We stayed here for 3 nights from Feb 16-19. I have heard good things about Riu Resorts in Mexico and Jamaica, so maybe I had too high of expectations.

I will start with the pros;

-Large Room
-Nice Pool area, with good pool bar and staff at bar and towel guy are good
-Nice beachfront, with nice boardwalk right at your fingertips

Now the Cons and there are many!

-Really large walk in closet, unfortunately there is no light in it and at night time it is nearly impossible to see anything in it
-Hallways, stairways, Foyer and Rooms are all in desperate need of a paint job and many plaster repairs. Some areas are jsut crumbling.
-Free Wifi in lobby only, why not offer it throughout? It is 2013.
-No phonebooks in rooms or any local brochures in rooms.. Hard to find things to do without going down to the lobby to use the free wifi.
-No channel List in room for TV stations
-They charge you for local phone calls, almost a dollar to order a pizza
-Wouldn't let the Pizza man come up to deliver pizza, I had to go down 9 levels to get it.


Now here are a few other things that are not complaints about the hotel, just observastions I made while staying there. If you think you are booking a hotel in the heart of South Beach, you aren't. It is not a far walk as we did the walk multiple times a day, but it is a few miles to get to the hot spots.

There is a lot of construction going on right now in this area, and they work Both days during the weekend. You WILL hear jackhammers, and smashig of metal as forums are being build in surrounding buildings. It is not a big deal, but it is present.

Lastly, this hotel is not new whatsoever. It is stale, and in need of a major facelift. I would expect much more from a 4 star hotel, and have stayed in more comforting 2 star hotels.

We arrived at the Rui after 10 days in Orlando staying at the much cheaper, cleaner and friendlier Quality Inn on International Drive and was met by the vallet who promptly informed us of the parking charges before we were even though the door ($80 for 4 nights)!
We offered to pay cash for this at check in, but the receptionist insisted that this was instead secured on my partners credit card (we discovered when we got back to the UK they had actually charged $100).
We were given far from a warm welcome by the member of staff who didn't even look at us when talking to us. We were given our room key cards and was told about the pool facilities and access to the beach, but they did not have any towels for us at that time!
Our room was a disappointment, the carpets were stained, the windows were filthy and the door was hanging off the minifridge in the dented and scuffed sideboard. Our toilet wouldn't flush properly, so we constantly had to lift the cistern off to make it flush. This is not something I would usually pick at.. however this place is 4*?? I expected a higher standard.
The only member of staff who I saw crack a smile was the young guy in the shop who assisted with excursion booking.
We ate twice in the hotel for breakfast, there was a large choice, but limited seating, and both times our breakfast was cold before we had chance to sit, usually at a table that had not been cleared from the previous guests.
All in all, the best part was actually leaving! Luckily for us, our time in Miami was spent mainly seeing the sites so we spent as little time as possible in the hotel.
We will not be returning.

My mom and I loved this place! Eveyone is so nice and helpful. Rooms are clean. Shopping nearby. The bus is out front that can take you where you wanna go (shopping, airport, ext...) for $2.00. The boardwalk behind the hotel is nice for walking too. Beach is nice blue water white sand. Theres a little strip mall about a block south with a cafe that has great red snapper on the menu for $8 the liquer store is there too if you drink buy something there and make your own cause the resort bar is very expensive. This resort adds the tip on any food or drinks you order which is ok if you know before hand. I loved this place and can't wait to go back :)

We went on a Cruise out of Miami that returned on 12/23/2012 and wanted to extend our stay and leave on Christmas. After looking online for several days we decided on this hotel. When we got there we were treated wonderfully. We were on a non-smoking floor and the first night noticed a strong cigarette smoke smell that got stronger as the night went on. We had a room that had an adjoining door and the people next door were smoking. When I told the front desk about it the next day they offered to move us to a better room (and said the smokers would be fined). Somehow my wallet got mixed in with the towels on the day of departure but after several calls I was told the laundry staff found it. The hotel manager kindly mailed it to me. Pool was nicest we saw within a 30 min walk both north and south. Easy to get a cab.