Riu Palace Costa Rica

We stayed here at the end part of our two week holiday in Costa Rica as part of an organised tour group. We had moved from the quiet and beauty of the rainforests to the Riu Palace hotel. It is an attractive building but only on the outside. Staff at reception were friendly and efficient. At reception we were given our all inclusive wristbands and our son who is 17 was given a blue wristband at check in which meant he could not drink alcohol. Yet in our room was a free whisky and gin and vodka dispenser. Room allocated to us had a huge bed and sofa bed. A bath in the middle of the room which was hopeless as we were travelling with our teenage son. The room was musty and smelled badly. Cheap tired furnishings. But comfortable enough. Air conditioning old and smelly. We were relieved we would only be here for a few nights. It was a quiet hotel until the Friday. Family friendly with accessible restaurants and quiet pools. On Friday 600 people checked in. It became unbearable. Twerking competitions at the swimming pool. YMCA roof dancers. Loud music. Drunken hen parties screaming out U2 songs at 11 pm in the bar. It was dreadful. Huge queues for breakfast and masses and masses of people queuing for food. The noise levels in the restaurants were unbearable. On Sunday they all checked out. Peace and quiet returned. The swimming pools however were thick with greasy sun tan oils and were dirty :-( Pool sunbeds always available even when resort was full. Not all with shade though. Entertainment in evening was amateur at best. Sorry but it wasn’t good at all. The spa was $110 for a 50 minute massage. There was a row of hotel shops nearby. Sun protection cream $42 up to $85 for same product which would cost £11 in UK. Staff work hard in resort especially pool drinks staff who are attentive and friendly. Steak restaurant. Open air. Lots of mosquitoes. Food was average/good. Fusion restaurant. Good. Japanese restaurant ignored food allergy and presented food with allergen. Very dangerous. No apology. Italian restaurant. Soulless. Terrible food. We left without eating. Buffet restaurant. Very good. Beach. Black sand. Quieter than pool at weekends. Would we return. No. Never again. A concrete jungle with some people behaving at their worst.

Can't say enough about the staff. Super friendly, energetic and always extremely helpful in making the day the best it can be! Would really like to hat tip to fantastic pool servers Hernandez and Junior as they made sure we were always taken care of and enjoying ourselves at the pool. Really all of the servers were friendly and always going above and beyond with a smile on their faces. The pool activities crew were fantastic as well, especially Ruben and Freddy. Every day was full of options to enjoy and everyone in the activities crew made sure people were participating and enjoying themselves. Food was always very good and plenty of options were available throughout our week long stay. To top it off My step-sister got married and the planner and photographers Carlos and Raquel were awesome and very dedicated to making sure all moments of this lifetime event were captured to the fullest. Can;t wait to come back!