A group of 4 stayed there during the 1st week of May 2008. I had read many reviews prior to booking the Riu Cancun and really didn’t know what to expect because the reviews were all over the board. I know the Mexican Hotel rating system is on a 6-star scale, but to even call the Riu Cancun a 3-star Hotel would be a stretch, let alone a 5 star.

For reference, I have been to Cancun several times and have stayed at the Following Hotels:
Barcelo Tucancun
Gran Caribe Real
Omni
Fiesta Americana Condesa
Royal Cancun
GR Solaris

Hands down, in my opinion the Riu Cancun was the worst ranked Hotel out of all of them. My overall review is a bit long, but details help when I read other reviews.

We arrived before the scheduled check in and were able to get a room within 20 minutes or so. The Riu Check-in process is something from the 1970’s. They have no computerized system and everything is handled in paper. They give you actual keys for the room and safe, but towel cards for the pool? Have they not heard of Key-Cards? When we checked in, they only had 1 key for us but said we could come back later and get another key, which we did. Ironically the key had an engraved room number that wasn’t our room number, but worked anyways? I am assuming that these keys are inter-changeable and it probably would have worked on the room number that was engraved on it, which is a safety issue for a variety of reasons.

If you are looking for a nice room, the Riu is like staying at a Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy, just your basic room with the aforementioned hard-beds, a small table and 2 chairs and a 13-inch TV that was made in 1990. We did get mattress pads brought up so it made the sleeps tolerable. Our room did have a nice balcony with had a great view of the ‘quiet’ pool and beach. The showers were adequate.

The food was average to above average. If you are accustomed to eating at Flemings, Ruth Cris or other high-end steak and seafood joints, you will be disappointed. The buffets had something for everyone, Italian, Mexican, American, fruits/veggies etc. The breakfasts were good. There should be enough selection for everyone.

The pools looked nice from afar, but were disgustingly dirty, especially the Pool Bar. Seriously, they couldn’t dump enough Chlorine in that pool to kill the urine, bacteria and puke that was swirling around there during my stay. Also, there isn’t such a thing in Mexico with bartenders turning down people who are obviously drunk. Its usually 2 more shots and a beer.

I didn’t pay much attention to the nightly entertainment, but from what I saw it mirrored pretty much what I have seen at other resorts. The Resort does have a ‘Disco’, which actually is a nice alternative to heading out to the local clubs off resort.

The Beach had a nice stretch of sand and calm waters. We spent a good amount of time on the beach as the chairs were plenty. They had a nice beach volleyball court set-up and there was ‘sporadic’ beach service for drinks.

One of the previous reviews called the Riu Cancun an ‘Ash Tray’. I couldn’t agree more with this reviewer. Smoking seemingly is encouraged at this Hotel, and the smokers (seemingly mostly Europeans), don’t show any etiquette when smoking around others and will just ‘flick’ their ashes anywhere and blow smoke in your face. The stench of smoke is everywhere, Lobby, Elevators, bar areas etc. This is quite the opposite direction of the United States where smoking is being banned virtually everywhere.

This hotel is very ‘diverse’ in its clientele. There is a nice mix of Americans, Canadians, British, Italian, Scottish and even some from Mexico. The bad thing is that it appears the Scottish don’t like the British, the British don’t like the Canadians and everyone hates the Americans. I got a sense of ‘standoffishness’ from those counterparts across the pond. It seems they have a dislike of Americans? Perhaps it is because we were the only ones at the Hotel not wearing our favorite Soccer Jersey 24/7?

Lastly, Trip Advisor labels this hotels as the #1 ‘singles’ hotel in Cancun. I couldn’t find that to be true. Our group had a couple of single guys who were looking to meet other singles, but they seemed to be few and far between. Maybe it was a bad week or something, but there were more couples out than on Valentines Day.

(Oh, and I almost forgot……We went over to the Riu Caribe for an afternoon as exchange privileges are allowed there, and this resort seemed to be much nicer. At least it had a more spread-out pool, grounds and the Hotel was placed on more land than that of the Riu Cancun.)

