Riu Vallarta

It was my first time at Riu. We booked 7 days package. My expectation for food were low. But it was still very disappointing. Staff was racist towards black and brown ethnicities. All liquor counters were swarming with bees. My friends got stung a few times. We booked scuba diving through people in the hotel at higher prices then buying it online, but even still it was a horrible experience as the trainers or expert divers provided us with almost no training and were dropped in the ocean. So it was hard to enjoy the experiences as you are just trying to stay alive and breath. [Details]

We felt very welcomed, was a beautiful hotel to spend our time at. [Details]

Great food, service and activities. We will be back again! No reservations for dinning. Lost of evening entertainment starting from 6pm. The entertainment was great! [Details]

Staff always made me feel important, special gave fantastic service with a smile, service was impeccable! Would have enjoyed more adult activities. The rooms had only 2 channels (sports, TSN) in English, very frustrating for a 5 star resort serving mostly Americans and Canadians. With not much to do in evenings it would have been nice to enjoy a movie at night. [Details]

Good clean hotel ,friendly staff especially Daniel at the main restaurant and jannette at the sports bar, plenty of pools we did not use ,spent our time at beach ,only downside of this was all the people trying to sell you stuff [Details]

The hotel is in need of upgrades. The beds and pillows are very uncomfortable and the sheets are threadbare.
There needs to be someone to stop serving people who are overly drunk and obnoxious. [Details]

I really love the layout and decor of the lobby very tastefully done. I didn't feel like I was in a disco tech like Riu Jalisco. Riu Vallarta looked way more classy. Now to the Service, that was an easy 10 out of 10. The staff moved mountains to make our stay perfect. [Details]

It's been 16 years since we were last here, so there have been numerous renovations. The hotel is now wheelchair accessible which is awesome. They also now have 4 pools which are great! You can choose which pool you want to hang out at based on your planned activities, and you can usually find a chair by one of the pools. If not, the beach is huge with lots of chairs as well.
We have always enjoyed the food at the RIUs, and this did not disappoint. Even a picky eater should be able to find something in vast array of food choices - they even have vegetarian dishes.
When they noticed the main pool bar was constantly busy (you line up for drinks), they added a pop up bar near our pool, so that was awesome!
We are planning our next trip already. [Details]

First time staying at a Riu hotel, and it won't be the last! The hotel is beautiful and offers something for everyone - multiple restaurants and 1 buffet to choose from for food, 4 pools plus beach front for relaxing and partying!
Very friendly staff all around the hotel - from room cleaning, to morning coffee, grounds cleaning staff, restaurant staff, bartenders - ALL are friendly and helpful. This makes the experience so great. Travelers at the hotel come from all over the world - Canada, USA, UK - it is great to meet so many wonderful fellow travelers. [Details]

I was extremley impressed with everything about this hotel
The beauty the cleanliness of the hotel all the staff were amaxing friendly and helpful my room was beautiful with an ocean view
The grounds are very well kept and the food at the Buffet was amazing
I was very impressed with everything about this hotel and I will definitely be booking another stay at the Rui Vallaltra in the near future [Details]

Stayed at Riu 3rd week of November this year. Riu resorts are pretty decent and they have good food and beverages,clean rooms and friendly staffs. The resort is located in a beautiful location near the beach. Water was exceptionally warm this time. The only improvement I might have even brought up before is their gym facility! It need to be a bit larger space and more equipments. One of the cable machine was broken and needed repair. It was left like for the 7 days I was there. Anyway! There is lot do! Enjoy your time if you ever go there! [Details]

Check in was fast and room was well prepared and stocked with items needed, staff were very welcoming and efficient and all went smoothly.
No lineups for elevators, overall easy check in with no problems. Not having to make reservations to special dining rooms was a bonus and the food and staff were first class as were clean up crews. Beach access was easy, lots of loungers and sun and shade areas were good and nightly entertainment was also fair. [Details]

A great resort with pretty much everything you would expect from a 5-star hotel. The only thing that we didn't like was their a la carte restaurant reservation system, or lack thereof, to be precise. We did ask about it during checking-in and were told by a front desk employee that there is no need to book a restaurant for a certain date/time, and that we just need "to go there" in order to be seated. Well, when we tried that, we were not let in by ANY of the three restaurants because they were fully booked. Needless to say, we never made another attempt as we considered this ridiculous for a resort of such level. Other than that, everything was perfect, and yes, we would come again. [Details]

It was pretty good. [Details]

Enjoyed our stay at this property. Wide variety of food. The rooms were great and very clean. The Sports bar had the best bar tenders and offered 24 hour snacks. Lots of activities offered at the resort. Adult only swim up bar pool area was great and it was well monitored. The Friday night RIU party at the RIU Jalisco was included and so much fun. I highly recommend this resort. [Details]

Overall great experience. The hospitality at the hotel was among the best I have experienced. [Details]

Unfortunately after being a loyal RIU customer for years this trip has turned us away from going back again. The staff that have been there for a long time are excellent but the new ones and management are more concerned about money than their customers. [Details]

Great service, the staff is helpful, accommodating and friendly, the food is excellent, great entertainment and the resort is clean. [Details]

