We visited the RIU Vallarta from Nov 2 - 16, 2012. As with most of the reviews I do not have a lot of positive things to say about this resort but will start with the good.

We had a ocean view jr suite. The room itself was nice and clean. Our housekeeper did a good job. but no amenities available. Ask for a bed topper if you want a softer bed.

The staff at the bar in the courtyard were amazing especially Claudia, Jorge and Vanessa. The staff at the buffets were efficient and worked very hard but were quite often overwhelmed as usually understaffed.

Now onto the bad.

The pool: as described in a previous post a cesspool by afternoon with dead bugs and scum floating in the pool. The service at the pool was quite often lacking. Not sure why they call it an adults pool when children are allowed to be around the pool although they are not allowed in the pool.

Ala Carte restaurants: The Steakhouse was terrible both food and service. Sir Georges had good food but horrible service. Nirvana (Asian Restaurant) had good service but greasy chinese buffet.

Alcohol and drinks: Cheap watered down alcohol. The mix they use is very cheap and leaves a bad taste in you mouth. Bottles of wine are refilled with cheap wine.

The hotel fills with locals bussed in from Guadalajara on the weekends who are rude and pushy. The hotel does not open extra restaurants to deal with this or increase staff. Very frustrating.

I would definitely not go back to any of the Riu's in the PV area. Unfortunately the management of this hotel was told over and over by the Canadian and American visitors and really did not seem to care that we would not be back. This is why they are struggling in the first place and having to fill the hotels with locals.

This is without doubt the ABSOLUTE WORST hotel I have ever stayed in. Poor food, watered down drinks, wine bottles refilled with cheap wine,pool is like a cess pool by noon,used bottles of pop left in the servabar upon arrival, careless staff. The food at the buffets disappears quickly from Thurs. to Friday, when the "Locals" arrive & the serving staff are in no hurry to refill the depleted trays for the North Americans. No ammenities in the bathrooms. Tha alacartes leave a lot to be desired & the "Steakhouse" is the worst of all---terrible food & service. Have travelled throughout Canada, U.S; Mexico, South America & the Carribean--THIS IS THE WORST HOTEL I HAVE EVER BEEN IN !!! My advice would be to avoid this property at all costs!!!
The Riu chain will certainly never see us again !!!!

We stayed at the Riu Vallarta from November 4th to the 11th. Overall it was a great experience. If you are travelling with Sunwing, go on the catamaran snorkelling tour they offer. It is a blast and the fish you see are amazing! You may even get lucky and see some dolphins like we did! Hopefully your captain will be Gabriel! Say hi from Jay and Jessie! He is great! Overall I don't have any complaints about the hotel itself. The rooms were always clean, and the service was pretty good. I had to wait at the pool bar for drinks, but they were so busy as it was the weekend and that seems to be when the locals show up!!! I think they were overwhelmed!

We did not eat at any of the restaurants other than the buffet. I had zero problems with any of the food there. As with anything, it can get a little boring after 7 days, but really it was changed up every night for dinner! If you want to venture off the resort for an amazing dinner, head into Bucerias and go to Mar-Y-Sol. By far the best place we have been! The food is amazing, and you can't get anything better than the setting. Cesar took great care of us the entire evening. Ask for the Spanish Coffee ... it is to die for!

My biggest complaint (and it really isn't that much of a complaint) was that most of the guests of the resort were local Mexicans. But really, we are in their country so how can I complain about it. There were some instances where they were very pushy in lines at the buffet which was frustrating and it ticked me off, but I get ticked off when people are pushy at home as well! Also at night after the show they usually have a live band that plays until 11. The "dance floor" is always full of locals dancing away, and it is fun to watch ... as a person who was born with two left feet I quite enjoyed watching them dance. However if you want to go to bed early, or sit on your deck for some quite time, it is a little loud. With the door closed though the sound is muffled but if you are a light sleeper I would suggest bringing ear plugs.

All in all I would say it was a wonderful family vacation!

Let me start by saying the resort it self is beautiful. The room was lovely and clean, maid service was very good. The food was as to be expected, buffet, just okay. Nothing wrong with it but it did get a little on the boring side even though we tried all the specialty restaurants.
When we first arrived there was a hole in the ceiling of the lobby which was leaking water, a bucket under it to catch this. When we left seven days later it was a much larger hole with three buckets under it. It didn't affect us so I didn't let it bother me.
Now the pool........YUCK! It was filthy from the time we got there till the time we left. The whole reason for our trip was for a relax after a busy three months and before an even busier next three months. We were going to sit beside the pool the entire week and just swim and relax. I didn't pack a camera (big mistake) as I was only going to laze around, wasn't going to do anything that I would want a picture of and we had also been to P.V. several times so we had pictures of places already. Should have had it just to take pictures of this disgusting mess. The pool was so grungy that my husband, who managed to get a small cut on his foot, wouldn't go in for fear of infection. There was scum floating on it the entire week. On Thursday we were at the pool very early (always got there by 8:30) and there were two employees arguing about the cleanliness of the pool. The one person (looked like the manager) was ripping into the other person and telling him to get it cleaned. Two other employees popped into the picture and got in the pool with scrub brushes and set to work. This was at about 11 A.M. They scrubbed and talked for about 45 minutes, cleaned a section of about 10 feet and then left never to be seen again. All they did was make the mould that was in the groat float around and it was nasty stuff. On our final day when we went down to the pool there was crud floating EVERY WHERE. It looked like a bunch of people had just vomited and it was floating around.
We went to the front desk and asked for a manager. We got Ramon. We told him what the pool was like at that moment and what it had been like all week and how we were unhappy with it. He smirked at us like he just didn't care and was only listening because he had to. It wasn't until I called him by name and told him that a letter to Riu head office may be forth coming that he came to attention. Its remarkable the difference in attitude when a person realizes you Know their name and you may just use it in a letter to head office. Ramon told us that workers were out and cleaning it every morning at 6 A.M. I suggested that maybe the workers were sleeping in.
The unfortunate part of the story is we did not realize until that last day that we could use the pool at the Riu Jallisco. We walked over there and even though their pool is adult and children, it was pristine. They had a swim up bar as well. What they didn't have was the crude floating all around. We used that pool for the remainder of our stay, which was only a few hours. Wish we had found it earlier.
I have been trying to find a place to send a complaint directly to the Riu head office but as yet am unsuccessful. The only place I can find only allows 1000 characters. Lets see if they respond to the little bit I was able to detail.
So, while it was a lovely hotel, the pool is just an infection waiting to happen. BEWARE! Swim at your own risk.