Food was excellent.
Hotel / facilities were average. Ie. rooms had a bad smell, pool paint coming off, service for issues were ignored - example of this - fecis was found in the pool and in took them 3 requests and 1.5 days to react, thats redicuals!!!

We had a fabulous vacation in beautiful Aruba at the Riu. Everything was just how we had read from other travellers reviews. probably more a 4 star resort rather than a 5 star for us.

Don't think it is of 5* caliber

Hotel was nice not sure if the trip was worth $6500 dollars. Hotel was nice, situated on a great beach.

Good, clean, great location. Appreciated the room service twice a day, plus separate mini bar service.

We spent 2 weeks at the resort, the first week was for our wedding and the secod for our honeymoon. The resort was fabulous, staff were very courteous, happy and go out of the way to make you happy. Our wedding was fabulous, everything was taken care of, no worries or issues, it was amazing and the resort did a fantastic job.

Room: the room was spacious and being on the 9th floor we had a terrace with a great view of the sunsets

Food: buffet was great a variety of foods to choose from for even the pickiest of eaters. Nataulis a la carte offers a great steak and lobster dinner it was scrumptious. Krystal restaurant was also good but go to the earlier seating. We didn't try Milano or the japanese restaurant, no time.

Sunbathing; we predominately relaxed on the beach and yes it is windy due to the trade winds for this island so do not let this fool you the sun is hot. Management has changed the rule to those saving the chairs on the beach early morning if you are not occupying the chairs you will find your towels, books, bags at the pool hut.
This should give everyone the opportunity to enjoy the beach.

Staff: the staff is very friendly and accommodating. The staff works very hard and they deserve a tip and to be treated with respect.

The Riu is definitely a resort we would return to.

Loved it... thanks.

great hotel...clean.. friendly staff

We have vacationed at the Riu since it opened. This was our fifth visit. Enjoyed the food, the beach and the overall quality.

Spent a week here with my 12 year old daughter. Both of us have diagnosed celiac disease. Food was very good - staff worked hard to accommodate our issues. Resort was well maintained, clean with a nice (not outstanding) pool and beach. Standard issues can be expected with guests reserving chairs and shaded areas - staff encourage the stupidity of "getting up early to save a seat". While our room was excellent (main middle building), one building was an old hotel with time share rooms that was acquired by Rui. These rooms are bad news - as the Review Title suggests. While the housekeeping and bar fridge was constantly being attended to - the floor cleaning products were aggressively applied leaving behind seemingly toxic residue and fumes at times.

The room was a 2star there was puddy behind the toilet the drain in the shower was rusted and the toilet roll holder kept fallen off also elevator worked some day and 3 days off the week it didn't. Also when you put the sign on the door do not disturb they would disturb and also when we didn't want our room cleaned they would clean it. That was my first time at a Rui and unfortunate it will be my last. We could of complaint but we didn't because everybody pays the same so all room should be well maintained. The foyer also smelled of smoke because the door to the casio was left open

The location is perfect.

Great hotel overall, few things need improvement: room was very noisy, hotel lacked any entertainment/activities for kids, especially in the evenings, there were some bugs every day in the bathroom, probably coming in through the holes from the jacuzzi tub.

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!! Beach out of this world. Shopping fantastic. Food at resort TOP NOTCH - don't even need A La Cartes with that fantastic buffet every night!!!!! Rooms clean! Pool ONLY needs to be heated. Other than that, this WILL be the only resort and island I visit AGAIN!! See you next year Riu!!!

Riu Palace Aruba

This is our 3rd time to Aruba, our second at this hotel. We stayed for 10 days. The island is beautiful, the weather lovely, the people friendly and the hotel outstanding. Everyone at the hotel was helpful and any concerns we had were dealt with quickly and resolved. The food was amazing. I would totally recommend this hotel especially for families. This hotel has the biggest and best pool of all the hotels. We will definetly be returning to the Rui.

Aruba is one island you want to definitely put on your travel list!!!
Beautiful place!!!

Over all, a very nice hotel and it's staff

Having stayed at Riu properties numerous times, this was much as expected. A great property, generally excellent facilities and in this case, food that would be near the top of our list in the Carribean. Great staff, although the Front Desk team are a bit frosty.
Bar hours and locations are not as convenient or desirable as most resorts where we've stayed.
Beds are so hard they're unconfortable. A wonderful beach for swimming, watersports, walking.Lots of other hotels along the beach, but we'd likely choose Riu again on subsequent trips to Aruba.

