I have stayed at Riu's before in Playa Del Carmen and Puerto Vallarta so I didn't have many reservations when I chose this hotel to stay at despite the complaints listed below.

Almost all of the 650-ish rooms at the Riu Palace have some sort of pleasant view with at least a small glimpse of the ocean/beach. The hotel looks beautiful from the outside and it's nicely located far enough from downtown to avoid the craziness but close enough where a cab into town is $12 each way.

The biggest complaint my boyfriend and I had were the hard beds. When we read the reviews about hard beds on tripadvisor before we came I figured a firm bed couldn't be that bad. It's basically like we slept on the floor...

The musty smell definitely had something to do with the cleaning solution they used there as it smelled a little bleachy. It's only a minor complaint since I can think of much worse smells to have around a hotel.

The first couple nights we noticed that even the hotel service people rolling carts down the halls in the middle of the night would wake us up in our room. I think after the 2nd night we grew accustomed to the noises but thicker walls definitely could not hurt.

The food was nothing to write home about, and the service staff, although friendly, seemed to become very forgetful as we often had to ask for coffee 3-5 times during breakfast (which was the only meal we ever ate at the hotel).

Hotel Check in and pick up at Airport - Great, greeted by a great team from Sunwing

I know that alot of people don't like the next morning meeting to review, water, transfer back to Airport and excursions, however, there was just not enough information given on the bus? There were 2 couples we met that didn't know and have never been to an All inclusive so they didn't know where to start. There is something to be said about the morning meeting and review of all aspects of the all inclusive and the excursions.

Hotel staff, wonderful keep room clean, water filled.

Hotel front desk - poor - Did not exchange american $$ so bring Canadian and Pesos

Internet did not work, front desk passed it to 3 people before the 3rd person said. We don't own the computers another company. So that was useless.

Our Safe broke and took 3 calls to get them to come out to fix.

Our Toilet wouldn't flush again 2 - 3 calls to get them to fix.

Food was good, there is always something for everyone. All you have to do is ask and they'll try to cook it for you.

Pool bar staff some were good and some were terrible.

Sometimes they would come to you, but other times you couldn't get to the bar and still would not serve you.

The hotel was clean and well maintained. At the buffet, speak with Mercedes a wonderful lady that will take care of you. For Red wine drinkers, ask for "Merlot" white bottle only (this is good)

Entertainment - Too late for the Adults, too much time spent on "champion" handing out certificates from days activities? There could be so much more they can do for entertainment. However, the Michael Jackson show was the best. It is worthwhile to see.

Why not have Dancing, spanish style, and/or lessons? between the kids and the adult entertainment.

Sunwing vacations was OK. We only received "Champayne" in the morning on the flight in. and Wine with dinner on the flight out. We paid for Elite plus which helped in both Calgary and Mexico check in.

Tipping, I gave hotel maid, small Canadian gifts, hats bags tipped 1st day $5.00 then 2.00 each day along with the small gifts.

I gave the buffet wait staff (if they were attentive) brought coffee etc. $2.00 each sitting

Alacart dinner $5.00

I gave Mercedes $20.00 at the end of our stay. She ensure I had the good wine each dinner sitting. She ensure our drinks were filled and the wait staff cleaned. She was amazing

I gave a couple of the cleaning ladies - in theatre a lovely elderly lady with missing teeth every morning was smiling and said Buenos Dias $5.00 she was grateful

If you like to play Pool, bring 5C Pescos and lots of them (approximately $3.00) to play a game of pool.

Internet works but the "spanish" ones work better if you can get through the lingo.

I don't think I would book this RIU hotel again. I've stayed a few and this was not the best!! However, it was good, don't get me wrong. You will have a good time, but these are just a few of the things we encountered.

My husband and myself stayed here for 7 days. Our check in was easy and very fast. We arrived aprox 3 pm and were in our room by3:30. Staff was amazing they could not do enough for you. We had pool side service and restaurant staff are excellent we usually went to Hugo's section best server in the morning and evening. Entertainment staff are really friendly. We did see a few shows they were just okay. Michael Jackson show is better @ Santa Fe. Couples show was okay didn't see Grease show thou. The place is really clean and we always found something to eat and I'm really picky. I would defiantly go back and just might in March

I read sooooo many reviews of this resort and the one negative that came up repeatedly was the "musty smell". I ignored my better judgement and assumed that some people are simply unaccustomed to the normal moisture related smells of a beachfront property. Boy was I wrong. We had to refuse cleaning and nightly turn down service because the cleaning people closed the windows and turned off the ceiling fan rendering the room practically inhospitable. Don't get me wrong, the door open and fan on were lovely but in Cabo in August I don't know that you could stand the heat without the AC. I am also fully aware of the mold and mildew problems of an ocean front resort but this is beyond that, it varied between moldy, musty and outright sewage-like. It's too bad because in general the resort is nice for an all-inclusive and the staff was friendly and accommodating but I will not return and I would not recommend this resort to friends, family or customers.