RIu doesn't know the meaning of customer service. The food gets real old, real quick. Watch out for the exorbitant laundry charges!!! Pools are nice, though the hotel entertainers are anything but entertaining. Probably a good place for families with older kids, but not for families with younger ones; we have a 2 year-old and the hallways echo noise (especially latenight party goers) and sound like crazy. Nice rooms, though.

Me and my boyfriend stayed at the RIU Santa Fe from May 30th to June 6th. We booked thru Apple Vacations, and left early in the morning from Chicago. We got to Cabo at about 11am and we got to the hotel at around 12pm (it was about a 45 minute ride to the resort from the airport). When we arrived at the hotel it was a mad house - there were so many people checking in and out...that is was chaos. Yes, we were offered a welcome drink...which I did not like since it was very sweet and hot. Before we left on vacation I e-mailed the resort asking if we can be upgraded to building 7 with a ocean-view/pool-view room, nobody ever responded and I even e-mailed them twice. At check-in they had our towel cards and a map of the resort in a little envelope ready for us. However, we were assigned to a ground floor room in Building number 1 - I explained that I e-mailed the resort if an upgrade would be possible. The guy said to go to the main desk and ask to see if any other rooms are available. So again we went to the reception desk and asked if there was an upgrade available. One of the clerks said that the resort is totally full but he will see what he can do for us...after some time he offered us another ground floor room in building 4, I kept on asking if either we can get a room higher or in building 7 - after sliding a $20 bill he said that he will try to get us a better room. He found a room in Building 7, however, it was facing the RIU Palace or another room in Building 4 on the second floor. We finally decided that we will go to Building 4 since it was centrally located and not facing another building. One the drawbacks was that we had to wait until about 2:30pm for our room. Also, I highly recommended taking your own luggage with you to the room because they lost my carry on luggage and finally my boyfriend found it in another building. The room was nice we had two double beds pushed together, which I did not like in the beginning but it worked out fine. As the rest of the people wrote - the walls are extremely thin and you will be woken up a couple of time during the night to screaming, laughing, and yelling!!!

The whole resort is huge, and beautiful, I think it needs more palm trees and flowers but overall they did a wonderful job. At night when they started to water the tress,shrubs, flowers there was bad smell that came from the water...

The pools are great and all the bars are wonderul, except for all the bees that hang around also!!! The entertainment staff does a great job with keeping everyone happy. I must say that Tequile Volleyball was great...try not to miss the ball or you'll have to do a shot!!!

The food was ok being at another AI, this was ok, yes you can always find something to eat but most of the food for me was too cold and very salty, and I not a picky eater!!! The reservation system is not a big deal, we always went down around 9pm and could get in any restaurant we wanted. We went to all four or them. I must say both my boyfriend and I really liked the Asian (you have to try the FRIED ICE CREAM...it was great!!!), we also really like the Mexican restaurant. However, I had really high hopes for the Streakhouse and I believe it was one the worst. The Italian was great ...def. try the risotto with schrimp and their beef tenderloin was very very good!! However, while at the Italian we saw a mouse about 5 times. Some people freaked out and left the restaurant we decided to stay and just be on the look out....I did report the incident with the mouse to the manager, and I feel that he did not take the issue that seriously because they just said that they had inspectors that come regularly and that I should not worry....

We took a water taxt from the marina to lovers/divorce beech. I was a great trip :) If you go take a taxi from the marina because the waves are pretty bad in front of the hotel and some people got hurt going in/out in front of the hotel.

We also did a buggy adventure thru Baja Buggys (we booked thru Apple) ... really recommended it was a lot of fun!!! They took professional pictures that you can buy at the end of the trip...which were really nice.

We did have an issue with Apple...I received a voucher for a credit to the Spa, however, it took the representatives about 5 days to actually get my voucher activated. Even at one point they said that they can not do it...I said fine I will be calling the main office and making a complain....well the next day everything was taken care of.

Overall, the resort is very nice, me and my boyfriend are in our middle 20's and we do like to party however, if we go on vacation we like to relax. This resort has a more younger party crowd. So for older people and people with families I think that the RIU Palace would be a better choice. Remember that alcohol and the sun do not mix - since we saw a guy who passed out on the beach and had to be transported to the hospital!!! HAVE A GREAT TRIP!!!

My wife and I stayed at the Riu Santa Fe from 5/23/08 - 5/30/08 and loved it! Overall, the amenities are nice, the staff is friendly and VERY hard-working, and the weather can't be beat.

Weather:
The sun was warm during the day and will burn you without really feeling it. Bring your sunscreen and apply it often! But the dry, cool air is wonderful and keeps you comfortable throughout the day. Its was in the 90's everyday, but you didnt feel hot, cuz of the low humidity..Lying in the shade was perfect! Not too hot and certainly not cold. Some nights were chilly because of the breeze coming off the water.

Rooms:
Very nice and clean. . We found that when the Riu says they restock the mini-fridges every other day, they're not joking. We tipped the maid every day but still needed to ask for more bottles of water. WHat I found interesting, was above the bar was a cabinet, that held a Bottle Of Jose Cuervo, a Bottle of Rum, a Btl of Vodka and a btl of Scotch whisky. Yes Btls. We have travelled to many All-Inclusives and never had see this before..GREEAT!!!! The maids are very accommodating and tried to make our room very comfortable for us. Never bothered or rushed us to clean our room. Once we left for the pool and put out the "green" clean our room sign on our doorknob, then she came and cleaned it. We used the room safe for passports, cash, etc., and had no problems. In fact, I had left the safe open by mistake when I left for the pool, with ALL of our valuables in it . When we came back, there was nothing in the safe and a note telling us to go to the front desk. To our total amazement, NOTHING was missing.. Everything was itemized and inventoried. Not even a dollar missing. Now thats what I call Honest.. We did leave the maid $20 thank you tip in an envelope...

