Riu Palace Aruba - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9389 reviews

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  The Never Ending Battle for Clean Towels

  The first two days, our room didn’t get cleaned at all, which wasn’t a great start. I went down to the front desk to talk to them about it. They sent the housekeeping manager up, who personally cleaned the room and said we wouldn’t have any problems going forward. The next 6 days, the room did get cleaned, as promised, but every single day, housekeeping took every single towel we had (including hanging ones) and left us no clean towels. So we would come back in the late afternoon from the beach or pool or excursion, ready to take a shower and have no bath towels, no hand towels, and no washcloths. There is an app (more on that below) that you can request things through, which we did. Some days they would bring the right amount, other days more or less than needed. One day, they delivered twice after requesting, so I started building a secret backlog in the closet. It was by far the most bizarre experience I’ve ever had in any hotel in the world. The room (and hotel) itself is tired and dated. It should have been renovated 10 years ago, but it gives the energy that they are trying to squeeze every last minute they can out of it. It sounds like the main building is being renovated next year, and it’s very needed. The room itself had an unpleasant smell of mildew and strong cleaning product (probably to try and cover up the mildew). Everything in the room shows its age. The towel rack is falling out of the wall. Paint and tiles are chipping and peeling in multiple locations. The shower door doesn’t close all the way because the hinge is falling out of the wall. The first day, we have a TP holder. The 2nd day it disappeared, and we never saw it again. Housekeeping just stacked TP on the back of the toilet instead. The hair dryer only worked in 10-15 second increments. We called the desk about that one, and the next time we returned to the room, they had removed the hair dryer from the wall and left the exposed (and I assume live) wires just hanging out of the wall. The room has one of those things where you have to put your key in to make the power work. One day, the front cover just fell off, leaving that wiring exposed too. Room keys frequently stopped working, and we had to go to the desk to get them recoded. Everywhere on the property is loud. In the room, the AC unit is on it’s last legs and rumbles all night. Earplugs were key here. One of the other buildings was under renovation, so all day by the pool, the construction noise was present. The buffet has bad acoustics, making it hard to hear to begin with, but some nights there was also live music, making conversation impossible. Outdoor live music is played right below the rooms every night until about 11pm. The main building has 2 very small, very slow elevators. Take the stairs when you can, or budget extra time to get up or downstairs. The pool is nice, but it has almost zero shade, both in the pool and on the deck. The pool umbrellas are made of mesh, so they let most of the sun and UV through. The beach umbrellas are solid and much better. One upside of the renovations is that the property was not at full capacity, making it somewhat easier to get pool chairs or into the restaurants. (I think if it were at 100%, these things would both be a problem) The staff is very friendly, but doesn’t seem to be properly allocated. When sitting by the pool, someone will ask you if you need a drink approximately every 3 minutes. I’d prefer that happen less often and the room get cleaned instead. Brenda at the excursions desk was exceptionally helpful, as was Jean at the front desk. The food was what you expect from an all-inclusive, adequate, but not amazing. There are a few different restaurants besides the buffet, but they are only open on certain days, so plan accordingly. They are all first-come, first-served. Room service is available 24 hours, but the menu is very limited. There are also 24-hour snacks in the sports bar, which is sort of hidden off the main bar in the lobby. The room has a minibar, which was only refilled sporadically, but items can be requested via the app. The app itself it hot garbage. Every time you try to do anything, it logs you out and you have to start from the beginning. Once you actually get the request submitted though, things are resolved fairly quickly. The wifi coverage is spotty and frequently disconnects. You’re allowed 4 devices per room, but sometimes when you reconnect, it counts the same device twice and then tells you you’re out of connections. At one point, they had to bring the head of IT down to completely reset our account. All in all, Aruba is great, but this hotel is meh. I definitely wouldn’t stay here again, but hopefully the renovations will give this place the new life it badly needs.

  Aug 26, 2025
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  Horrible experience

  My family and I stayed from Aug 19 to Aug 25. You would expect that you will have a very relaxing week, but it turns out to be very stressful. Our keys were not working we were at the lobby till 2 am of Aug 22. The elevators were not working A/C were not working,no hot water. Please stay away at this hotel. If you are already booked please cancel it . It would be the best decision you will make instead of staying at this hotel/

  Aug 26, 2025
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  NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT IT USED TO BE

  We have stayed at this resort in the past and have always enjoyed our stay. This time was not the same. It was brutal! The staff are wonderful but you can tell they are not happy. Clear sign of poor management. The hotel is very run down and they are going through a renovation, but it is obvious the planning of the construction is poorly managed. The quality of the food and offerings are sub par for what you pay for, we ate out 5 nights out of the seven we were there. The animation team is almost non existent and do not engage at all. Overall not what it used to be and management should make themselves more visible especially during renovations and engage a little more with the people that are spending 5 star prices for a 2 star experience. As i mentioned the staff is wonderful, but the management should all be replaced.

  Aug 25, 2025
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  Disappointing Stay – Not Worth the Price

  I stayed at RIU Palace Aruba during the week of August 16 and was very disappointed with the overall experience — especially considering the price and the resort’s advertised standards. To start with, the rooms were extremely outdated, with a musty, unpleasant smell. Even worse, we encountered cockroaches in both the bathroom and bedroom multiple times during our stay, which is completely unacceptable for any hotel, let alone one labeled as a luxury resort. The lack of washroom and food options near the beach was another major issue. Every time we needed something, we had to walk all the way back to the main building — which became frustrating quickly. The pool area was understaffed, leading to long wait times and poor service. Getting towels, drinks, or even help with simple requests often took far too long. The food quality was below average, and one of the most concerning things was the mislabeling of vegetarian and vegan food items. Several times, foods labeled as vegetarian actually contained meat or animal products. For people who follow a strict vegetarian or vegan diet — especially for religious or ethical reasons — this is completely unacceptable and shows a serious lack of attention and care. Overall, RIU Palace Aruba did not meet basic expectations for comfort, hygiene, food quality, or service. I would not recommend this resort, especially to vegetarians, vegans, or anyone expecting a high-quality all-inclusive experience.

  Aug 24, 2025
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  Worst experience - please don’t go !

  Hello , I stayed their for 3 days , I saw guests were upset for house keeping , air conditions not working , lack of response from front staff , they will give you sweet sugar pill and than they forget about you ! Please save your money , please !

  Aug 24, 2025