Well I had a great holiday it was my first time to Cancun and my mum decided to sway me from going back to the Dominican Republic. Our first days took me a while to adjust as the heat was hitting me hard. I am a 26 year old female and my mum is 49 going on 39 (shes is young at heart). However on our 3rd day we were greeted by a large group of spring breakers who decided to tell me that I wasnt a problem them taking thier clothes fully off in a pool that is used by children. I called them the spice girls as they all had matching pink bags and often came down with faces full of make-up. I was also told by this group of dissrespectful people that it was ok to act in a drunken way as people with children and that are in families should not come to this hotel as it is all 24hour facilities. I find people like this are rude and to be honest the pink lady brigade had no respect for the hard working people in the hotel and expected people to run around after them collecting thier 24 glasses after drinking constant shots. We then after another day of thier rude behaviour decided to move pools. We sat near Robin and Kay and Jill and Paul who (thanks guys) made me realise that it was my holiday and it should not be wrecked by the spice girls.

The bar staff are sooooo hard working and I feel that if people said please and thank you then it would go along way for the saff also I used to take back large amounts of glasses if we had any as I dont want people to run around after me. The entertainment in the hotel was WKD and It made the holiday( they all need a huge pay increase). The food was the best food I have ever had. The room was always clean. Table staff were great. Trips out of a night time with the animation team were great. I went alone but never felt that way at all. However be warned as I was not given proper water in Daddy Rocks and was very ill when I returned to the hotel. This hotel really only has a few points they are that the pools could be cleaner. The other guests could be more respectful to all the staff and please give tips. I cant wait to go back next year taking more people from England with me. Thanks to all again for making my trip the best ever.

If you would like further information then my e-mail is natalieguille@hotmail.com

We have just returned from a week's stay at the Riu Cancun & wished we had booked another week. The staff were always friendly & prompt, from waiters to maids to front desk. The food was a delight & we never struggled to find something we liked, we ate at both the Japanese & Brazillian restaurants, less impressed with the Brazillian, but the Japenese was a lovely change with good food & nice setting.

The beach is lovely, gets very hot quite early on, but lots of space for everyone. We didn't use the pools but a lot of other people did. There was a nice mix of alcoholic & non alcoholic drinks & no problems with people staggering around worse for wear. I was expecting to be kept awake by other guests stumbling in at 2am, but never heard a peep. Only criticism would be that the hotel seemed prone to power cuts - 3 whilst we were there. They didn't last very long, but glad we were on 4th floor & not higher when the lifts were out.

We would certainly return.

This was my wife's and I fourth stay at the Riu and it was great. We were there a shorter time than usual...May 5-9. The staff was excellent as always. After checking in we went to our room and found out the shower was broken. Decided to go report it to the front desk and went to have a beer. When we were through, we went back to the room and some how within that 20-30 minutes, they had fixed it and we were good to go. Still haven't figured out how they did it so fast!

The food was good as ever, especially the breakfasts! We would get to the beach about 6:30 every morning and watch the sun rise and about an hour later go for breakfast, then back to the beach till around noon and break for lunch and then back to the beach and then around 3 or 4 head back to the room and shower and then head down to La Punta for beer and ritas! Then around 7 is was time for dinner. They had a different theme each night and it was very good food and fun to try new things. We always got our fill!

The beds are hard, but we have no problem sleeping after being in the sun all day. We always ask to be on the top floor and had no issues with the elevators at all. Sure you might have to wait an extra 30 seconds to a minute, but come on...relax, your on vacation!

Being the fourth time there, we didn't do any of the side trips or any of that. We just go to chill and relax and that is what the Riu is so good for. We had no issues at all with drunk kids or rude people. Last year we went over Memorial Day and that is NOT a good idea unless you like rude people and lots of hip hop music blasting from boom boxes. Going this time of year is perfect. Spring breaks are over and families are not on vacation with the little kids. We are in our mid 50's and have raised our children and would rather relax without kids running around.

We tipped even though it is not mandatory, but these people work really hard to make your stay good and a buck or two is deserved by most everyone that works there. They are always taking care of you or cleaning. The hotel is spotless. In our trips there, we have never seen or had any bug issues at all. You are hard pressed to even see a fly and everything is open! We were lucky in that our weather was picture book perfect. Cool nights and sunny days!

We booked through AppleVacations and highly suggest using them. They make it trouble free and easy.