Riu Guanacaste - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10741 reviews

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  Nicely Renovated but That’s It….

  I was embarrassed that I chose to bring my partner to this hotel to celebrate his 50th birthday. He is a Riu Elite Member and stated that this is the worst location that he has stayed at in all his years of traveling. I had to ask for a welcome drink and never received it. Our hotel room had a foul sewage smell the entire time that we were there. The body wash and hand soap was empty when we arrived and on one of the evenings our water was shut off and maintenance had to come to turn it back on. On another evening, the water was ice cold and we had to wait to take a shower. The room was renovated and the swim up suite was nice. The alcohol at the swim up bar (bottom shelf / unknown) was not the same selection as the lobby bar (upper shelf/ not top shelf but better than the swim up bars). The bartenders were nice and poured a better drink when we tipped. They should have the same alcohol selection throughout the hotel. There wasn’t an omelette station or mimosas at the restaurants which is standard at other Riu hotels. The food was not labeled at many of the restaurants so we and other guests were asking each other and the staff what the food was. The bacon was undercooked to the point that it looked raw. The lack of a coordinated system to make a reservation at the specialty restaurants was extremely disappointing. We watched guests line up 1-2 hours before the restaurants opened just to be able to dine. This is not a good way for guests to spend their vacation time. The only positive thing that I can say is that the chef Hosea De La Cruz at Papagayo went in the back to get some fresh turkey that was not on the same plate as the salami when I told him that I don’t eat pork. Overall, this was a disappointing experience and I wish that I would have chosen another Riu to take my partner to celebrate his milestone birthday. Although the renovations in the rooms are great and the property is well maintained, they need to make some serious changes and do better in many other areas:-(

  Feb 09, 2026
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  Hotel Riu Guancaste

  The hotel is recently remodeled and the upgrades are very nicely done. I am giving 3 stars due to the lack of food selection, the water pressure in bathroom for shower. The food at the main buffet restarunt was generally very good. But, refilling of stations not so good. Desserts and fruits were not restocked, the food that was labeled was labeled wrong, the buffet needs help to make it worth it. Thier speciality restarunts were subpar. The japanese, mexican, and italian resarunts were all buffet style and should not be labeled speciality or have ppl line up to get in. The steakhouse wss not opened daily which if that is the only sit down speciality restarunt offering it should be open daily. The menus online do not match what is offered at the speviciality restarunts and were very underwhelming. They did offer a 24 hour sit down restarunts with hamburgs, hot dogs, chicken wings, and pasta salad. A little variery in the offerings would be nice as you can get all that food at main buffet. The good things about hotel are the pools which are really nice, the pool bar offered a nice selection of drinks, the rooms were clean and housekeeping staff were friendly and did great job cleaning rooms, bringing fresh towels, and chsnging bedding on request. The fridge was not restocked with soda during our six day stay which it would have been nice to have soda and water restocked. Hotel is on beach and there was always plenty of chairs and space to sit. Views from beach were beautiful. The hotel is newly remodeled and has a lot of potential but after staying there 6 days, I would opt to try different location as I feel the attention to detail is not there and the resort in general is underwhelmimg due to lack of food options to inckude speciality sit down dining, replenishing food at the main buffet and speciality restatunts, water pressure in bathroom, and the limited activities and/or shows offered in the evening.

  Feb 09, 2026
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  Take the trip

  Had such a great trip! The resort is huge, nearly the size if a small city. If you forget something they have shops to get it. The waterslides are so much fun! If you are planning on going to a restaurant it is first come first serve, so plan ahead. We chose to stick to the buffet so that we could stay on our own schedule. The rooms are super clean. The housekeeping did a great job, however we did have to ask for extra towels. They fill up the beverages every other day so if you need something more often make sure to submit a request. All of the staff was really friendly overall and answered our questions. The entertainment is top notch, as always with RIU. This was, however, our first (and last) experience at a resort with kids. We really wanted to stay in Costa Rica and RIU did not offer an adult only resort. We knew ahead of time that it allowed children,however, I would not recommend going to this resort if you want to avoid kids. There are a lot of adult options, for example, the disco after 11 PM and the tours. We also did not see kids on the beach and there are two adult pools. But they have quiet hours after 11 PM and RIU party was pretty odd because children were allowed until 11 PM. These are just my personal preferences though and not anything the resort did. I loved my stay, it was full of beautiful sunsets and amazing memories! Take the trip!

  Feb 07, 2026
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  Riu Guanacaste – honest review (good & bad)

  The resort looks nice, but that’s about it. Staff were mostly unfriendly (except bartenders). On day one we left $5 for housekeeping—money was taken and the room wasn’t cleaned at all (no bed made, no towels, no trash, no fridge refill). When they finally came, after we had to go let the front desk know what had took place, they took our extra key card. After that, we kept the do-not-disturb sign on because we didn’t trust anyone in the room. Service was frustrating—any included item required tracking someone down and usually came with attitude. Cleanliness was far below the other two RIUs we’ve stayed at. There are also long gaps where food isn’t available. We missed our prepaid airport transfer because our key card stopped working and we had to run back to the desk to get in our room for our bags. The shuttle (NEXUS) left without trying to wait, and we had to pay a lot for a new ride. The fire alarm also went off with zero explanation. The good: Locals on the beach are friendly and not pushy, evening shows are great, tide pools are beautiful, and the coffee was good. We did a tour with 2 Amigos Adventures to Rincón de la Vieja (booked on the beach, not through the hotel) and it was amazing. We chose RIU because our past experiences were great, but this one was a big disappointment. We’re in our early 30s and travel a lot—if this is the standard now, we’ll be choosing a different chain next time.

  Feb 06, 2026
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  Nice pools, clean rooms and grounds, but noisy restaurants.

  Good value, good food, but restaurants are in dire need of sound-deadening materials. The free water was a bonus in the fridge, especially as the signage in the bathroom described the clean-looking water as not-potable. As we checked out, we discovered our pair of scissors was missing from our bathroom (we didn't think it was necessary to place THAT in the safe).

  Feb 04, 2026