Holiday World Riwo Hotel

“Good pros, some cons.”

Currently on holiday at 1 of the 3 hotels part of holiday world. We are staying in holiday world RIWO. Pros... shuttle bus down and up the hill to and from the beach club. Good measures on all enclusive drinks, mealtimes OK, room bit dated but cleaned everyday. Pool and beach club lovely. Cons, ... more

Currently on holiday at 1 of the 3 hotels part of holiday world. We are staying in holiday world RIWO. Pros... shuttle bus down and up the hill to and from the beach club. Good measures on all enclusive drinks, mealtimes OK, room bit dated but cleaned everyday. Pool and beach club lovely. Cons, check out is at 12 noon. If your coach isn't getting you until 5pm like us, you have to just wait around as unless your getting a taxi or local bus into benalmadena, you can't do anything. Not good with small children in tow. There is nothing about, buses and taxis are regular though. If you book a family room, this does not come with a kitchen. Fridge is very small. Convenient storage in the hotel has bits in but pricey. Good holiday but I wouldn't say in this particular hotel of the 3 there's much for kids to do. You can go into the sister hotels for entertainment if booked at 7pm that night at reception. All exclusive ends at 12 noon when checking out, so be warned on this.

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“If you can stretch the budget, stay at Polynesia instead”

Just returned from this hotel - we were a family of three adults and a 6 year old. Location - this complex is out in the sticks, half way between Benalmadena and Fuengirola. There are no shops or restaurants to have a short stroll out to, apart from Geckos Beach Shack near the slope down to the ... more

Just returned from this hotel - we were a family of three adults and a 6 year old. Location - this complex is out in the sticks, half way between Benalmadena and Fuengirola. There are no shops or restaurants to have a short stroll out to, apart from Geckos Beach Shack near the slope down to the beach. Didn't use public transport, but taxis to either town were about 12-15 euros. Rooms - big but very dated. Mixed opinions in our group on how comfortable the beds were. Think we may have just dropped lucky in our room. Nice to have a little kitchen area, but I would recommend taking a tea towel, cloth and a bit of washing up liquid if you are planning to use it. Kettle was provided. Bathroom has a separate shower cubicle with doors that don't close very well so you end up with a flooded floor. Neither showers over the bath in both our rooms worked. Towels are poor quality. Food - you won't starve, but it's definitely not the best all inclusive food I've ever had. Poor choice of cereal at breakfast. No milk for tea near the brew machines, and the fruit juice in the machines are just like pure sugar. They had a dispenser of real orange juice near the food, but if you got there after 10am it was empty and never refilled. Husband also found a big black hair in his food one evening, which can happen anywhere, but was a bit off putting. Hot pool snacks are poor quality, but the salad and cold meats were ok to make yourself a sandwich. Pool area - great pool for our 6 year old grandaughter and it was not overly deep. Was also a good temperature all day. Loungers are not great - grubby and they just lie flat. Didn't see any staff clearing away rubbish that people can't be bothered putting in the bin themselves. Entertainment - evening shows are poor, and the seating area cramped. We booked at reception to go over to Polynesia for their evening Entertainment which was mostly very good. Riwo guests can have AI drinks there 9-11pm, some nights they asked for our room number, so best to book. Beach club - really enjoyed the beach club. The restaurant here does better food than in Riwo. Great pool areas - something for everyone. Watch out for added costs. Extra charges for popcorn, crisps and ice creams at the pool bars. I would consider returning to the complex, but definitely not to Riwo. Polynesia is a much nicer hotel if you can stretch the extra cost. There is no way the Riwo is a 4 star hotel - an average 3 star at best.

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“A lovely hotel but rooms are in need of refurb.”

My family and I (2 adults, 10yo & 7yo) have just returned from my 2nd stay at this hotel booked with Jet2 holidays. We also stayed here last year and because we had such a lovely time we re booked when we returned for this year. There is lots to like about this hotel, its the smallest of the 3 ... more

