My wife and I just returned from 6 days at the Riu Santa Fe. Lots of equipment problems - steam rooms, saunas, jacuzzis, and ice machines not working. By questioning the staff, found out that they had not been working for weeks. Food quality was mediocre at best. Beef dishes, except for the Steak Restaurant, were inedible. Much of the hot food was dried out and sometimes cold. Most of the desserts were super dry and tasteless. Little variety in the food offerings at any meal. Even tropical drinks were typically made without real fruit and the taste was just wrong. Service was spotty, sometimes good; sometimes bad. Very few people in swimming pools - water was too cold. Even vacationers who had been to other RIU resorts were complaining about this one.

Dates: 12 January - 19 January 2008

Location: This hotel is located about 10-15 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas. It is next door to and behind the Riu Palace Resort. 1 section of the resort is located beachfront and the rest of the resort can be found directly behind the Riu Palace.

Rooms: The resort is very large and the rooms are located in 2 areas of the hotel. Buildings 1-6 are located in a quad like area around the activities pool and next to the main lobby and common area. This section is located back from the beach behind the Riu Palace and beside the lobby/common area. The second section of rooms is in building 7 which contains most of the ocean view and oceanfront rooms but there are a few (very few) standard garden view rooms. The rooms were average size and the same as many other Riu resorts that I have stayed at. Some rooms have king size beds but most of them have 2 twins/doubles. Our room was in building 7 which is the building that is beach/ocean front. We had paid for and received a standard garden view room and for the amount of time we were in the room we had no issues with the view or the location at all. Our TV worked fine, the safe worked well, the fridge ran properly, the toilet was fine and we had hot water the whole time. Our mini bar was filled every couple of days and in between we had needed some more water and beer and we called the front desk and they sent someone within 30 minutes. Our room had the 2 beds in it and I left a note for the maid to see if they could put a topper on it and make it into a king bed and when we returned from the beach it had been done. I have stayed at the Riu Playacar and the Riu Palace Cabo and found the rooms to be similar so I had no complaints.

Dining: La Baja California - is the main buffet restaurant and it is located in the main quad of the hotel. We ate at least 1 Breakfast, lunch, and diner here and had no complaints. The salad bar was amazing with fresh vegetables and lots of choices for dressing. The fresh fruit was always plentiful as was the bread bar. The hot food was always good as well with a variety every day and some of your standard choices as well for those who were picky. I am a truly pick eater and I had no problems here at all - I loved the food. They also have a great choice of deserts including hard ice cream and toppings. For the coffee and tea lovers they have specialty coffee machines to make espresso and cappuccino, etc.

"Zashila" Asian restaurant - it is not open as an a la carte at this time - it is buffet style (not positive but I think it was because they are short staffed). However, I loved that it was buffet style as it gave me an opportunity to try everything on the menu. Again there was a salad bar and an appetizer bar and then an area for the main courses. The do have a dessert bar with fruit and pies and cakes etc but the deep fried ice cream was fabulous. There was only 3 - 4 serving staff working when we were there but they were pleasant and helpful. Again no complaints about the food or the service here we truly enjoyed.

Carusso" Italian restaurant - also not open as an a la carte but was operating as a buffet. The food here was also good and there was lots of choice. They also had a great salad bar and an appetizer bar and a desert bar. They were serving all of the main courses as buffet but again we were able to try a little of everything. They seemed short staffed here as well because there were only 2 -3 serving staff in the restaurant but again we found them helpful and accommodating.

"La Misión" Mexican restaurant - can't comment on the specialty restaurant as we did not get a chance to go there but they had great breakfast. This restaurant is located in the main hotel room complex that is back from the beach behind the Riu Palace. You can find it poolside and it is open air.

"Torote" grill and steakhouse - this was the only specialty restaurant that was semi a la carte. They served the main course as the a la carte portion of the meal. The salad bar and appetizer bar were plentiful and had lots to choose from. The desert bar was full of cakes, cookies, and fruit and there was soft ice cream her. They also have a couple of the specialty coffee machines and it always seemed popular. During the day it is the grill for the beachfront and pool area located at building 7. We ate lunch here everyday and it was great. I love salad and they had so much too choose from for fresh vegetables, a variety of lettuce and lots of dressings. They had a huge fruit and desert bar and lots of hot food choices including hot dogs, burgers fries, nachos and cheese etc. You should not be starving if you are eating here.

"La Monumental" lounge bar located in the main quad area by the stage. We went here every night for drinks and to watch the shows. The servers at the bar were so nice and very accommodating they even remembered what we drank and how we liked them made. Susanna and Anna-Lily worked very hard to ensure that they were getting to everyone as quickly as possible. They were very sweet and some nights they would even make their own special drinks and shooters for the guests to try.

Sports Bar: upon arrival at the hotel (about 11 pm) we were directed to go here for food and drinks. They were great with a cooler full of sandwiches that could be heater in the microwave if you like them that way. There was lots of choice and they also had nacho chips and cheese. They had lots of TVs with the games and other sporting events on and my husband was in his glory when he was bale to watch all of the football he was missing by being on vacation. There were also pool tables and video games as well as computers with internet access (for a fee) for those who need o check in with the real world while on vacation (I was one of those that needed to check in and I had no problem using the services)

Pools: The main activity pool is located in the hotels quad of buildings 1-6. The second pool is located at building 7 and is an infinity pool overlooking the beach and the ocean. This pool was very quiet and the seagulls seemed to like. the only issue here is people who go and get food at the restaurant and bring it back to their pool chairs and then leave a 1/2 eaten plate poolside - the seagulls swarm the area. Common sense is not a strong point for some I guess. There are also 2 pool bars with small lounging pools with tables and chairs on either side of this main pool. They tended to be much more active and fun. Both pools had tons of lounge chairs so there was never a problem finding a good spot (and we never went to the pool till about 11am).

