Hotel Riu Palace Mexico

Timberscombe wrote a review September 2025
Chester, Cheshire, England

Finally arrived and slightly disappointed

After a horrendous delay of over 24 hours by TUI and our resort private transfer ( through TUI) being cancelled by provider, we finally arrived by taxi at The Palace tired, frustrated and eager to start our holiday,

Reception told us our room with a lovely garden view was ready. Our
room was disappointing with two twin beds and a view over a flat roof with various flower planters. Not the lovely garden view queen size bedroom we were expecting! My husband popped down to reception to be told that was all that was available and to try again to change rooms later in the week. We had already lost a day and a half so decided to stay put.
We went down to the buffet restaurant late, 9.40om and were told it was closing in 5 minutes and to hurry and get what we wanted, we managed to grab a few things as the staff were clearing up around us.
Back to the room exhausted, toilet light broken and also two wall light. Next morning realised over head shower wasn’t working either!!

Putting all these problems aside, we went exploring, the hotel was dated, having stayed in the Playacar and the Yucatan in previous years we expected something amazing from the palace, but the room and dated decor did not impress,

However all the staff we met were so friendly, the hotel is spotless, the gardens and the beach were as lovely as we remembered, But, the seaweed was really bad both in the beach and in the sea. Tractors ran up and down early morning trying to clear it but it was bad this year.

The little coffee/cake cafe in reception was a massive bonus and we tried far too many delicious cakes!!

We tried all the restaurants except the Fusion, all gave us a good experience and the food was great
, although the Mexican one seemed short of staff. Buffet was great for breakfast and we had a light lunch in the Guacamole restaurant during the heavy rain showers that fell a little bit too frequent for us.

All in all this hotel didn’t have the Palace luxury we have been in previously and let’s hope we can visit after the refurb and be wowed with the much needed makeover

Date of Stay: September 2025

696PaulK696 wrote a review September 2025
Liverpool, Merseyside, England

Riu Palace Mexico!

Stayed with family at the Riu Palace Mexico for 11 nights, check-in was very quick and we were shown to our rooms by Jorge. Next day I had a bit of an issue with my legs (I have MS) and Jorge was quick to get me a wheelchair and got me back to room. Rooms are clean & large and have a mini-bar and optics for those who drink spirits, the mini-bar was replenished everyday and the room was also cleaned for the duration of our stay. Only gripe with the room is the whirlpool bath in the same area of the bedroom and not separate. Food and drinks were very good with plenty of choice for those who are fussy like me. TheCoffee Bar was excellent with the Latte’s a personal favourite of mine. All the staff were very friendly with a smile on their faces. Special mentions go out to Omar in the Lobby Bar, and to Jorge, thank you for making it a perfect stay for the four of us.
We would love to come back to the Riu Palace Mexico again!

Date of Stay: September 2025

MrT-1966 wrote a review September 2025
Island of Malta

Loved it

I’ll be as honest as I can with this review based on our experience at this hotel. First impressions, the lobby reception area is stunning with a little chapel if you feel the need. We were both greeted with a welcome drink and our cases where taken to our room as soon as we checked in.

The room although a little bit of updating would lent go a miss “a lick of paint” and a few fixtures renewing would sort it. This said the room was very clean but there was a bit of a damp smell but this vanished after a couple of days “we think it may have been down to the shower as it drained very slowly especially at night well lots of roomed where using the shower.

Cases unpacked we went for a look around. There’s a main self service Restaurant Don Jillian’s this guy s open in the morning and at night but not lunch times..

Then there the steak house this is at the far right of the hotel just past the pools. There a Mexican, Italian and Japanese restaurant all first come first served.. if they are buy you get given one of these buzz boxes so you know when they have the next free table.

There are four pools one of these buzz boxes being a pool bar.. the beach is at the end of the hotel just after the pools with a fast food outlet that belongs to the hotel..

Entertainment is nothing to get too excited about but it was ok.. the entertainment staff are great… if fact every staff member we met were fantastic “couldn’t do enough for us”

Good points:
Food (lots of choices)
Drinks (branded)
Staff (fantastic)
Entertainment (good)
Hotel (very impressive)

Not so good points:
Rooms could do with a refresh #
Music day and night is very loud

# note this hotel is due to be Modernised next year between May & September.. as long as it doesn’t lose its charm it will be 101% awesome.

