Riu Playacar - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

8566 reviews

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  Playacar

  Had a fabulous 10 days at this hotel, everything was great, food excellent staff could not do enough for you.

  Apr 29, 2025
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  We loved everything!!

  We loved the resort, amenities, staff, food and drinks! The service was top notch and all staff was so friendly and hard working! It was our first Riu stay and we can’t wait to come back!

  Apr 28, 2025
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  Difficult Review.

  I found this to be the most difficult review I have ever done, and for various reasons. I’ll start with the positives….the staff. Without doubt, everyone was excellent. The pools and the beach, also excellent. All 5 star. Next up we have the bars, the staff were great and the cocktail, drink choice superb. Entertainment was ok,with good fun around the pools. The food was, for us average. Breakfast had a great choice of eggs and other items although some things were poor, like the sausages. The omelettes, cooked fresh, were superb. Fresh fruit, cakes and croissants, yoghurts and jams, nice breads and toast machines. The snack bar at the pools was ok, with the burgers not too bad. The real downside was lunch and dinner, and also the a la crate restaurants. The salad selection was great, but everything else was lukewarm. I had steak which was like the sole of my shoe, I couldn’t eat it. The fish was lukewarm, noodles, curry, dim sum etc etc all lukewarm. I could go on, it was very disappointing. To cap it all, we both suffered from Montezumas Revenge after eating at the Asian restaurant. Now the real negative (initially), which was the room. We were allocated room 8113, and first impressions was it wasn’t too bad, a little dated but ok. As we had arrived after a ten hour flight, we didn’t hang around, but had a quick shower and out. Went to bed, where my wife said the bed didn’t feel right. We were so tired we went to sleep anyway. The next day, we went back for a nap and my wife again said something wasn’t right and checked the mattress……it was covered, and I mean covered, in black mould, all the way around. It was disgusting. We went to reception, I spoke to the manager who said he would get it changed. I asked for another room as we did not want to stay in that one. The staff were, at this point, excellent and allocated us 8314, which was fine. Now, it would have been impossible to miss this mould if you had stripped and changed the bedding so why wasn’t it removed prior to our arrival? I emailed both RIU and TUI to complain when I got home. RIU basically said sorry, but your issue is with TUI as your agent. Fair enough, but TUI doesn’t clean and check the rooms. TUI asked what I would like from my complaint to which I said, that no one else should have to have a room like that, which was essentially a health hazard. One other thing to note, is that we went to the RIU Tequila for the neon party which was fun, however, we had our faces painted with neon paint and the next morning my wife’s face had blistered where the paint had been (it did sting when on fresh) but my face was ok. So if you have sensitive skin, maybe avoid the face paint. Like I said at the start, it was very difficult to rate the hotel. Room 8113 0/5 Room 8314 4/5 Pool and Beach 5/5 Staff 5/5 Food 2.5/5 Bars 4/5 So, I think 3/5 is just about right for our stay. We did do Chichén Itzá and cenote, which are well worth the trip.

  Apr 27, 2025
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  The best entertainment team

  Had an absolute blast with my fiancé in this hotel. Angel and Sexy Billy from the entertainment team made our stay even better ! The pool bar with the beach right in front is a must. Highly recommended! Plus, they gave us a free upgrade for an ocean view room. Will be back for sure !

  Apr 25, 2025
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  Lovely Holiday and Hotel

  My wife and I spent two weeks at this resort, our first time at a Rui hotel and first time in Playacar/ Playa Del Carmen. We had a very relaxing time and would strongly recommend this resort. It is one of the smaller resports from Riu which we actually preferred as it was never jam packed with people and easy to get around, i.e. you can walk from the reception to the beach in 2 minutes. We did visit the two sister properties, namely Yukatan and Tequila but preferred Riu Playacar. Lots of reviews say how amazing the staff are and they certainly work so hard in all departments, but notable in the restaurants and housekeeping. A special call out to Carlos one of the waiting staff at breakfast and lunch who was so friendly and attentive and friendly. We did find the bar staff in the lobby bar to be less friendly and chatty but they were always efficient as was all staff we met. We did tip regularly and our room cleaner Yovani was so grateful a very nice young man and room was always cleaned by 10am. The beach was lovely, so warm but on occassion the sea was rough and red flag out. The Sargassum sea weed was not too bad, and the guys were out every morning collecting it and kept in under control as much as possible. We enjoyed the pools and didn't have to get up at 6am to secure a decent sunbed albeit late morning it was harder to find one with shade or umbrella. The room was kept spotless, albeit the decor is a little dated and the shower light was so dim it was almosy like showering in the dark! We ate in all the restaurants, our favourite was the Italian restaurant, which we visited several times for both lunch and dinner. The steakhouse was our least favourite as my steak was very fatty, served with about 4-5 wedges and the Salmon was very dry, clearly been under the light for too long the starters were meant to be chicken cesear salad but no chicken in sight just lettuce and dressing!. Overall there are plently of food options for everyone, but depending on the time of day the hot food in the buffet could be a be tepid and dry, but you expect that with buffets. The evening entertainment was a bit mixed and at times a bit amateurish but it was fun and the singers were good. The Abba evening was great and we won the Abba quiz night which was a nice surprise to get a bottle of Tequila! So overall a lovely resort. We travelled with TUI from Birmingham and upgraded to Premium which was our first time and we did not regret it it was way more confortable than economy IOO. We generally do not return to the same property, just because we like to try different locations and hotels, but if we do go back to Playacar we would definitely stay at this Riu hotel.

  Apr 23, 2025