Riu Papayas

We've stayed at the Hotel Riu Papayas many times over the last few years. We stayed here this time for 14 nights this time, the hotel is all inclusive. As a summary, we like the hotel, it has a good feel to it in general. It's a very busy & often full occupancy hotel, which must be a great plus for Riu Hotels & Resorts. The cleanliness of the hotel everywhere is exceptional. The food is always good and the staff are helpful and friendly. Nice spacious room & bathroom. Overall a good hotel, great location and good food, lots of options at the buffet for a 4 star Hotel. The two Restaurants (Olé & Zhu) are a nice touch too if you're bored of the buffet (you can book these on the Riu App or at reception during your stay) These two restaurants DESPERATELY require some music playing low, they need some ambience. The fridge in the rooms & the free safe are a great plus (all rooms could do with an Iron and Ironing board as standard) There are a few negatives to this hotel. One is the gym (the opening hours have finally been improved to stay open until 9pm which is great, however... it's still a large space that requires more gym equipment for the size of the hotel (a multi gym) the size of the gym room/space can easily accommodate this. Dunas lounge bar should be open until midnight. Plunging guests into complete darkness at 11pm is quite frankly unacceptable & downright rude. Plus there are no bar snacks or peanuts or crisps to snack on when you're having a drink, this is very strange & snacks should be offered with a drink (self service of course) Housekeeping are exceptional, however the noise they make in the floors/hallways in the morning is so LOUD! if you want to sleep in, then you can't. The hallways are tiled and so very very noisy and this echoes into the room easily. When this hotel is renovated they should add an additional second door onto the rooms between the bathroom and bedroom to stop this travel of noise. Here are my pointers both positive ✅️ & negative ❌️ Great ✅️ ✅️ Exceptionally Clean throughout. ✅️ Great Housekeeping (Everything is always restocked & cleaned) ✅️ Large rooms ✅️ Comfortable beds ✅️ Great breakfast ✅️ Good food selection ✅️ Good bar service and great drinks ✅️ Alejandro (Manager) on Reception is exceptional ✅️ Good Gym/Fitness centre (needs a few additions) ✅️ Good Pool ✅️ Great location ✅️ Pool towels ✅️ Good WiFi ✅️ Great Air Conditioning ✅️ Lovely atmosphere throughout ✅️ A great 4 star rated option ✅️ Great value overall ✅️ Dining options of main Buffet & additional restaurants ✅️ Safe in room included ✅️ Fridge in the room ✅️ Near the beach ✅️ By the shops ✅️ The general manager is great, friendly & proactive Needs improvement ❌️ Bathrooms linens/towels are very worn & old ❌️ No Irons ❌️ Very noisy corridors, the noise of Housekeeping and screaming children travel right into the rooms. ❌️ Gym desperately requires an addition of a multi gym and some additional equipment. A large room but not filled to capacity with equipment. ❌️ Pepe's snack bar isn't great, requires a larger selection, pizza's etc. ❌️ 24 all inclusive offering is "questionable" the offering is extremely minimal. ❌️ No peanuts/bar snacks or ambient snacks are available with a drink. ❌️ Dunas lounge bar should be open until midnight. Plunging guests into complete darkness at 11pm is quite frankly unacceptable & rude. ❌️ Sun Parasols should be added to ALL roof top sunbathing areas. ❌️ Olé & Zhu need some low music playing to create some kind of ambience within the restaurants. ❌️ Olé desperately requires a vegetarian main dish added to the main course menu options. Top Tips... Bring a travel Iron if you require one as the hotel doesn't have any irons for use at all.

My friend and I stayed at the Riu Papayas in November 2026 while attending the Freedom Pride festival at the Yumbo Centre, and we had a fantastic stay. The hotel was lovely and clean, the food was out of this world, and the pool was kept exceptionally clean. The staff were fantastic, and the entertainment team were brilliant. My only reservation was being on a high floor with glass balconies, but that’s purely a personal preference. Overall, a wonderful hotel and a fantastic experience. I will be back!

Lovely clean hotel, great location- 25 min walk to beach although hotel runs a regular courtesy bus. Good pool with plenty of sunbeds. Rooms good with plenty storage. Friendly, helpful staff. Food excellent. Would definitely go back

We’ve had a brilliant week-long holiday! The hotel, rooms and pool were spotlessly clean, the food was delicious and hot at every meal, and the cocktails were fantastic. The 24-hour food and drink was a real bonus! The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, and the entertainment day and night was fantastic. We couldn’t fault our stay and would definitely return. Highly recommend! ☀️🍹

The hotel itself is probably average to fair, but unfortunately as I was traveling as a solo adult with a child the average service did cause some issues. On arrival the reception staff were really friendly and whilst I appreciate they obviously don’t usually assist guests to their rooms, I thought that when they directed me to my room on the other side of the building with two suitcases, hand luggage, a child and two pool towels…. that someone could have offered a hand. But no help was offered. I’ve only been here for three days and my key card deactivated itself four times already. Each time we have a long trek back to reception. Apparently the key system is very old and will be replaced soon. The service in the restaurant is non existent. Sure it’s a buffet and self serve drinks, but the drink selection is really limited (postmix, watered down juices, beer or wine from a tap). Tonight I asked if we could get a glass of milk for my son, when it hadn’t come ten minutes later I checked and was told that I’d have to leave my son in the restaurant and walk over to the bar to get him a glass of milk. Again, no effort to go above and beyond. It’s not horrendous, but for a four star and at this price it does unfortunately miss the mark in a number of places.