Tips:
If you go into Player Del Carman you will be as Jed by all the shop keepers to come into their shops.. “very annoying but it’s their way”
You do t have to TIP every time you ask for anything but when you do it’s very much appreciated by the staff and locals..

Very recommend and I’m guessing even More so when it’s modified next year..

Book with confidence..

Date of Stay: September 2025

294innab wrote a review September 2025

Horrible

DO NOT waste your money, time, or energy coming to this horrible hotel. They treat customers with SUCH SUCH disgusting disrespect and don’t fix any problems. We stayed here for only one day & moved Riu Playa de Carmen, because in this hotel Riu Mexico the food is absolutely dry and disgusting and the staff are a joke, they are rude and disrespectful especially Ulysses, he was laughing at my family when we had to pay the up charge for the other hotel and made us pay extra $1000 even though we were not satisfied and it was their fault. The rooms are absolutely dirty with lots of dust and dirt and mold growing on the walls, and the AC always goes in and out. The food is very limited and super dry not tasty at all, and there are always flies and bugs inside the food. The management tried to effort to help us and ignored and laughed at us. The front desk and manager need to be fired because it’s theie fault the hotel runs this horribly. Please read the bad reviews before you pick the hotel because this will be one of your biggest mistakes and you will ruin your vacation and waste money!!!! We will be warning all our friends and relatives that visit Riu about this hotel.

Date of Stay: September 2025

510stephenb wrote a review October 2025

3 star max

The hotel is dated and it wouldn't take much to bring them up to scratch,3stars is a fair reflection,air con got fixed 3times and still wasn't good,hot food at any meal wasn't hot, lunchtime burgers where made up and left for hours,the staff i think are brilliant the grounds and beach where very good, entertainment was awful and i mean they where that bad it was funny to me,pool area,dont go in the swim up pool/bar,people drink all day and have big bladders as the dont go to the nearby toilets.a good 3 star but no better ,sorry

Date of Stay: August 2025

Ahorne56503 wrote a review October 2025
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Very Nice Hotel

Stayed here last week and all in all a fantastic holiday at The Palace. From the moment we checked in the staff made you feel welcome, and whenever we asked for things they were bought very quickly.

Food and drinks are of a high standard, the selection of branded drinks at bars is impressive and all we ate was nice.

The grounds are immaculate, the gardeners deserve lots of credit, and the pool and beach area are good too. We spent time around the swim up pool, with our only gripe been the lack of high quality brollies to shelter under.

Rooms are spacious with whirlpool baths and massive beds. Whilst slightly dated, it not something you really notice. Room service is 24/7 and the staff are very responsive with requests from the app. We asked for ice tea one evening and had a whole case delivered in 10 mins.

The lobby area is lovely with a great bar and coffee shop, and the air con makes a great break from the humidity and heat. We didn’t spend much time in the bars in an evening, we went to the Tequila to see friends, but there was music on or shows every night.

A great bonus is been able to use the other hotels in the area to break things up, they are all of a reasonably high standard. We would definitely return as is, though the rumoured tier system post renovation would put us off.

Date of Stay: October 2025

mrjoneswales wrote a review October 2025

Great two week faultless Holiday :-)

Fantastic two week all Inclusive at this stunning Hotel. Reception was very profressional and courteous, rooms are spot on and Staff are amazing. BIG shout out to 'Javi' who works the pool area serving you drinks on your Loungers.....this Guy is super friendly and makes sure you enjoy your time during the day. The lad who runs the activities in the pool is great too (sorry don't remember the name), also 'Omar' who runs the Bar area in the evenings is super efficient and makes sure you never have an empty glass lol. Entertainment is just right for a large Hotel and the Guys who clean the rooms do an incredible job every day. We are led to believe this Hotel is being renovated between May-August 2026 but tbh not sure where it needs it as we could'nt fault it ? A 100% 14 days & nights with no faults what so ever.....cheers Guys :-)