Spent a week at end of March 23. Nice property with views -even from the partial views. Good food and good variety. Clean and well kept property.
Staff was helpfull and friendly. [Details]

Overall, a wonderful stay. Smokers on the beach who ignore the smoking area were annoying the last couple of days. It was easier to get a chair at the beach than the pool. Beach was lovely. Sandy, wide, could walk for miles. Specialty restaurants weren't anything to write home about but the buffet was great. Rooms were nice and dark which made it easy to get a fantastic nights sleep. [Details]

The hotel and the staff were wonderful. We did have 2 complaints about the place. Our mattress was not great. It is likely time to get new ones. Also the Al LaCarte meals were difficult to get into. It would be nice to be able to make reservations. [Details]

Absolutely fabulous stay at the Riu Vallarta. The pools, beach areas are fantastic. There were lots of meal choices both in the specialty restaurants and buffet. Enjoyed the salad and fruit selections.
The room was adequate and clean. The staff in all areas of the resort were friendly, so accommodating in making our stay a pleasant one.
Lots of beach area for walking.
Will definitely return. [Details]

My wife, Heather and I both enjoyed our stay at the Riu Vallarta - we felt that the food was good (but repetitive for the second week) and all staff were very polite and courteous. After a couple of days our waitress (Blanca) knew us and brought our drink orders to our table just about before we could sit down. The bar staff were always quick and served us promptly. We both are impressed with the cleanliness of the resort. It seemed that there were more people from the Riu Jalisco in the swim-up bar than Vallarta customers (NOT GOOD). [Details]

Hotel and employees were very considerate and helpful and spoke english
Resort was extremely clean and the food was excellent as well as the small restaurants.Our weather was perfect
Highly recommended for everybody we went in November was fantastic
This was the first visit to a Riu resort
We will go again!! [Details]

Staff were great, from cleaning to Management,
Had a problem with the safe one evening, waited until 9:00 am the next morning. There was not a manager on that night that could rekey the safe. There should be a staff or management person on 24 hours for this specific problem. What if there was medication stored in the safe, no one there to open it . I gather they would call a member back in, but there would still be a waiting period.
Entertainment is not all that great. But I have found this at most of the resorts. The band in the afternoon were great, the band in the evening were great, but I find the other times its just a costume change with the same dance moves.
The pools, there should be an adults only (see weak points).
Food was good some days and others okay. I heard a lot of people saying some nights they couldn't find anything they liked to eat. It would be nice if the prawns came shelled and out of their body. The salad pieces cut smaller, specially at the Steak House. Breakfast, nothing bad, always something tasty.
There should be a roped off area where the beach vendors are not allowed on the property. No roped off area, afraid to have something stolen from your bag, so you always feel you should leave someone behind to watch over personal stuff.
With the above said, I will continue to spend my relaxing vacations at a RIU! [Details]

Hotel and employees were very considersate and helpful and spoke english
Resort was extremely clean and the food was excellant as well as the small restaurants.
Highly recommended
This was out third visit to a Riu resort
We will go again!! [Details]

We had been here 2 years ago and had enjoyed ourselves so we returned this year. Things were as beautiful as ever. Check in was smooth and we were put in a beautiful Oceanview room. There was a bottle of sparkling wine waiting for us as well.
Our weather was perfect. The food in the a'la carte restaurants was all delicious but did feel more rushed than we would have preferred. The buffet always had something that would appeal to most. The new Riu app which let you see the menus in advance was great. It also let you do many other things about room supplies or concerns.
The Covid procedure was not a quick endeavor but it was easy with them doing it right in-house.
There seemed to be lots of chairs and the lineups for drinks always moved quickly.
Shows were all well done.
Loved the games at night could do a night of this!! [Details]

I stayed at RIU Vallarta one week Nov 28-Dec 5 and I enjoyed it very much. The hotel was recently renovated, everything was updated, rooms look very nice and everything is so clean.
The service as always excellent, the staff would go far and beyond to accommodate you. Food is very good.
After staying in RV I can't go anywhere else.
Thank you all RV staff and see you soon again. [Details]

Resort was good, clean, staff friendly and helpful. We enjoyed Abad one of the bartenders at resort his friendly attitude and nice guy. Recommend this resort [Details]

This is the noisiest hotel! All the surfaces are hard and sound bounces around. It is impossible to have a conversation in the public areas including restaurants because of this, and if your room faces the pool and theatre area, you will have to tolerate loud music every night until 11pm or later.
Drinks here are not very good - the wine and the coffee are mostly undrinkable. If you want a Caesar, make sure you specify to the bartender to make it with clamato juice, or else they will use V8.
The hotel has rules, and they will not bend them. Check in is at 3pm, no earlier, and if you want to switch rooms due to the aforementioned noise issue, you will have to check out of your room by 11 am, then wait until 3 pm to check into your new room.
Dinner in the specialty restaurants is at two seatings: 6:30 and 8:00. They will not seat you in between those times, even if the place is half empty. They will not take reservations, even for large groups.
Entertainment is not very good - there is a large indoor/outdoor theatre, but the sound is terribly distorted.
It is difficult to feel like a valued guest at this hotel - I would recommend a smaller place. [Details]