Riu Flamingos

“Super Time!”

We just came back from 10 nights at the newly renovated Riu Flamingos hotel. From the first minutes of arrival to the last taxi trip back to the airport, our stay was nothing short of excellent. The hotel is very smart, well decorated and very, very clean. You can tell each team member takes pride … more

We just came back from 10 nights at the newly renovated Riu Flamingos hotel. From the first minutes of arrival to the last taxi trip back to the airport, our stay was nothing short of excellent. The hotel is very smart, well decorated and very, very clean. You can tell each team member takes pride in their job. Staff are friendly, but are not overly which is what we liked. The rooms are so clean and bright, and again staff maintain them so well. The restaurants, food and drinks options are plenty, we tried each restaurant - you just need to know which you prefer ahead of time. All food is to a very high standard regardless of breakfast, lunch or dinner. Drinks options are plenty as well for kids and adults, and well served at all times. Table service was excellent during the shows, Dexter in particular was super efficient and attentive. The pools are great, never overly packed and getting deck chairs was never an issue for us a family of four. Special mentions to Abby and her team in the Kids club: safe, entertaining and never any issues with pushing us to enroll our kids and have them in activities, it was very relaxing and refreshing so thank you Abby. The entertainment was fun, and something on each night; the kids shows at 8pm were always great, ours enjoyed them so much and again the team are engaged but are not pushy - special mention to Diana who was just brilliant with our kids, and made a special experience happen during the Michael Jackson show! The whole team are just very nice people. This was our first time in Mexico, and we loved it. This hotel was what we wanted for our first trip - safe, clean, friendly, entertaining, and quality food and drinks. Lastly the beach was great, safe and no hassle from folks selling stuff. Again a pleasant change. Super trip had.

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“3 star”

Pros - friendly staff - clean & updated rooms - food was good - water and sand was nice - Riu party was fun - Riu app was helpful to request house keeping requests - coffee bar, sports bar and ice cream shop are nice. Cons - restaurants don’t take reservations and you would think that was a… more

Pros - friendly staff - clean & updated rooms - food was good - water and sand was nice - Riu party was fun - Riu app was helpful to request house keeping requests - coffee bar, sports bar and ice cream shop are nice. Cons - restaurants don’t take reservations and you would think that was a good thing however, you have to lineup 45 minutes to an hour just to get a seat as the restaurants weren’t open very long and there was always 1 restaurant that was closed. - beach was dirty ie garbage, never groomed, horse poop, dirty dishes etc. - we were here in July and majority of the resort was locals and the resort catered to that ie. music, food, entertainment etc - not enough places to get drinks - there was only one adult pool section and it was a bar and it was very dirty and smelled like urine. - pools decks were dirty - outside showers didn’t work properly ( always broken) - no drink service at pool or beach - buffet only for breakfast We had great service however this resort is a 3 star at the max, won’t be back.

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“Llano Family Vacation”

Personnel were friendly, however breakfast at only one restaurant was dissapointing. Some areas in the main lobby lack adecuate seating, some very worn out furniture not the best. Some restaurants not open everyday, pool area bars lack enough personnel so the lines to get a drink were very long, Ro… more

Personnel were friendly, however breakfast at only one restaurant was dissapointing. Some areas in the main lobby lack adecuate seating, some very worn out furniture not the best. Some restaurants not open everyday, pool area bars lack enough personnel so the lines to get a drink were very long, Rooms were vewry clean nice housekeepers.