Date of Stay: September 2025

866livvye wrote a review October 2025

Amazing two week stay

Just got back from 2 weeks here with my husband. We are in our late 20s.
We absolutely loved our stay here. The rooms are a little dated however, I have heard from others it’s being renovated soon.
The amenities are fantastic, pools, restaurants, gym etc. and the hotel is right on the beach. The beach is beautiful and you can do some water sports for free but jet ski etc you have to pay for.
The staff are really what makes this a 5 star hotel. They work tirelessly. The hotel is immaculate and is a credit to the cleaning staff as they are cleaning constantly. Isobel cleaned our room and it was always spotless.
All of the waiting staff in bars, hotels were friendly and worked extremely hard.
There is a tipping culture however, you are not ever expected to tip. A lot of people do not tip at all, we chose to wait until the end of the holiday when we tipped.
The entertainment staff are brilliant and work really hard which pays off. We loved Eric, and Fernando :)
There is a shop in the hotel but it is very expensive. 5 min walk outside the hotel there is some shops that have everything you need, pharmacies, souvenirs, 7 eleven etc.
It is a 5 min drive in a taxi to Playa Del Carmen. We did this once to look around 5th avenue which is worth a look.
Taxis wait in the hotel car park and if u ask at reception they will call one to the door for you. Taxis were very reasonably priced and we never struggled to get one.
I would definitely go back to this hotel and have recommended it to a friend. Thank you Riu Palace for a fabulous holiday :)

Date of Stay: September 2025

stuarth464 wrote a review October 2025
Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Brilliant holiday

There is only one thing I can say about the Rui Palace Mexico is that it is perfect from the moment we arrived until we left, all the staff always got a smile on their faces and were very polite, rooms were clean and spacious in fact the whole hotel was, food in all the restaurants was brilliant , Rigo and Frachesco in the lobby bar made are holiday the pair of them made us laugh every day and nothing was a problem for them all in all 5 star service

Date of Stay: September 2025

nicolecN5482QE wrote a review October 2025

Great vacation

I had a great name celebrating my daughter’s birthday !!! And Luisa Noriega from Trafic Tours. Made sure transportation was provided and the excursions were soooo much fun! I’ll definitely be back!!

Date of Stay: October 2025

susandQ9956BF wrote a review October 2025
Aldridge, Walsall, West Midlands, England

Lovely hotel. Amazing holiday

Just returned from this hotel. What a wonderful holiday we have had. Yes some areas of the hotel need a little updating but it doesn't impact your holiday. The staff really can't do enough for you from house keeping to bar staff to reception everyone is so friendly. The coffee/milk shake cafe is a nice addition. Food is good and we enjoyed the steak house and Mexican restaurants.
We will certainly be returning. Thank you to all the staff for making this an amazing holiday.

Date of Stay: October 2025

TheresaP239 wrote a review October 2025
Texarkana, Arkansas

Epitome of excellence

Arrived at the hotel and was found that Expedia had somehow messed up our reservation. Spoke with the Manager Jamie and another Lady and they were very helpful in getting it all straightened out. When we went to our rooms they were clean, smelled nice, and really quite lovely. The room itself made you feel as if you were in your own home. The room had everything you could want right down to the frig bar and comfortable beds. We definitey used the bar amenities, and had our frig filled up with water, cold drinks, and ice. We used our amenities in our room alot and enjoyed every minute of it. We were located on the first floor and it was super quiet and barely heard ( and I mean barely) heard the staff. They were awesome people that were ameniable , sweet, and very kind. If you neeed something all you had to do was call and it arrived withi minutes, such as water if you ran out, and not small bottles but large quart bottles. Next next go with the food, so good, so awesome. Our favorite restaurant was the La Bodega, excellent food, excellent service. I would eat there every night while I was there, if I had discovered it early and made it only there on our last night.
Every restaurant was delish and no reservations were needed so it all went smoothly. The Italien was very good as well as the Fusion restaurant if you wanted to try different foods.
Gustav at the pool with his workouts and teaching us Salsa was absoulely worth his weight in gold. Jamie at the front desk along with another lady who gave us a voucher before we even got checked in, sorry I can't remember her name, both were so helpful.
Check out so easy with no hassel.
The atmosphere was divine, the staff awesome, and all staff that were taking care of us on a daily basis were the kindest, most sweetest people. There was absolutely not one thing wrong that I can fault this hotel with, and I intend to return as well as my friends who agreed with me.
The Hotel Palace Rui Play Del Car was the epitome of class, good taste, excellent service and I highly applaud them for their dedication to making us feel at home in their Hotel.

