Hotel Riu Touareg

Another sickness review. At present TUI are still totally misrepresenting the number of people who’ve been sick during their stays here. But literally every other guest we’ve spoken to has been ill. Our return flight was greeted by three ambulances and masked paramedics at Manchester. And sickness was the subject on everyone’s lips on said flight. Yes this is a review of the hotel but also of the operator, TUI, who own a 49% share of Riu hotels, and therefore have a vested interested in maintaining a false impression that this hotel warrants its five star rating, and who I believe are negligent for still sending people here and continually denying there is a serious problem with sickness at the hotel. The hotel - this is not a five star hotel. 3 star at best. The rooms are very basic and verging on shoddy (beds falling apart, drawers and furniture in disrepair etc). We were in block five which is convenient for proximity to amenities. The food - first impressions were ok, but actually a lot of the food is only lukewarm and occasionally, raw. On closer inspection there is a lot of cross contamination going on behind the cooking lines with chefs using red knives to cut cooked meats (my partner is a chef and made me aware of this) and handling raw and cooked foods without changing gloves and after spending time using their mobile devices etc. That’s not to mention the way the food is handled by guests. Initially there seemed to be nobody changing the shared serving utensils in the restaurants but after a few days, and with more and more people becoming ill, this was visibly being done as well as the restaurant entrances all being closed to maintain a single point of entry where everyone was sprayed with anti bac gel upon entering. Too little too late. I could barely eat anyway, but the restaurants absolutely turned my stomach by the midpoint of the holiday. The pools - the main pool is absolutely disgusting - avoid. People were so ill they were defecating and vomiting in it and they are not chlorinated. Again towards the end of the holiday we saw slightly more maintenance around the pool area but too little too late. We saw people simply skimming scum from the tops of the pools but no real deep cleaning at all. An absolute haven for bacteria. The staff - most of the core staff are pleasant enough. Whilst there one evening we witnessed a lady faint near the self service area in the lobby. Staff members were attempting to drag her to a less visible area and stated that ‘she was in the way’. I have only basic first aid but felt the need to intervene as they were dragging a semi conscious older woman quite roughly, which I did quite vocally and luckily others did too, including a doctor on his own holiday. But I found it very frightening the way in which staff members dealt with this situation. There was no concern or care. An on site doctor is available at a minimum charge of €60 to get through the door. It’s my belief that this has become a revenue stream for the hotel as the doctor was absolutely inundated with sick people while we were there. If I were a parent I’d be very wary of taking children anywhere near the Cape Verde islands as there is no health care and barely any infrastructure at all, and if anything serious happened it’s an airlift to the canaries to nearest hospital. A couple of positives - the beach is beautiful but the Sea is red flagged and very dangerous so there is no swimming here. Also the infinity pool area is quite pleasant compared to the main pool which is disgusting. And the cats, lovely friendly clean animals made an absolutely nightmarish experience slightly more tolerable.

We booked the adult only section , when we arrived after a very plesent journey with tui we was greeted by our taxi which only cost 30 euros , got us to the hotel at least a hr before the coach. Our suitcases only took 10 mins to arrive at our block , block 4 , we was one of the lucky ones our bathroom was enclosed with the wardrobe in the bedroom , the adult pool I found to be very crowded by late morning so you could not swim in it you could walk up and down but you had to be watching where people was . The beach I thought was not as stunning as it was made out to be , the amount of people who compared it to the carribean all I can say is don’t be fooled, the carribean is hell of a lot better. This holiday was actually more then going to Jamaica. Apart from the adult only restaurant all the others are buffet service so you might as well eat in the main restaurant l didn’t find the shops to expensive unless you wanted sweets. The mini bar was restocked every day our maid was lovely. The adult bar in the evenings was really nice you could listen to the waves while having a glass of Prosecco. Do wish people would use the hand sanitizers loads of people never bothered and it was not forced on to you. Did see one couple who slept 3very night on the sun loungers just so they got those beds in the morning bit pathetic really. The staff was amazing and this was the saving grace of this hotel, it’s supposed to be a 5 star I would give it 3.5 main let down was not enough toilets no room service no iron , would I go back the answer is no, been to 2 different Cape Verde islands now much prefer Sal, I did find 2 weeks to long , I loved the cats they don’t bother you unless you encourage them .

We returned from this hotel on 30th September and quite honestly we couldn’t wait to get home. The hotel is the 2nd largest RIU in the world (which the rep told us on the transfer from the airport) and is quite literally huge – ok we knew that it was big before we went (1151 rooms) but you only actually realise just how big it is when you get there. The official rating of 5 stars is a nonsense and for TUI to categorise it as ‘platinum’ beggars belief. We stayed at the RIU Palace Tres Islas in Fuerteventura in June which is a 4 star and is beautiful with superb food and service and we expected a 5 star to be even better – how wrong can you be! To say it warrants 3 stars doesn’t do justice to 3 star hotels around the world. I have two main complaints about this holiday which it is my intention to pursue: - My wife became ill with sickness and diarrhoea 6 days into our 2 week stay and from then on she spent 95% of the remainder of the trip either in bed, on the loo or in the room and I was keeping her company. To say that this ruined our holiday is an understatement. She consulted the on-site doctor who diagnosed gastro-enteritis and charged us 120 euros for the privilege. The hygiene standards at this hotel are poor to say the least with cats wandering in and out of restaurants and flies everywhere. The food was undercooked, the non- cooked food was uncovered and some of the food was served un-cooked e.g. salmon chunks. The same food was served for lunchtime and dinner e.g. soup and newly cooked food was added to existing food on the buffet. Most of the food was either lukewarm or undercooked and on one occasion my wife found raw fish in a supposedly cooked dish. We are aware that a number of people were ill with stomach upsets and having reported my wife’s illness to a TUI rep she replied that she wasn’t aware that there was a problem, despite countless people visiting the doctor with the same complaint. I would urge anyone with similar symptoms, some of whom have already posted their views on this site, to contact me, as I am currently liasing with a recognised law firm with regards to instigating a claim – the more people who complain the more likely we will win. My second issue is the state of the sea at this ‘beach side resort’ – 14 days with red flags and not being able to swim in the sea in the tropics. I spoke to one of the lifeguards who informed me that he couldn’t remember when there was a green flag. Shortly before we travelled we received an email from TUI saying that the proposed water sports centre was not being developed due to the nature of the sea at the resort but there was no mention that the sea was unsuitable for swimming and I believe that TUI are guilty of misrepresentation by omission. When I mentioned this to a TUI rep she said that if they published the problems with the sea nobody would come and the hotel would probably close. This is part of the claim which I intend to pursue. To the hotel ‘on-line reputation manager’ – don’t bother with trying to justify or indeed pacify me with your banal comments – get your act together at your hotel, bite the bullet, accept that your hotel has a major problem and provide a ‘5 star’ service serving hygienic food and get rid of the cats. You might have a cats’ café but they’re bright enough to know that getting chunks of fish and meat in the restaurants is better than the food you put out for them. To all guests who have been or are still ill, PLEASE contact me.