Beach: The sand here is a little more granular than the east coast of Mexico and is more comparable to the sand that we have at our lakes in Alberta. The ocean was very pretty to look at but we are pool people so we never spent much time on the beach. There were horses and beach vendors in the area but there still seemed to be lots of people who enjoyed themselves on the beach. Again there was also a lot of choice for seating on the beach as well and the chairs were never full that I noticed.

"Renova Spa" located in the quad area of buildings 1-6 contained a beauty salon, massages and other spa treatments. We had renova massages and there were wonderful, they are a combination of 5 types of massage and it is 80 minutes in length. I did not think it was any more expensive than what I pay here for spa services so I was happy. This building also houses a complimentary gym which had great equipment. We went to the gym every day and they had an abundance of work out equipment for the use of the guests. We also visited the spa for the steam bath and jacuzzi and were very happy with that as well.

Front Desk/Concierge: I found the staff at the front desk was very helpful when we had a question or needed a hand. They were able to recommend some restaurants for us to go to in Cabo for our anniversary and they booked tennis for us and taxis and exchanged our money.

Cleaning Staff: our room was always clean sometime at 11am and sometime at 3pm but again I think they are just short staffed and they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. We were not there to sit in the room so we did not care when it got cleaned. We had fresh linens every two days and fresh towels every day. I noticed even that I would leave my shoes in the middle of the floor and when the room was cleaned the maid would line them all up along the wall for me. One day I even left a sweater and a pair of jeans on the bed - most maids would have moved them to make the bed to a chair or counter or something but she folded my jeans and put them back on the bed and hung my sweater in the closet. She was very nice and like I said before I left her a note to make out 2 beds into 1 king if she could and she did exactly that. We could not enough about the great service we had.

Servers and Bar Tenders: another area where we had good service many of the staff were more than eager to help us and they let us know that. Every day at lunch the servers told us their name and if we needed anything to just call. Every time we finished with a plate they were there to take it away and offer to get us a drink whatever.

Being that I am employed in the travel industry I have stayed at a lot of 5 star resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean as well as through out the USA and Europe. The Riu Santa Fe may not be at 5 star status today but they are working on it, cut them some slack. I have read all of the bad reviews (and the good ones) and I know that when you choose to go to a BRAND NEW resort there may be some growing pains - that is to be expected. I found many of the complaints at the resort to be silly and that some people just wanted something to complain about. I had 1 person tell me that her biggest complaint was they did not have 24 hour room service and that she had to pack a lunch to get to her room in building 7. It was not that bad - with amount people eat at an all inclusive a walk might be a good thing and I am sure if she wanted something closer to the main hotel area they would have moved her. Building 7 was the ocean view/oceanfront building and likely a hot commodity so someone would have switched with her. As for the room service issue, again they are short staffed so if they had room service you would likely have a long wait and then you would complain about the wait time and that your food was cold. Some people cannot be pleased and will find the negative in everything. I think in a year this hotel will be fabulous and will command its 5 star rating but right now they are in a learning stage. I also know what some people paid to go to this resort as they had some great sales and deals on for this property to get people to experience it - there is a reason that it was a great deal and the Riu Palace is more expensive.

For those that found the staff rude and unhelpful maybe in your situation they were but I noticed the way some of the guests spoke to the staff. If my clients talked to me like that I would not be very nice or helpful to them either - you have to give respect to get respect. They staff are just trying to make a living and they know that the hotel is in learning mode just be patient with them as they will try to help you if they can.

All in all we were very happy with our stay at the Riu but we also knew what we had purchased. We thought that it was great and would go back tomorrow.

My new bride and I stayed here for 6 days from Dec 30th - Jan 4th 2008. We were there for New Years Eve. The whole vacation was a dream. To see our pics, go to www.myspace.com/levibenjamin. We stayed in a room on the first floor closest to the ocean. Every morning we rose to a new cruize ship in the bay. We really didn't even have to ever leave the resort. They had everything there for us. We were treated like kings by all the staff. One word comes to mind. Clean. Everything was so clean. I dont know how they did it. I felt like we could eat off the ground if we had to. Its a very relaxing atmosphere. The beach is very user friendly. Their shows in their theater is amazing. Food is good. Wide variety. They have many shops to get your souvenours. Its beautiful there. Most of the staff is learning english very well. I give this facility an A+++++. If you do go, I reccommend taking the sunset cruize. Best time ever.

Had a list of comments, but after reading Nanster from Ontario on 1/21/08, realized he covered all of them. Please read his review. Beautiful hotel but many things need correcting.

In addition, our TV reception was awful (we started out in building 7 and chose to move to building 5 for the reasons Nanster mentioned). The MC for the evenings entertainment was a zero. Dancers were pretty good - several of them were 20 - 30 lbs overweight. The jacuzzi was lukewarm with small jet pressure, especially in the south jacuzzi. Our massage rooms were cool and we were poorly draped. The hotel room lacked heat/AC and a coffee pot. Also in the evening, the buffet served instant coffee.

On the plus side, the employees were friendly, especially Paloma in the buffet dining room, the rooms were clean, the food was fairly good and the hotel is BEAUTIFUL..