Hotel Riu Palace Punta Cana - All Inclusive

The property is beautiful. Very friendly staff! I reserved a Jr Suite, it's a no-frills kind of room. It was two single beds pushed together. When the shower ran, water would leak down the floor and flow toward the toilet. The sink area where the towels were was clearly water-damaged. Food options were good but often long wait times for restaurants.

This was the best experience I have ever had from arriving service to check in. The staff took care of everything made for a very smooth welcoming. I wish I could thank everyone who went beyond basic service. House keeping,pool service,pool bar,dinner staff at buffet,customer service in lobby,coffee service at lobby bar and general cleanliness of resort was way above what was expected. The whole staff including management staff did a superior effort to know what routine I had and always were ready to help. I am looking forward to probably going back there next March because of the EXCELLENT personal attention to detail. Thank you very much.

everything about the hotel was excellent except the check in process. I booked my stay several months in advance you i could not get a room with a better view and king size bed. I am not asking for an upograde at all. All I am saying is when i book my stay so far in advance and i am unable to reserve the room i want and others who book their stay close to the date of check in have the same opportunity as me to get a desirable room then there is a problem with you system. I am not considering switching my loyalties to a different brand bc of this issue

our stay was great would go back if the opportunity arose. the service was amazing food was good would go back

This was my first all inclusive vacation with RIU and probably my last. The property itself is nice, beach is beautiful but everything else is completely lackluster. The food: absolutely disgusting. Everything is buffet style and the plates are not very clean. We got food poisoning every single day- diarrhea etc. I also found a piece of plastic in my pasta (see attached photo). We even visited another RIU in the complex to try the food and it was all the same. Rooms: The rooms are fine, nothing to write home about. But we did find a few roaches in the bathroom. We switched rooms after getting a not great view and BOTH rooms had roaches. This is pretty unacceptable considering the hotel has a high rating, it’s not a Motel 6. I shouldn’t be paying $2000 for roaches in my room. Service: The service is ok, if you make friends with a bartender they will hook you up. The alcohol, on the other hand is bottom shelf crap. You get what you pay for. Overall, I wasn’t expecting the best as it’s all inclusive but if I were you I wouldn’t waste money on this resort. Go somewhere nicer. Punta cana itself is very limited and you’re going to be trapped in the resort for most of the time so keep that in mind.

My wife and I stayed in a suite from Feb 16-23. This is our second vacation at this resortt and the experience was excellent again. From the 3rd floor balcony, we enjoyed great views while having our quiet morning coffee in a comfortable reclining chair. The greeting upon arrival was warm and to our surprise, the pool and bar staff remembered us from last year. Excellent, friendly service from Morello, Roberto, Sanchez and Ruben at the buffets. The pool bartenders, Ramon and Randy & Ariel gave excellent service. These guys are professionals with great hygiene skills. My wife cannot consume alcohol and these guys always made sure to make her a great mocktail. Ariel was absolutely outstanding. Ariel delivers superior service. He took care of every detail with the drinks and was always able to find us a great seat to watch the evening entertainment. He was very helpful and answered all of our questions. The food at the buffet was very good with lots of fresh selections. The lamb curry was super tender and delicious. You have to try Pepe's bbq chicken by the pool at lunch time. Simple and delicious. The beach has lots of palm trees for shade, plenty of loungers and tables and towels. The beach is cleaned daily. Hardly any seaweed and the water is so warm and blue. The washrooms and public areas were kept clean constantly. No issues or complaints. We would definitely go back. to this RIU. This resort is great value and the suites are large, comfortable and definitely worth the extra cost. We'll be back.

The property was beautiful. Food was good throughout we especially enjoyed the Japanese, steakhouse and lobby cafe. Pools and rooms were clean, but there was some dampness in the room. All the staff was amazing and helped with anything that arose. A special shout out to Elsa and Luis Diez from the lobby bar and Kalvin and Ariel from the pool for making our trip outstanding. We will visit again.

The stay was overall decent. The food was very good, varied, and there was plenty of it. The room was large and spacious, but the cleanliness was sometimes a bit careless. Unfortunately, the hotel staff were very unfriendly. When they served us at the table, they often slammed the plates and glasses down. Even when we gave them tips, their attitude did not change. Sometimes it was difficult to communicate with them because some of the employees did not speak English. There were also several occasions when we greeted them and received no response at all. In addition, they often gave us very unpleasant looks and seemed completely unfriendly and uncommunicative. Regarding the four themed restaurants (Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and the other one), we encountered the same problem every time. Whenever we tried to enter, we were told the restaurant was “full”, no matter which one we went to. We asked if reservations were required, but the staff always denied it. One day we decided to take pictures of the empty tables and went to the hotel reception to ask for an explanation. The surprise was that we returned to the restaurant with a receptionist and were seated immediately, without any reservation. At the same time, everyone else who tried to enter after us was turned away or even asked to leave the table if they had managed to sit down, being told the same thing: that the restaurant was full, even though many tables were empty. Unfortunately, hospitality was almost completely missing. The beach is very beautiful and clean, and the pools are also well maintained. At the pools, I would recommend having a DJ or at least music playing throughout the day, not just for about one hour. At the RIU Party events, I would suggest changing the DJ. At the party on March 11, 2026, at 11 PM, the DJ simply stood up, took his backpack, and left, and the music before that had already been quite poor. A big plus is the special room provided for guests to take a shower on the check-out day. That is truly a very appreciated detail. Overall, it was a pleasant vacation.

This resort is very clean and well maintained. Service is very good and the food was great, except at the Italian Ala carte, we were anticipating some good pasta, but, the raviola was too doughy and the sauce wasn't very Italian, other than that all was good. One more thing.... if you are a light sleeper make sure your room does not face or is near the stage, it can make your stay problematic.

This is our second trip back to this beautiful resort. Grounds are gorgeous and well-kept. Staff very friendly. Check in was seamless. Our room was 3151 facing the other resort and I belive a private venue in between. It also faced I belive the employee parking lot for the other resort. I am a early riser so it didn't bother me but employees start arriving before 7; between the cars, motorcyles and shouting it can be noisy. Spring breakers were just starting to arrive when we left, but it was time to go lol. I was surprised at the amount of spring breakers at the Palace. The biggest issue I had was the dinner reservations. I did not enjoy the first come first serve at all. This meant that we had to be at a restaurant before 6:15 to get the restaurant we wanted. This was early for us to eat. If we went around 7, the restaurants were already booked. The buffet was good for all meals. Lots of choices.