were ahead of me in line and tried to discourage me from adding my name to the wait list because we might not get in. I did anyway, and we were seated 25 minutes later. It made no sense. Our poor waiter got four tables at once and was racing to serve us all. It was nothing like a typical Riu dining experience. We also learned from a staff member that the restaurants are all shutting down before the hotel does -- the guests who are staying there this weekend are really going to be stuck with nothing, and I bet they don't know that. And I bet they were charged the same as I was for my trip. After this, I am definitely on the hunt for a new resort chain to use as my go-to. If anyone has any recommendations, I would love to hear them!

  Apr 02, 2026
• 

  Restaurant review

  Just returned from 14 nights here... food was excellent but the stand out service was from the Japanese restaurant.. the manager and staff went above and beyond their duty to give us fantastic service each time we visited... they even put banners and balloons up for my wife's birthday

  Mar 30, 2026
• 

  Disappointed!

  I can't afford to get away every year, so I was really looking forward to this trip. Unfortunately, we had a lot of problems. We had booked 2 rooms and requested that they be close. I know they can't guarantee adjoining rooms, but we weren't even in the same building. We also upgraded to an ocean room view. My balcony had a 4 foot concrete wall. If I sat in the half broken chair that was provided, I saw 4 concrete walls and nothing else. The next day, I went and requested that I get moved to be in the same building as my friend, as they had suggested. Horrible view. The room was mainly overlooking a roof with only a partial view of the ocean. I went to use the ironing board, but when I took it out of the closet, it was so old and rusted that 2 of the legs were no longer attached. I told the cleaning lady so that they would replace it for the next person in the room. Instead, they wanted me to pay for breaking it. Eventually, they made me sign a waver that said that I did not do the damage. The resort was so loud, I barley slept the entire trip. They use heavy doors that slam very loudly when they shut. These doors were slamming all night long. It almost sounded like a gun shot (I knew it was not a gun shot). It was that loud. Also, people were partying and screaming in their rooms and hallways until 4 or 5 am each night. There was no security and apparently no rules. The drinks were definitely watered down and horrible tasting. It is the only time that I have had a terrible margarita in Mexico. The pools all closed at 7 pm which I have never experienced either. I've only been to resorts where they close at 10 or 11 pm. The safe in the room didn't work and the freezer in the mini fridge looked dangerous. The hotel is old and needs some repairs, did not seem like a 5 star despite the amenities available. On a positive note, the beaches were beautiful, and there were many lovely pools. Overall, the staff were also very friendly.

  Mar 28, 2026
• 

  Great location, Beautiful

  The location is fantastic with a beautiful, swimmable beach. Take your snorkles and with a little snack of bread you will see a variety of fish in the water near the large rock outcrop. We saw Sergeant Majors, Anglefish (Palometa), Black Damsels, Angelfish and many other white fish. We also saw a small Baracuda. The white sand is phenomenal and there are many palm trees on the beach that we liked. There was always lounge chairs available in nice shady spots. There were umbrellas and always someone to bring an umbrella and set it up. There were waitors on the beach and service everywhere was above and beyond. The Las Olas buffet was excellent. The Steakhouse was really good and we had steak and lobster, go early to secure your table. We went 2 times and had the lobster, quite large. We liked the Bloody Mary station and the Mimosa one, every morning. We liked the Neon Party and didn't find the music on other nights too loud, too late. We liked the live music on Latin night? and the piano bar. Check in and out was fast and polite. Patricia suggested we upgrade and could check in early (at 12:00) and we did. We were on the 12th floor and had breath taking views out the window across the pool and to Isla Mujeres. The isalnd lights were beautiful at night. Our bathroom was nice with granite counters and a rainshower. Huge bath tub...big nice towels. Immaculately clean.nice tv with good reception.Stocked mini fridge and bar. No complaints from me. The color scheme with purple and hot pink was Miami vice like, but it was also kinda working with the beach scene. Purple glass blocks in the bathroom were a bit dated, but unique. The gardens were amazing and immaculate. Overall, a great time and I would definitely return.

  Mar 26, 2026