Date of Stay: October 2025

T9479EIlawrenceb wrote a review October 2025

Hotel RIU Palace Mexico

We recently completed our annual holiday at the RIU Palace Mexico staying there from September the 15th for two weeks overall we would score the hotel 3/5 stars this score would be a 2/5 if not for the fantastic colleagues who work there , we can’t praise them enough excellent service, friendly nothing was a problem for them from room cleaning , bar service , dining and entertainment all fantastic.
The food was of a very high quality,and all the restaurants were equal in delivering excellent food and service ..no problems whatsoever with the food

The issues that disappointed us were…
The standards of the room we had ,as mentioned the cleaning And towel changes were great but the room itself was extremely tired and dated disappointed when we walked through the door awful out look on to some trees dividing us from the next hotel ,grubby paint work poor repairs quality I think the room has had more coats of paint than the Tyne bridge , electrical sockets awful no usb trying to wedge items under the plug to get your phone to charge not good enough , the tv was really poor picture quality and the channel choice was poor very little English speaking channels ..yes I appreciate we were in Mexico but when you sometimes just want to watch the tv for a few hours

General noise on late evenings and early hours was really poor doors slamming music playing in rooms , shouting screaming , the corridors seem to magnify the noise , people returning from their night out you understand a bit talking laughing ect but when it kicks off at 1 and 2 in the morning it’s not acceptable , I feel a bit of a discreet security presence walking the corridors would help with some people who can’t behave themselves in the early hours and a knock on the room doors to sort the problems out , lying in bed waiting for the noise to subside is not one of my favourite pastimes ,

Dress codes in the restaurants was poor people sitting with sun hats on ,I will say this was a minority but we observed it several times
Gym ..or lack of it really poor for the size of the hotel , I did use the gyms in the sister hotels you can use that were slightly better

So in summary *great looking hotel ..until you get to your room and then you start to notice how tired the place is ,also visible in the restaurants
*Great food and fantastic really hard working colleagues
*Really poor acceptance of rowdy noisy people and the sheer level of noise in the corridors and from some rooms really spoilt it for us and left us disappointed with our stay

Date of Stay: September 2025

V9601XVjimb wrote a review October 2025
Paphos, Paphos District

Great hotel, great service!

We had a fantastic 10 nights at the RIU Palace Mexico.
The location was very peaceful- Playacar is a gated community with a number of hotels as well as some shops and bars. The wider area has some very interesting places to visit, we would recommend Tulum and the cenotes, though we found Cancun not worth visiting.
The hotel itself is beautifully presented, with a stunning foyer and grounds. There are plenty of staff, and the customer service is amazing - so friendly and attentive. The standard of cleanliness could not be better- the room is serviced not once but twice a day.
We found the food to be of a high standard in the main restaurant as well as the five specialist restaurants, and we really appreciated how easy it was to get a table in those restaurants, all on a first come, first served basis, with no pre booking required.We also appreciated the availability of branded drinks and excellent cocktails at the bars.
The beach is beautiful and is kept spotlessly clean, and watersports are readily available. The pool area and pool bars are also well maintained with excellent poolside service, though a small downside is that all the pools are a bit samey (rectangular) and close together, so whilst some may be designated for lane swimming, or sports etc, the reality is they all kind of merge together.
One of the benefits of staying at the RIU palace is that you can use the facilities in the neighbouring RIU hotels, this proved useful as the RIU Tequila has a great sports bar, and the RIU Yucatan has really interesting grounds with monkeys, lizards and Coatis (Raccoon cousins).
The biggest disappointment with the hotel was the room - whilst it was very big( bizarrely we had two double beds pushed together) with plenty of space and storage, the open plan design meant that the toilet was enclosed in a tiny space. Also the room was showing its age, with noisy aircon whose controls did not work properly, plus some other faulty electrics. The wood finishes on the doors were poor and not in keeping with the rest of the decor.
Overall we had a great stay - excellent hotel and all inclusive service, just slightly let down by the room.

