Hotel Riu Guanacaste - All Inclusive

We go on an average to all inclusive resorts two to three times a year. We gave up on RUI's in the past because they were so dated and not very clean, We recently started going back, just went to a Riu in Los Cabos in April, amazing. This one not so much. Positive: the resort looks wonderfully, loved the grounds, the room, and so many pools never had to hunt for chairs at any of the pools. Negative: Every restaurant but one is a buffet, even the one that is not is very limited to what you get. (and not open every night). No wait staff and any of the pools or beach. I never seen anyone at anyplace the six nights we were there, wipe down a table, they remove dishes, and reset. Our room they, made the bed, had to call every day because they took dirty bath towels and never left any, same stains on the counters and floor and when we got there. The food was not good and all and never hot, We ended up eating our last three night out. I hope they are not doing the same restaurant situation at the others they are remodeling. If so we will be done with RUI once again.

The food at almost every restaurant was absolutely amazing. The line for the steakhouse can get long but I highly suggest getting ready early just one night and having dinner there. The resort was extremely clean and the staff was always cleaning. There are multiple pools to hang out with different vibes. If you go on any excursions, you will spend alot of time on a bus because they are pretty far from the resort so be prepared for that. I have only gone to 3 resorts, one of which was a Riu, but this was by far my favorite resort!

Riu Guanacaste was absolutely fantastic. We had no issues with anything. We thought the food was fantastic, so much to choose from be it the main buffet or steakhouse or other themed buffet restaurants. The rooms were perfect. Showers were hot, the beds very comfortable. The grounds are well kept with the gardeners working tirelessly all day. The pools were very good. The bartenders around the pools were ready to pour at all times. Service in all areas was top notch. Need a towel or extra drinks for min bar? Use the Riu app to request. Fast service. As you can read, we had no issues whatsoever. The negative reviews you’ve read are from travellers who want everything perfect. You’re in Central America. It’s going to be hot, hot, hot. One thing I would recommend are water shoes. The sand is extremely hot at the beach. Kudos to the entertainment team for day and night entertainment. Angel, Alan and David were really good. There are more but can’t recall their names. Enjoy paradise!! PURA VIDA!!

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:-(

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.

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!

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.

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).

The resort was very clean and very safe. The walls were noise proof (but not so the glass patio doors). The food was slightly above average, but the dining experience were degraded by the loud and noisy atmosphere (no sound-deadening materials used). Plus the 45-60 minute wait to be seated at the steakhouse was not worthy of the time investment. My 12 ounce ribeye steak was thin and a bit chewy. The potato wedges and Caesar salad were great however. We tried another night and the ribs were again just a bit chewy. Perhaps it is unfair to judge against corn-fed beef here in the states? Evening BINGO was free and fun, albeit brief. The grounds were kept clean and well-trimmed. Just as you enter the beach you will find Erick (a vendor not affiliated with the hotel). He gave us a good deal on an early morning birding tour into the rainforest.

We selected this location for our 1 1/2 yr old grandson to enjoy. The splash pad was only open our first day. The food was horrible. Expect to have to walk a lot to get to and from your room to the pools, which was a lot for the great grandparents that also came on the trip. We booked a catamaran ride that would be safe for the little, 5 mon. along expected mother, and 80+ yr olds, we purchased a sail from 1-5pm ride. The lady expressed how we will have no lunch served and to eat before. We walked aways down the beach to the ship. Unknown to us, the excursion was also sold in 2 other resorts. We started with about 50 people. Some of the people said how excited they were for the sunset cruise. We didn't want that one, because it was very long and knew that the little one especially won't make it. We took off and after just getting around the cove, we started heading into a beach area. There we picked up the band along with 25-30 more people. We then found that, yes, this was the long excursion but was also the one we purchased; they put them together. Needless to say, it was not good. Also, the staff, minus the Mexican restaurant, were so slow and clueless at what was going on; no refills on drinks or water, closed pool, etc. I know that the resort is huge, but we only had our room cleaned once in the 6 day stay because the hours we would be gone they didn't get to the room; however the app worked great to get more towels. They didn't care. So on a positive, the deck off our room was amazing, large and faced the jungle, so we had monkey's in the trees most mornings. The beds were fantastic, and long enough, given some of us were on the tall side. Checking in and out was so easy. Otherwise, I would not recommend and am not planning on returning.