I have to say it wasn’t a welcoming first hour of my vacation. Front staff would not help you with any request, i.e. extra pillow, water or even which direction our room was. General Manager Lelian Bakens was the rudest woman I have ever encountered in my travels in customer service. She made everyone feel like we were intruding with our “paid" visit. Throughout the week I watched person after person go up and express a concern or complaint and the answer was always "sorry not possible, can’t help, can’t do". I overheard her tell a guest that "if they didn’t like their accommodations, her and her baby could sleep out in the hall way" On the day of departure our flight wasn’t until 9:45pm and we were made to check out at noon (no late check outs allowed) and leave all our luggage in the lobby of the hotel and bring our valuables with us to the beach. They cut off our wrist bands and gave us a 2x2 inch piece of paper to show staff so they will continue to serve us until we left. Wow who does that? Then a whole plane full of people had to go and find showers to use before we left. No store in this hotel. Found that to be strange. We had to go to the Westin Hotel next door for purchases. BTW, no writing pens in this hotel, had to buy one from local market for $3.00. For all the money you spend going there???(I know don’t sweat the small stuff, you’re on holidays...) If you can get past the rotten front desk service the rest is fine!
On the positive side, food, beach and bar service was great!! Beds had the air system so you can pump up or pump down the mattress comfort. Pool needed some work, some tiles falling out, paint missing. Glen (super jacked man) had the best water Zumba classes each day. "Crazy games" were fun. Gym was good. Casino was smoky, not used to that. Entertainment show in the evening was ok the first night but got so repetitive no one was left in the audience each evening after that. The 24hr Sports bar was really fun but had to pay to play pool or fooze ball. No free internet in hotel.
Do the Jeep Tours with De Palm Tours Aruba, ask for Giovanni he was the best! They take you to the Natural Pool, natural bridge, gold mine, first church, and California lighthouse. Nice way to spend the afternoon.
It is an easy and safe walk to shops and restaurant outside the hotel. Quick trip on the bus downtown for $2.50. Really windy island so you don’t notice how hot the sun really is. Bring some serious sunscreen protection. if it rains its only for a few minutes and it goes away. à la carte were all great, especially the Steak house, Nautalis. This is our third trip to a Riu Palace Hotel and found overall it wasn’t as up to par as the Negril Palace in Jamaica.

This was an amazing hotel. Food was excellent, rooms awesome and staff was extremely friendly and helpful. I would highly recommend as our family really enjoyed staying at the Riu.

3 star outdated rooms with many broken or non-functioning parts (Building C)
If you want 5 star book main building (Building A)
THIS SHOULD BE STATED IN ADVERTISING!

We had an amazing time, ARUBA is a Beautiful Island with Beautiful Friendly People... The Riu was superb & didnt disappoint, wonderful staff, wonderful atmosphere & Great food, exceptional through & through cant wait to go again.. Thanks to all of you at the RIU who made it a wonderful vaction for all of us.. Special thantks to FREDDY & MARIA at eh bar, & Valentina at the Pool bar...

this is not the best Riu I ever been to, it is a ok hotel but no where close to 5 stars,for the price that i paid I believe it is not worth it

loved everything about this hotel - the food the staff

Great resort, overall! Very pleased with Aruba. Great beaches, great atmosphere. Very safe and comfortable.
Highly recommended!

Resort is beautiful junior suite was excellent, food is good, service is VERY POOR, all beach and pool chairs are reserved by 7 am. For the size of the resort it is vastly over crowded.10 minute elevator waits are not uncommon.

It started off rough; the check-in process was labour intensive; 1st you check-in to let them know you have arrived, then you check-in at the check-in desk to get our room keys; our were no where to be found. The first few hours were horrible. When we finally got to our room, it smelled of mould and air freshener. We went down to complain and were told that the hotel was "overbooked" and no other rooms were available. I persisted and at 8pm finally got another room. Now we were happy. All around service was excellent.
Grounds were kept very well. Food was outstanding. No top shelf alcohol but it is an all-inclusive so it makes sense. White towels and sheets.
The only thing that would prevent me from going back was the palapa situation; it was 1st come 1st serve in tthe morning and very quickly you realize people cheat and leave their towels and bag on the palapa overnight so it didn't matter what time you woke up, you were NOT getting a palapa. This iwas very stressful and stupid, especially for a 5 star.

This is the best resort that I have ever stayed at...everything was perfect. Totally worth the extra money that we spent.