Ratings based on 1,206 Verified Reviews
4.2 Room cleanliness
4.2 Service & staff
3.8 Room comfort
4.0 Hotel condition
Expedia Verified Reviews
by A verified traveler from Santa Clarita, CA
Average beach hotel
Posted Jul 19, 2017Terrible staff, the staff only tries to help the white folks. Facilities aren't in great shape. The pools have areas that have mold and broken splash tiles. The room beds are really uncomfortable and hard. The beach access was easy and the beach was good. Food overall was average. The great thing were the night shows in the courtyard, they were awesome.
by A verified traveler from G
Vacation stay
Posted Jul 18, 2017The hotel is beautiful but I didn't like the staff in the reception they want to charge you for everything and not very helpful there was also a lady in the entrance and she did not even let my relative help me take my luggage into my room very rude staff person i was very upset, in my reservation the check in time was 3 pm and they did not give me the key till 4:30 so if u stay here expect surprises.
Recommended
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from Arizona
Family Friendly Hotel
Posted Jul 14, 2017Enjoyed our stay at Riu Vallarta. They have a great live variety of entertainment for the family to enjoy after dinner. We enjoyed our stay. The only cons were that the beds are hard and the speciality restaurants always fill-up very early. Overall great place to stay!
Recommended
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from kansas ity
Posted Jul 11, 2017
Great food, ocean a little rough. Pool was great, staff was very helpful,
by A verified traveler from New Jersey
Don't have high expectations!
Posted Jul 10, 2017
Pros: The massages by the beach were amazing!! Hubby tipped them $25 each of how good they were. Paella by the beach was awesome.
Cons: If it rains everything gets wet including hallways, be careful very slippery as well as the bathtub.Staff controlling drunks and way they treat kids!!
Location: All outside excursions have to be done through the hotel. Make sure to change your money to pesos makes it way cheaper especially for taxis.
Room: poor air conditioning need to request to fix if you have asthma/respiratory issues in order for room to be cold.
Pool: Adults only by poor bar, staff more worried about children in this area giving threatening stares than controlling drunk rowdy locals behaving 100x's worse than the kids in behavior and throwing cups of water everywhere. When made complain to the pool staff were just shrugged off front desk said they would look into it, never saw anyone control or take them out of the pool. If you don't want pee water in your drinks get closed cups, if you don't wish to get your cigarettes went um then don't get in the pool. If you don't want kids next to you chose an adults only hotel.
Restaurants: Buffets and choice of food are amazing. We tried to make a reservation at restaurant where men had to wear long pants coming out of the pool and told we had to change. Staff member never told us we would not be guaranteed to be seated upon returning. We came back 2hrs later to be told the waiting list was full, when asked why weren't we put on the list if we were told to come back were told we were able to be seated then. Asked for manager Juan Carlos which guy with a Gio name tag said it was him asked for manager on top of them referred to Javier. Same guy next day had a different name tag saying Christian! Javier then made rsvp for next day. After waiting 1hr for appetizers received cold food seemed to be on purpose, walked out!
by A verified traveler from ca
Posted Jul 8, 2017
To hot ..AC not cold enough.. foods just ok
A lot of bed bug ..
Recommended
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from Kearney, Mo
Nice family resort with great beach
Posted Jun 28, 2017
Pros: Entertainment and the entertainment staff! The beach and the food. The people work very hard on the hotel and the cleaning!
Cons: Add some luxury to it....nicer towels, shampoo, conditioner, lotion. Be more clear that kids can't be by the bar pool. Excursion people were scammers
Location: Good location, not far from airport.
My husband and I have traveled to Mexico 4 or 5 times now and this was our first trip with our 3 daughters. We went for our oldests graduation gift. The kids LOVED it. There were activities and the activities crew kept them busy from 10am to 11pm if we made it that late! Volleyball, soccer, water polo, karaoke, entertainment was GREAT! Room was blah. Our air didn't work 3 days and we had to argue to convince them but they finally fixed it. Toilet worked sometimes but wasn't easy to flush. NO toiletries so bring EVERYTHING you need. Bed was ok and house keeping did a good job cleaning. They only missed 1 day. Food was good compared to other all inclusives in Mexico but got repetitive after 5 nights. Fridge has Pepsi, diet pepsi, 7 up and water. Lots of water pressure in the shower but the towels are rough, like sand paper. The elevator at our end of the building was broke so we used the stairs. (fine for us and the kids on 3rd floor but our parents had to walk a longer way to an elevator) We had a group of 9 and didn't seem to have too many problems. They still have keys which was weird lol. The beach was great! Soft sand, great waves to play in! Strong at times be careful, they got a phone and 3 pairs of glasses from our group lol. However water is darker on the Caribbean side just not as pretty but a better beach. I was able to run barefoot a few miles! 4 out of 9 of us came home with some sort of virus or something. I will visit a RIU again but not sure about PV yet.
by A verified traveler
Disappointed
Posted Jun 28, 2017Beds were hard, air conditioning worked off and on, pool closed by 8 pm, sodas and beer flat and warm food was ehhh. Cleaning ladies were not on top of everything had to call front desk even for TP cause they wouldn't leave extra roll..would not stay there again..
by A verified traveler from Indiana
Just ok
Posted Jun 25, 2017The food was fine. The beach and pools were fine. The beds are very hard so ask for mattress toppers. We were VERY discriminated against at the special restaurants. We watched locals seated while we waited and we were there first. It was horrible. Kids club really discriminated. I have never experienced anything like that in all my international travels. We will not return to Riu Vallarta ever!
Recommended
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from Washington
Family Trip
Posted Jun 23, 2017
Pros: The decor, the view, the friendly staff, the location, the beach, the weather.
Cons: Bathrooms closer to the beach and pools,better comfortable beds, more supplies, especially bottled water, Expedia including shuttles with hotel fee!
My husband, daughter and I stayed in a Junior Suite for a 9 days.
The view from floor 7 was amazing, the weather hot and humid, the air conditioning worked well, plenty of closet space and the king sized bed was huge.
The staff met all of our needs, they were kind and knew English pretty well, this is an all~inclusive so the food buffets were very busy and the bars as well. The smaller restaurants were much quieter but there were long lines to get in. No one went hungry or thirsty.
There was a different theme every day.
The entertainment was awesome both at the pool and at the Plaza every night.
Problems: The comfort of our beds~very hard with plastic wrap; fold out sofabed had a very small hard mattress pad the springs were protruding; We had to ask for (and highly recommend) a fold out cot which was slightly more comfortable;
We ran out of kleenex , shower soap and toilet paper; not enough in room water bottles~ we were constantly asking the front desk for more;
The RIU does not take US currency, there is a cash machine in the lobby for Pesos;
No beach towels until 10am, had to beg for some the night before an early snorkeling trip;
Not enough pool lounges, had to stake a claim on them early in the morning or sit on hot poolside;
There was not enough bathrooms close to the pool and beach
Expedia does not tell you that if you book directly withbRUI then the HOTEL sends a FREE shuttle to and from the airport for you, but if you book with Expedia YOU pay through the nose.