ok people, my husband and i have travelled all over, from 2-5*'s from cabo to p.v and i will tell you that you are complaining about the rooms being musty and moldy at the santa fe? well, that is the case anywhere you go in mexico, unless you are staying somewhere that is made of wood (?) cement plus humidity= must!!!. the rui santa fe is a wonderful resort if this is the type you like...it is very large which entails alot of walking but so be it, it is good for us to get off our fat butts and walk after eating as much as you do at their FABULOUS buffets. The people are friendly, polite and eager to serve you. The entertainment on the other hand, well, i've seen better at a 2*. For some reason, i think that they americanize it for our benifit (grease!?), when truth be known, we love mexican music and dance and that is why we go!! I did leave my own feedback about the entertainment at the front desk, as did many others. If you want a "busy", "clean", "impecable" resort, this is it...you don't have to leave the resort for a thing!!! P.S. don't take your little kids here to play on the beach, it's not a very nice beach at all for that! P.S.S. TAKE WARM CLOTHES FOR EVENINGS BRRRRRR!!!!!, have fun ;0)

We stayed at the Riu Santa Fe from Feb 23-Mar1/08. Overall we had a great trip. After reading previous reviews we were a little worried, but quickly learned that some people are WAY too picky!!People have to realize this isn't a 5 star resort in Canada or U.S. Standards are slightly different in Mexico. I'll give a breakdown of our experience.

CHECK-IN: Check in was great. Upon arrival ladies were each given a rose, and everyone received a welcome cocktail. Checked in at noon and were given room # and towel cards but couldn't get our room till 3. All this took a matter of 10 minutes then we were off to get lunch and go to the beach. Our bags were waiting in our room for us at 3.

RESORT: The grounds were absolutley beautiful and very clean. I realized how clean the resort was when we went for breakfast at 8am and saw a staff member on a ladder cleaning the top of a light standard while another man cleaned the top of garbage cans around the resort. We stayed in building 7 with an awsome ocean view.Our room was kept very clean with fresh towels every
day. Never experienced any damp or musty odours. Mini bar was completley stocked every other day. Ran out of Corona one day we called to get more and within one hour our fridge was full again. We never had anything stolen from our room, but people need to use common sense and make sure all valuables are kept in the safe.

FOOD: After this being our 9th all-inclusive trip, we didn't go with the expectations of gourmet food. We were right. There was plenty of selection of food. The specialty restaurants were a nice change, but not a major difference in food. The soft ice-cream machine was a great treat. We had a bad experience at the Mexican restaurant. We had a 6:30 reservation and were obviously forgotten about, because our meal finally came at 8:00. My steak was un-edible. We left and went to the buffet.

WEATHER: Perfect weather during the days. We never saw a cloud all week. Nights were cool.

BEACH: Beautiful looking beach but sand was very coarse, although you can't really swim in the ocean. The undertow is too strong.

EXCURSIONS: There are tons of tours to do in Cabo. We had a great time whale watching. We got within 50 ft of 5 whales. Did the jeep safari, it was lots of fun. Parasailing was great. We also did the catamaran snorkling trip. Had a blast. We went into town to the marina on a few occasions and it is a must see. There are lots of little spots to stop and have a bite to eat or a drink.

All in all we had a great time and would not hesitate to visit Riu Santa Fe again. For the fact that this hotel is less that 6 months old there are very few kinks to be worked out. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

The resort itself was very new, well-kept, nice rooms, good lay-out, awesome pools, good food (not 'wow'). All in all, we felt we got what we paid for and have no major complaints. Sure we had some minor luggage mix-ups, and there were some issues with check-out. But everything was always worked out in the end, and the staff were generally friendly and helpful. We left valuable things in our rooms and nothing was stolen. I don't know if I would classify the service or food as 5*, but I felt I got what I paid for, and we had fun in the sun. We never reserved at the restaurants. We heard the food was 'ok' there, not great. And we always found lots of interesting choices at the buffet. Plus it was more flexible time-wise.

We only have 3 real complaints...

#1 - When we arrived after 10pm on our first night, there was no food! Oh, except for the nacho chips with processed cheese-food (that you had to microwave to warm up), and chilled burgers in the brightly lit 'sports bar'.

#2 - Our check-put time was noon, but we didn't leave the resort until 5pm. They wanted us to store our belongings in little 'public areas' where we could shower as well. We believe that part of our Sunquest package should be late checkout where necessary. This shuffling caused our last day to be a little stressful. Moving things, worrying about our luggage, public change rooms. It all seems a little ridiculous.

#3 - Our biggest problem, which is not the resort's fault, was the demographic. It did not suit us. We are between the ages of 25-40, urban professionals, fit and single. The demographic was mostly 50+, families with kids, and couples. One of our favourite lines was "Oh there's a hot guy... where's his girlfriend?" She was never far behind. The entertainment and bar closing times were definitely suited to the baby boomers. We were looking for opportunities to chill and to party a bit. I won't even mention the 'Pacha Disco'. Let's just leave that smell where we found it.

I do want to compliment the Tripadvisor site. It was invaluable to us planning our vacation. BUT if they would just add another category to their 'people groups' it would make it easier for people in our category to find a suitable vacation destination. We do not fall into the "young singles" category - that's the 18-25 year old spring break types, I believe. We don't fall into the "girlfriend getaway" category - that could be any age range, and they could have husbands waiting at home. I believe the "ME Cabo" would have suited us much better (heads-up for those in our category reading this), but we couldn't tell that from the categories on Tripadvisor. I'm not sure what I would call people in our category.... "Gen-X Single Urban Professional Hotties"? :) Ok, maybe Tripadvisor can come up with something better than that!

For the most part it was very good. Very nice rooms, except no heat and it was cold at night at X-mas time. Some problems with the front desk mostly just irritants, but we had laundry sent out and it came back dirtier and greener than we sent it out - and still charged us for it when we complained!
Pools great, bartenders good, overall had a great time. Would not however return to this hotel (and apparently neither will the loud Texas woman who was very dissatisfied at the front desk as we struggled with the laundry issue)