Riu Atoll

This is my fifth stay in a RIU hotel, this time at the RIU Atoll in the Maldives. I know it is only classed as a 4 star, but being the Maldives, I think my expectations were to be higher! Don’t get me wrong, it was still a great hotel, but, as said, the Maldives is your dream holiday. We stayed in villa 21, had a beach bungalow, this I would really recommend, straight out onto the beach, sea just in front of you, what would have been good though, a light outside on your terrace, to enjoy sitting there in the evenings before going to bed. The main buffet restaurant was quite good, there was something for everyone’s taste, a bit disappointed with the choice of fish, was expecting a lot more choice. We went to the steak restaurant, this was quite good, didn’t fancy the Italian one, but decided on the last night to give it a go, well, wished we had been there earlier, fantastic choice of starters, main meal choice was great, give it a go. I must mention two staff though, Susie and Nathalie, both in the buffet and in the speciality restaurants in the evening, they both went above and beyond, a great asset to our stay, so thank you to them both. The pool bar area was good, staff again were very accommodating, we did not use the pool, as we only went down to the main area for breakfast and evening meal, as it was so peaceful and idyllic outside of the apartment, the snorkelling was absolutely fantastic, we did go on the snorkelling boat trip, but the sea was a bit cloudy and did not see much, no fault of the staff, but we saw much more around the hotels reefs. All in all, a fantastic holiday.

This was supposed to be a wonderful final trip for me and my sister due to her cancer. It was not. The room was cold and we froze at night. Not allowed to adjust temperature or open doors to get acceptable temperature. Refused extra blankets when we asked for them. Bed sheets and towels had dirt stains. Reception asked ”do you really want new sheets?” After beach we did not dare to go back in our room to change due to hostile housekeeping asking us to leave. Housekeeping left water on floor and the door open which made reception send US an angry email! This made my sister scared to enter room, she sat outside crying. (At this point we contemplated to rebook an earlier flight home.) After this a machine for drying air, very noisy, suddenly appeared in our room making sleeping hard for the rest of the stay. The Travel agency finally helped us getting warm blankets. Transfer by domestic flight was not pleasant. Delayed and no information if the flight was canceled or not. The restaurant, however, was wonderful. Excellent service and helpful arranging our vegan food. The manager made our stay very pleasant and went out of his way to take care of us.

We stayed for 8 nights at the Riu Atoll. It was our first time in the Maldives and will definitely not be our last. This hotel was everything we expected and more. Relaxed vibe, casual atmosphere, incredible service, spotlessly maintained and cleaned, and good food and drink choice. The weather was perfect and the island itself and beaches were out of this world - postcard perfect! We stayed in a beachfront room in block 15. This was the perfect location for us because it was on the sunset side of the island, not far from the overwater room jetty. It was about a 5 minute walk to the pool and restaurant either along the beach or through the pathway. This was great for us as was close enough to everything but felt like you escaped to your own private bit of beach. And the shore line on this part of the island was perfect - powder sands, shallow below the waist for as far as we could walk out, calm. This side of the island had no real wind, whereas the other side was much windier (which some may prefer, as it does get pretty hot) we just walked about a lot to catch a breeze. We were reasonable walking distance to the house reef and did lots of snorkelling (took our own snorkels) and we also did some of the non-motorised water sports, which was a nice option to have. Nothing was ever too much trouble for the staff. They were all lovely, personable and the most efficient. Our room was kept spotlessly clean. Jessica and Neo at the pool bar were fab. And Annabel at the restaurant looked after us most days and was excellent. The speciality restaurants were good. We’ve experienced better in other hotels. The Italian was our favourite over the steak restaurant. We tended to prefer the buffet restaurant as there was always excellent variety from one meal to the next and one day to the next. There are only two bits of feedback I would give where there are opportunities for improvement. The gym - which we tried to use most days - was slightly lacking in equipment and could do with an upgrade for weight machines etc. The other was the evening entertainment - we didn’t find it to be great, but was almost entertaining nonetheless because of that. The singers and band were slightly amateur and didn’t have loads of stage presence, and their set list was a bit repetitive. The DJ on the other hand was fab, around the pool area of an evening and in the night times. The two set party nights - white night and disco - were really good, although odd that they were the nights where there was no waiter table service for drinks (which is standard every other night). Non of this stopped us rating this a 5/5 though and are just minor things that we felt/observed. It would not stop us coming back to Riu Atoll - we’d be back in a heartbeat! Thanks for an amazing stay.

The quality of this hotel and its brilliant staff, the staff were the best we have ever experienced and the attention to the surroundings were second to none, 3 restaurant options with a great selection of food and a brilliant swim up bar. The evening entertainment featured live music, and a nice touch was to have a large telescope to view the moon as its low light pollution. White sands, snorkelling off a coral reef nearby. Water centre offering free pedalos, kayaks and paddle boarding.

The hotel is great , rooms are clean and bright and always kept clean with great towel art. The staff are what really make this resort.(apart from the stunning views and great food)