Food:
I know a lot of people's reviews have complained about the food but we really didn't have any complaints. We're not picky people so we found something good at all meals.It can feet a bit repetitive toward the end of the stay, but I think that's to be expected and isn't a reflection of the Riu. The Riu does a great job of keeping a wide variety of foods out at each meal and the staff worked very hard .We loved the Steakhouse..The Mexican Asian were buffet type meals, but the food was still good.. Drinks at the bar were good and refreshing. Never had a problem with "weak" drinks. But then again maybe giving the bartenders a $1 or $2 tip helps. Heck, you tip bartenders when you PAY for your drinks when you go out and you don't have to pay for these drinks, so why don't more people tip??? terrible

Pool:
The pools were a bit chilly, especially the big one near the beach. But they're refreshing for a quick dip to cool you off. There are plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas and palapas..

Nightly Entertainment:
The entertainment here was good. The dancers were fun and very enthusiastic. the dance shows (Broadway and Grease) seemed to be visitor favorites. Also, don't miss the house band before the 9:30PM shows. They were great and a lot of fun to listen to.

Cabo:
We went into Cabo one night. Had a great time. Hit Cabo Wabo, and a few of the other "hotspots"..Typical stuff getting hit on by those guys trying to hawk and sell tours etc, but that happens at all those resort towns. We checked on places to eat that weren't "touristas" place. We ended up at Sanchos... Great Food, great service. Live Mariachi was awesome.

We would go back to the Riu Santa Fe in a heartbeat. For the money, it's a great place to spend a week to unwind and enjoy some sun without high humidty, like in Cancun.

My wife and stayed at the Riu Santa Fe from May 28-June 6. We booked through Apple Vacations which was a great idea.

When you get off the plane in Mexico you will be dumped into two seperate rooms. Keep walking, these are time share people and they will pretend like they are helping you but really they just want to sell you on time shares. We kept walking but I thought that might be useful in case this is your first trip to Mexico.

We arrived in the Riu Santa Fe in a brand new Yukon that Apple Vacations shuttled us in. We got to the resort on Friday around 4:00 and they greeted us with a fruit beverage as soon as we arrived. The check in took 15 minutes and I since we booked an ocean view I asked them to show me the room on a map and asked about a king size bed, not two doubles. They were on to me and mentioned that I had looked at trip advisor but were still very pleasant. The bell hop took our luggage and it was there in 1/2 hour. The room was an ocean view right above the steak house and I too have the same complaint about the balcony not being all wroud iron, but some are. What can you do? Most rooms don't even have an ocean view so ours in building 7 was on the third floow (only four stories) and it was perfect.

The service overall there is great. Tip these guys a little, they make nothing and good service anywhere deserves a little reward. The pool across from the steak house is like spring break. My wife and I are 28 and 29, so this was perfect for us. There were plenty of folks our parents age having just as much fun. If that not your scene then there are three other pools to go to that are much more low key. There is a pool in the middle of the hotel (with no ocean view) which can even be fun. They do most of the day time games there and it's big enough where you can find some quite area. We loved the pools. When you want to relax then go to a quite pool, when you are ready to party then go to the pool by the steak house.

The buffet was great. A taste of everything. If you are there for two weeks then would probably get old but we were fine on the buffet for 7 days. We loved the variety and quality. At dinner time you have the entertainment area right there, so it's nice just to eat dinner, have some cocktails and then to watch the shows. We loved the shows. (most at least). Some are involve the audience (like dogs and cats) and are really funny. We had a great time sitting back and watching the shows while drinking cocktails. There were also a ton of families at the hotel with children at the shows. I wouldn't recomend taking your children to the pool by the steak house, but all other pools are plenty safe and they have a ton of great entertainment at night for the kids. I disagree with the review saying it's not family oriented. My wife and I went alone without our daughter, but next time we will bring her (she's 11 mos now). We saw a lot of families with children anywhere from 8 mos and up.

Agreed about the speciality restaurants, but here is a tip. We didn't have a reservation one single night at any of the restaurants and managed to eat at four of them, never being rejected. Just wait until 8:00-9:00 and show up to the steakhouse or whatever restaurant you are looking for and ask them if there is any room. We got in the steakhouse three times by that. People don't show up and you can get in. Worse case scenario you just go back to the buffet, but we didn't have to once.

More tips: 10 bucks for a taxi, water taxi was 10 each, Lovers beach was cool, squid row was fun if you are a younger crowd, take a taxi or walk to the office (about 30 min walk on beach) I think a $10 taxi ride, That is a nice place on the beach to eat and there is a fun little bar strip there, Don't try to negotiate with vendors on days the cruise ships are in (best to do it when they are not), flip your wrist band around and you are a riu palace guest (if you want to hang there, they wear white).

That's about it. Great experience. We can't wait to go again with our friends. A group of friends would be a lot of fun there. For the money we paid, we couldn't ask for anymore value!!!