My family and I (2 adults, 10yo & 7yo) have just returned from my 2nd stay at this hotel booked with Jet2 holidays. We also stayed here last year and because we had such a lovely time we re booked when we returned for this year. There is lots to like about this hotel, its the smallest of the 3 hotels in the holiday world resort which means it is not too busy. I especially like the pool area as its astro turfed and the pool itself is not too deep and you can walk in from both ends so perfect if you have smaller children. There are plenty of sunbeds, so no stress there. They don't adjust though. which is a bit of a pain if you want to sit up so you can keep an on the kids better but maybe something they can change in the future. The food is ok, what you expect from an all inclusive with a different theme every evening. As a vegetarian I would like to have seen some better options, but more importantly better labelling. I couldn't tell a lot of the time what was actually in something, they had some allergen information, such as dairy, or gluten but nothing to specify if it was vegetarian or vegan. For example the spring rolls on the Friday oriental night, I had to get my partner to taste test first to check it was vegetable and not duck/meat. Entertainment is average, and some evenings you are definitely better off going over to the Polynesia Hotel. My daughter loved the mini disco but it isn't long enough and there's too much faffing around/time wasting between dances. It was also cut short twice during our 10 night stay due to power problems. I did feel that my son wasn't really catered for unfortunately. At nearly 11 he was too old for the mini disco but yet he wasn't allowed in the gaming room for teens as he needed to be 12. which was annoyingly quite empty most of the time. I don't see why with my permission he couldn't go in. He ended up spending evenings on his own in the room on his iPad. And finally the rooms.... This unfortunately is why I can only give 3 out of 5 and why we wont be returning next year. We stayed in a junior suite which they say can accommodate up to 5 but yet only has 2 actual beds. These are two large singles pushed together in the bedroom. Then there's a really ancient old fashioned sofa type bed which is in 2 parts, and incredibly uncomfortable. Plus you have to make it up yourself. I ended up sleeping in the bedroom with my 2 children across the 2 beds and my partner on the sofa, When you pay over £5000 for your holiday you don't expect to sleep on a sofa. We had this issue the first time we stayed so was no surprise but with my children getting older its not ok for me to have to sleep in with them next year and going forward. Our room in general was very tired looking and in great need of a make over. I wouldn't rule out ever returning to this hotel if the necessary changes to the family suites were made to make them more comfortable. They are large good size suites so with some carefully thought out planning and design I'm sure these could be refurbished into proper comfortable family accommodation. Even if they just upgraded the sofa beds to something more modern and easier to put together it would make a massive difference.

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“Family holiday 2024 with teenagers..”

Not our first time in Benalmadena but first for this complex. We booked this as it offered more for the children to do. We stayed in the Riwo for 10 nights all inclusive. The room was dated but clean, clean towels and sheets as needed. Bathroom had stand in shower and one over the bath. Terrace w... more

Not our first time in Benalmadena but first for this complex. We booked this as it offered more for the children to do. We stayed in the Riwo for 10 nights all inclusive. The room was dated but clean, clean towels and sheets as needed. Bathroom had stand in shower and one over the bath. Terrace was big and view was stunning. Restaurant was ok, not over crowded and plenty of time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Food options were fresh and themed nights helped break the receptiveness. Pool area has artificial grass and nice size pool. Sometimes there were not enough beds but that was if you went down after 4pm. Beds are flat static and don't move position. You can get a voucher from reception to use towels from the spa for your duration. Pool bar was great, friendly staff who were polite and helpful. As all inclusive you should be aware not everything is included. Pay for crisp, popcorn, frozen coffee. Good quality branded spirits except Malibu :( I cannot bring myself to drink the imitation version and this cost me 5.50euro each time. Snacks around the pool were the same, burgers, hotdogs, nuggets, chips and selection of salad. After 4pm is cake options. There is entertainment around the pool but was low budget and felt like the same thing daily. The team tried hard and were friendly. There is a small shuttle bus that drives between 3 hotels every 10 mins or so. This will take you to the bottom where you walk over the bridge to the water park This does get busy, large pools with waterfalls and jets. Deposit and pay to hire a ring to go down the water chute. Great if you can find a sunbed and let the kids go off and play. Opens at 10am shuts at 17:00. We used the Polyensia to have a drink in most nights, this has a better bar area and entertainment. There is also an arcade area for pool or arcade games. We had no problems with the bar area and hadn't let them know we were in Riwo. Had no idea we had to inform reception we would be using the other hotels, the Village refused us branded spirits so we left. The decor of the Polyensia is a lot better than the Riwo, and bigger. It costs on average 30euros per return taxi if you venture out to Marina or Fuengirola, reception can get you a taxi but it starts at 4euros as you get in. if you hail one yourself coming back it's always cheaper. You can use the bus but it is cash only and can get busy and hot. I love the area of Benalmadena but would choose a complex nearer central area so we can walk around restaurants and to the beach without having the cost of taxi. We did enjoy our holiday and feel the complex offers a lot and caters for everyone. Not a return here for us but overall an enjoyable holiday for all of us.

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