Riu Lupita - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5048 reviews

• 

  bad let down

  I spent 2 weeks here in June, Rui rate this hotel as 5* it's far from a 5* more like 2 1/2 and that's being generous, the food is absolutely horrid unless you are one of the Mexican weekenders or day trippers that arrive in their droves and constantly filter through the resort, then disappear the next day leaving their reviews of how wonderful this place is. The food here is absolutely horrid, and if your looking for a steak you won't get one here you will however get a 2 inch strip of beef you could nail to the sole of your shoe and get six months wear out of, i actually think this is the only Al hotel that i've been to were i've actually lost weight, this is a buffet affair everything is open and self serve the choice is extremely poor, as is the quality of the food, the al a carte was no better either, the only saving grace was the salad bar and eggs for breakfast which is basically all i ate for two weeks, anything that is edible is snapped up very quickly by the hoards of Mexicans on day trips and is not replenished once it's gone it's gone tough. The rooms don't get any better they are dark and dingy with everything failing to work from waiting four hours for them to change the safe to the tv constantly turning the volume up on its own day and night, open the patio doors and it turns off the air con too, problem here is the room very quickly dispersers condensation and the floor gets extremely wet and slippy as i found out when re entering the room and ended up on my back thankfully my head just missed a table inside the room The service here is practically non existent, you do everything yourself from fetching your food to getting your own drinks, if your lucky one of the uninterested waiters in the main restaurant might serve you a coffee at breakfast. The bar is next to the pool it's completely open it's as hot as hell, and your sipping your heavily watered down drinks with sweat literally pouring out of you, it's like sitting in a sauna, in the two weeks i stayed i don't think i was offered a drink once whilst sitting there and i sat there quite a lot, most of the bar staff are friendly enough you'll get a smile occasionally, but if you want a drink get it yourself. The pool area is okayish but there's a life guard here who is supposed to be watching the pool, he basically spends 95% of his time in the towel hut chatting the women up, and stuffing his face in the restaurant once it opens, he's supposed to be watching for kids in the pool, so keep an eye on your kids because if something does happen he won't be there to help. You won't cool down here either the pool is about 23c the only place to cool down as stated earlier is your room. Which brings me to the cleaner who one afternoon left the door wide open whilst we were out, and coming back to finding the door open and making a call to reception who cut me off 4 times after asking for a manager, who all of a sudden didn't speak english, even after speaking to my wife at the bar for 10 mins earlier in the week, i had high value items in the room after this i decided they couldn't be trusted, and carried everything with me. This hotel has no beach and shares the beach of the Rui palace which is around two mile away the hotel does however provide a bus, but you still have walk about a 1/2 mile to get there, reports were coming back it absolutely stank and was full of seaweed, so in the two weeks we were there we didn't bother, if you wanted to go anywhere else your at the mercy of Mexican taxi drivers who are not regulated for tourists, and will quite happily charge you £30 -£40 for a ten minute ride, nothing is cheap here, expect to be ripped off between £100-£150 each for the excusions .

  Jul 03, 2025
• 

  A nice place to stay

  It was my first time staying at a RIU. As many reviews have stated, the resort is smaller but well kept grounds, clean rooms and staff very friendly. Front desk staff helpful and personable. Taking the bus to the beach is okay, drivers are wonderful and welcoming. It is fast and reliable. The only complaint I would have was the restaurants. The buffet is okay, lots of choices. The ala carte restaurants are poor. I ended up really sick with food poisoning from the Italian restaurant. Didn’t try the Mexican restaurant as I heard over and over it was bad. If you want a nice place to relax then this is the place to go. Shows and entertainment team were amazing. Loved Joanna, Tristan and Jose. They are wonderful along with the rest of the entertainment team

  Jun 18, 2025
• 

  A difficult hotel to rate.

  Riu Lupita is a difficult hotel to rate because it depends on what you like. To me, the beach is the most important thing and the price. I never have expectations about the food or amenities, and for sure I don’t care if the TV works or not. Travel: First week of June 2025 This is a small resort, which for me is great, but if you like mega resorts, this one is not for you. Amenities are limited, so if Gym, Spa, etc are important to you, wrong hotel. The hotel was not at full capacity. If there were more people, it would not have been pleasant. Price: We paid CAD 1,300 for flight, transfer and hotel. If we had waited it could have been CAD 1,100 each and RIU Palace was CAD 1,800 (for reference) Beach: This was my 3rd visit to Playa del Carmen. The sargassum is a down. We were able to get in the ocean the first day and 20 minutes on the last day. I came to the realization that I prefer Cuba with their ok food and any other limitations (less expensive and way better beaches) To get to the beach you must ride a bus (12 minutes). The bus also stops at the entrance of the town. The ride is not a big deal. My problem is that 6 out of 7 days we did the ride to find out we could not swim, either because of the sargassum or red flag. Pools: I don’t like public pools. I have one at my building and I have used it once. The hotel has 3 pools. The main pool is smaller than what you see in the pictures. The best one is the adult or the relaxation one. All pools are heat it, which makes no sense to me. They are clean. Food: Buffet – it is ok to good. You will not go hungry. Sometimes they don’t replenish dishes so if you see something you like, take it. Restaurants – Nothing special. The mediterranean and Mexican were ok. The steak at the beach club was not worth the bus ride. I prefer the buffet for sure. Coffee is good. The room was perfect. Everything works as expected. I like firm beds. Employees were friendly, professional and extremely attentive. Fidelia at the buffet is a sweetheart. But again, all the employees are excellent. People, Tip, just because it is an all inclusive, it doesn’t mean the tips are included. A USD or 20 MXP it is not a lot of money for us. We spend more than that just in coffee here. Note to the hotel: 1. Why have fried plantain for breakfast and never for lunch or dinner? 2. Turn off the heat in the pools. 3. 20 USD/daily bicycle rental? That’s a bit too much I have to insert here a review that has nothing to do with the hotel. Lots of utube videos recommend a restaurant on calle 2nd in town – La Tarraya – Do not go there, it is a tourist trap. I will write a more detailed review on google or trip advisor.

  Jun 18, 2025
• 

  Great value, tons of fun

  We had a great time. It is a small resort, which is great if that’s what you’re looking for. Beach is wonderful, the beach club restaurant and pool are both small but really nice. Spent most of our days at the beach. The beach itself is spectacular but depending on weather could have some seaweed. The resort is compact but laid out very nicely with everything near the pool. We liked both the Mexican and Italian restaurants. Buffet was small but good. Some items are the same but some change very day. They replaced depleted food items very quickly. Room was plain but everything worked great. Bathroom tiles looked new, water pressure was great, TV worked great, minibar and coffee restocked daily. Well they missed one day refilling the fridge but the next day filled it triple. 4 big water bottles every day. Booze dispenser in room with 4 bottles. Staff do tons of activities, the ones I participated in were fun. Silent disco was the best evening entertainment, and the White Party at Tequila was very fun. The tvs in the bar showed NHL playoffs at night for us Canadians. It is small and low budget so there is rarely a server going around, you have to go to bar and get your own drink. And yes you have to take a shuttle to the beach. But if you can accept those small inconveniences this resort is fantastic.

  Jun 14, 2025
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  Fun

  From the moment I arrived I knew we were going to have fun from the tequila shots brought to the check in desk by crazy fernanda to all the fun of the pool party and activities by the wonderful staff these girls and boys work very hard to make this place amazing loved the Mexican raccoons they made the Holliday better only downfall for me was food was very bland but everything else amazing and fun

  Jun 14, 2025