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“Okay Experience”

Riu Flamingos June 2026 My teenage son, family friends, and I stayed at Riu Flamingo (formerly Riu Jalisco) in Puerto Vallarta from 6/24/26-07/01/26. It was our second time at a Riu Resort and I’m not sure I would return to a Riu resort. There are relatively easy tweaks they can do to make the reso… more

Riu Flamingos June 2026 My teenage son, family friends, and I stayed at Riu Flamingo (formerly Riu Jalisco) in Puerto Vallarta from 6/24/26-07/01/26. It was our second time at a Riu Resort and I’m not sure I would return to a Riu resort. There are relatively easy tweaks they can do to make the resort more enjoyable but they don’t and it ruins the experience. Staff Most of the staff are friendly, but a lot don’t speak English. Melanie (Mel) one of the activities staff was very engaging and fun. One of the ladies at the towel stand was just outright rude. Activities The activities when they had them were good. Stretching/yoga was good as was water aerobics. For some strange reason they have water volleyball and water polo on the schedule but they didn’t do it one time during our stay. They need to remove activities that they have no intention of doing from the schedule. Melanie and one of the male staff were great at the water aerobics. Paloma, one of the new staff who is very sweet, did not seem to know what she was doing. She either needs more training or she needs to not lead water aerobics. Entertainment The lobby live music was great and so was the Michael Jackson show. We went to Pacha, the nightclub, one night and it was fun. The DJ played music from 11pm to 2am. Food Overall the food was mediocre. We didn’t get sick, but it was nothing to write home about. I thought the food was worse than Riu Vallarta. You will want to line up for the specialty restaurants about 15 minutes before they open. Restaurant Breakdown Chipotle This is the buffet and it was okay. Nothing special. I had to bring my own vegetables to the omelette station otherwise I could only get a ham and cheese omelette. That’s a very simple change they can make to make it better. The buffet at Riu Vallarta, which I thought was okay, was better than this one. Agave This is the Mexican restaurant and it was a buffet and nothing special. Sakura This is an Asian restaurant and also a buffet only. There were some good items, including nigiri and sushi. For some reason all of the sushi had cream cheese in it, which I don’t like. Duoma This is the Italian restaurant, which was much better at Riu Vallarta but one of the better specialty restaurants so we ate there a couple of times. They overcooked the filet the point it wasn’t edible. I asked for it rare. Steak House The steakhouse was okay. The ribeye was overcooked even though I asked for it rare but it was edible. One of our party is a vegetarian and she could only eat the appetizer. American Country Unfortunately we didn’t get to try this restaurant because it was closed two of the days we were there and we didn’t plan around that. Drinks/Bar The bartenders were nice, but the drinks were pretty weak. We realized quickly that the lime/simple syrup mixture was the problem so we started specifying exactly how to mix our drinks. The liquor is pretty low-end. Facilities When we arrived our room fridge wasn’t working. There was a puddle of water on the ground. We submitted a maintenance request through the app and it was fixed pretty quickly. The app is one of the things I love most about Riu resorts. The requests are responded to quickly and it’s easy to make requests without having to call. Our view was absolutely horrible. I believe it was a homeless encampment or something. They may want to consider planting trees to block that view. For some odd reason the public bathroom lights turn off almost immediately so you have to keep moving around or go to the bathroom in the dark. The sensors need to be adjusted. Pools There is virtually zero shade in the pools and they were too hot and not at all refreshing. The water felt close to 90 degrees. There are 4 pools and a kiddie pool area. The main pool where they had water aerobics was a bit slippery/slimy when you walk in. They need to clean that more often. The pools area was pretty dirty first thing most mornings. The chairs and grounds were dirty and there was still trash around. They need to clean more often. Beach The beach chairs were very dirty and need a good cleaning. There were zero umbrellas/shade for the beach chairs. The water was very warm, probably around 85 degrees. The waves were pretty strong most of the days. The water and beach are very accessible from the resort. I would highly recommend Transportation We purchased the resort stay through Riu, so transportation to and from the airport was included. There was minimal waiting and no issues. Final Thoughts I had a lot of concerns with Riu Vallarta but decided to give Riu Resorts another chance. This experience was worse overall so I’m not sure I’ll stay at a Riu resort again. My overall rating of Riu Flamingo is a 5/10. Following is a breakdown of my ratings: Staff 7/10 Activities 6/10 Entertainment 8/10 Food 5/10 Drinks 5/10 Facilities 6/10 Pools 6/10 Beach 8/10 Transportation 7/10

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