Hotel Riu Buenavista - All Inclusive

“Relaxing holiday!”

A lovely, relaxing week staying in very nice room (220/2) which had a lovely sea view, and also over looked the adult only swimming pool. Observation not a complaint - the adult only pool (we didn’t use the other pools so can’t comment) had tiles immediately around the water which got very slip... more

A lovely, relaxing week staying in very nice room (220/2) which had a lovely sea view, and also over looked the adult only swimming pool. Observation not a complaint - the adult only pool (we didn’t use the other pools so can’t comment) had tiles immediately around the water which got very slippery as they weren’t textured, other than that the pool was always kept clean and at a good temperature. Towels were put on loungers by lots of people to reserve their favourite spot, however we always found there were still plenty to choose from. Staff were all very friendly and helpful and everywhere was kept very clean and maintained well. Drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic readily available, but at no time did we see any overly drunk people! We didn’t try the cocktails however others told us that they were premixed and a bit sweet. Food was at a good standard, and lots of choices, however I think if we had stayed longer than a week it would have become a bit repetitive (also a bit bland but that is our personal taste as we like lots of flavour/spice!). It was nice to have a change and go to both the Italian and Asian restaurants, both of which were lovely. Definitely worth downloading the RIU app as that is how you book the speciality restaurants and it has lots of helpful information. TUI were also very good at keeping us updated on their app. No real complaints and would recommend to friends if they wanted a relaxing week in the sun.

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“Really nice hotel let down a little by food and robber of 5 euro on checkout”

Spent a week here as a family of 4 Adults. Hotel looks fantastic, spotless, great rooms. There was A LOT of families with younger children. Although it has an adults only pool it could really do with an adults only restaurant, even if just for Breakfast/Lunch. One thing I didn't see many warni... more

Spent a week here as a family of 4 Adults. Hotel looks fantastic, spotless, great rooms. There was A LOT of families with younger children. Although it has an adults only pool it could really do with an adults only restaurant, even if just for Breakfast/Lunch. One thing I didn't see many warnings for in all reviews and descriptions, the hotel from top to bottom is rather steep. From the Titanic and Adults pool to the Hotel reception/Main Restaurant/Majority of rooms it is a tiring trek even for me in my mid-30's. The frozen cocktails throughout the day is a grand idea. However, drinks need a wider range of cocktails. If you ask for a cocktail anywhere other than the reception bar you, it would be from the ice slush machines. Also, other bars need to stock bottles of water otherwise you have to walk all the way back to reception bar. No beds reserving rule is not enforced. Most beds around infinity pool are taken by 07:30-08:00. Had no issues around Adults only though. Food is so so so repetitive even the soup only changed twice in our whole week. Pizzas/Pasta/Burger/Veg/Salad/Alternating fish and Alternating meat. Desserts was constantly those decorated cream cubes pretending to be cake (The usual all inclusive dessert things that look great but taste like nothing but fluffy cream). You knew what the dessert would be for Dinner as you had them for Lunch, they obviously just make enough to cover both for that day. (I even seen Bannana cake out for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) Although you can book the other resteraunts, we only did the Italian and Asian, it kind of feels like the same bland food but in a different setting. Despite the food we had a brilliant week at the Riu Buenavista. The Karaoke nights were good fun, the Riu White party was above and beyond in terms of effort put in by all the team, Majority of staff were nice. Unfortunately on check out we had to argue a fee of 5 euro. The hotel claimed we went over 8 devices on the WiFi (4 devices per room). All four of us only had a mobile phone and tablet. It wasn't possible that we had an extra device. The guy on reception stood his ground on this, felt like he's had this argument a million times. Basically we were robbed of 5 euro. Sounds pathetic, but the way we were being argued with as if we were trying to get away with something for free was really belittling and put a tinge on my final day.

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“Could be so much better”

Beautiful hotel with amazing views! Spotlessly clean hotel (need new towels though) Barcelo, I think that is how you spell his name, was an excellent barman and an absolute credit to your resort, he made us feel welcome throughout our stay, made the best lattes and always had a smile on his fac... more

Beautiful hotel with amazing views! Spotlessly clean hotel (need new towels though) Barcelo, I think that is how you spell his name, was an excellent barman and an absolute credit to your resort, he made us feel welcome throughout our stay, made the best lattes and always had a smile on his face. We had to go back and tip him at the end of the holiday to say thank you. Next time, don’t visit Edinburgh, come further down south ;) The buffet food is decent, you won’t go hungry but if you are fussy you may struggle to find options for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is the same every morning, only hot dog sausages and no real sausages even though they serve them for dinner at the grill. bacon is either undercooked or cremated and never in between, omelettes are nice but a couple of times they had none and chefs weren’t making more. Overall breakfast was decent but could easily be improved. The 3 speciality restaurants were all buffet style and they were all pretty poor quality food, lots of variety, some dishes were tasty but not to the standard we were expecting, we should have ate in the main restaurant more as that’s where we had the best food i would say. Decent sun beds are taken early by people with towels, if you can’t beat em, join em, we realised that about 3 days in when we were fed up of getting the badly placed sun beds. Alcoholic Drinks were disappointing, Alex the barman refused to make me a cocktail that wasn’t on the menu even though they had the ingredients and that was on the 2nd day so it put me off asking again, the only cocktails on the menu were the frozen ones which tasted disgusting and out of some machine so I was drinking Malibu and coke most nights which I don’t really enjoy but struggled for options, please add classic cocktails to the menu so your staff can’t refuse to make them, the menu needs expanding! I’ve seen another review saying they’d do anything for you and we simply didn’t find that to be the case, maybe it’s only if you speak Spanish as the staff are clearly a lot friendlier with Spanish speaking people. First night my girlfriend got a peach schnapps and sprite, 2 of them, and we noticed the syrup had gone, we went and told the old man at the bar and he started throwing his arms up in the air saying sprite is sprite there’s nothing wrong with it blah blah, we just got a different drink. Didn’t give us good first impressions. Rooms are really nice, decorated and furnished well, we had an amazing view in room 567/2 Coffee machines need to be opened from 8am, suggested feedback on the app and they responded telling me they’d like to remind me of the coffee facilities in my room, which obviously isn’t the same as one from a machine and they only give you 3 coffee whiteners, they also told me main bar was open but it’s just too much walking if you’re at the other side of the hotel, I found the response to be quite sharp and bordering rude, when I also left feedback on the app regarding “Alex”. not making the cocktail I asked for their was no reply. I just feel the customer service is lacking overall. There’s a gate by the aquarobics pool that leads you on to a path that takes you in to playa Paraíso, this path is worth the walk along and I highly recommend Mumbai Masala like a couple of other people have, best curry I’ve ever had! Highly recommend using the bus service and getting to grips with the timetables, we used buses a few times and saved so much money in taxis, they all have air con and cost like €2, we used it for Siam park, los cristianos, just use google maps and pick the bus route and it will tell you what bus to catch! Overall we enjoyed our holiday, so many things could be improved however Food 3/5 Drinks 1/5 Cleanliness 4.5/5

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