Date of Stay: October 2025

P44RLT wrote a review October 2025
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Fantastic 2nd visit and won’t be our last

We returned to RPM after 2 years, and loved the familiarity of the place and the staff, nothing has changed in terms of a high quality experience. We are all aware that the hotel is awaiting a refurb and relaunch (Elite? Adults only? Both?) but we had a fantastic week here all the same.

We had room 130, one of the end ground floor suites. Huge room, tons of hanging space, great amenities and a fab view.

As ever, food was consistently high quality, and we particularly enjoyed Krystal and Myagi restaurants, the latter we visited twice in the week.

The pool areas were plentiful in terms of beds, great entertainment and that view out to sea that we miss so much when we’re away. The staff managed the sargassum daily, but in fact it was only a minor amount and it was cleared early every morning.

Overall, a great vacation, we can totally understand why some fellow guests are
on their 20th+ visit. We’ll be back after the refurb is complete.

Date of Stay: October 2025

tpressuser wrote a review October 2025
Markham, Ontario

We loved this place

Myself and a few friends absolutely LOVED this place. Been to a couple others in South America, but this place was the best. Beautiful beach. Everybody working there had a smile. Coffee bar, and regular bar in the lobby, sports bar which served quick food, 24/7. Bottles of liquor, {dispenses}. They also had bottles of wine there. The buffet was really good: No flies hanging around the food. A la carts., were excellent. Live music great. Rooms nice and clean. Approximately one hour drive from airport We are visiting Riu Negril in Jamaica in December, but I can't see it topping this one. We are making this location an annual thing . Thanks staff for a great experience, and we will see you again. 5 star for us, and there were 30 of us.

Date of Stay: October 2025

Margaritamom wrote a review October 2025
Edmonton, Alberta

Absolutely lovely stay!

This was our third visit to a Riu in Playacar property - we started with Lupita, then Tequila, and recently (end of Sept/early Oct) stayed at the Mexico Palace property. Really enjoyed them all but this was our favourite stay to date.

1. Check-in - excellent! The desk staff greeted us as we arrived , gave us a refreshing juice drink, and asked us the type of room that wanted to stay in. We asked for a quiet space on the top floor and that is exactly what we were given. Two thumbs up :)

2. Lobby amenities - there’s a 24/7 lounge with snacks available at any time. It has a coffee machine (handy!) plus various drinks and alcohol. It was a really nice place to hang out while waiting for our transfer back to the airport in our last day. There’s a small shop in case you don’t feel like leaving the property, a small chapel, lots of seating, a piano bar (excellent drinks and entertainment so always busy in the evening) and a coffee bar with excellent baking and desserts. I personally loved the purple and silver tones - made everything pop.

3. Room - we took the mini elevator up to the top floor (easy to navigate) and our luggage followed later. The room was lovely! We had two double beds that were pushed together so we called it a California king and called it a day. There is a coffee pot and grounds but we didn’t use it. There’s also a jetted tub in the middle of the room but we didn’t use it either. The room is huge so it’s not really in the way. The toilet has its own little closet. The shower has a door with the towels available on the inside so you can wrap yourself before exiting :)

The bed was comfy enough without a topper, the pillows were nice, and the AC worked. We brought a fire stick for the tv which worked great. I think there are only 2 or 3 channels otherwise. Our balcony faced the back of the hotel which was okay with us. We didn’t spend any time out there. You could hear the shows at night but they end early enough that you can still have a good sleep. Couldn’t hear others around us unless they were yapping outside of our door.

4. Pools and beach - there are 2 “quiet” pools, one party pool, and the lobby bar pool - all fairly close together. And the beach is just a little further down the path. This was a BEAUTIFUL beach - the nicest we’ve seen during one of our stays. We walked over to the Riviera Palace Riu and the Mexico Palace beach is nicer. We had to get there early to get a shady spot each day but there were always chairs available somewhere.

5. Restaurants - we only ate at the buffet (morning and evening) and at the lunch buffet by the pools during the day. Great food with a ton of options. Loved it!

We will 100% return to this resort again after it’s refinished and made into an adult only property. Thanks for the great stay!

Date of Stay: September 2025