Riu Palace Peninsula

We stayed at the RIU Palace Peninsula in November 2025. We’re fans of RIU Palace hotels in general, and, like the other properties we’ve visited, this one has its pros and cons. Check-in was quick and efficient, and we were accommodated in the exclusive adults-only villa section, which has its own pool area and speciality restaurant. There is no lift, although the bellboy carried our cases upstairs for us. The villa suites are slightly more spacious, with the usual huge bed, drinks optics and well-stocked fridge. The buffet was excellent, and bar service throughout the hotel was very good. There are also several speciality restaurants, although we feel the menus across RIU hotels have become a little tired. These days, we tend to stick to the steakhouse and Italian. Getting a sun lounger was never a problem, either at the exclusive pool or elsewhere around the hotel. The main pools were more family-orientated, so having the quieter adults-only area was a welcome benefit. For us, the main drawback was the busy atmosphere. This is a large hotel attracting plenty of families and younger adults. Guests of retirement age looking for a quieter holiday may find some of the livelier behaviour a little much. We also felt that some guests’ choice of clothing outside the pool areas was rather too casual for the surroundings. As we’ve found at other RIUs, the entertainment programme could do with a refresh. On the plus side, the grounds are spacious, with plenty of places to sit, enjoy a drink and relax. The location is convenient too. Although it isn’t right in the heart of Cancún’s hotel zone, you can walk to the livelier area or catch one of the inexpensive buses stopping directly outside. These are also handy for exploring further afield. Overall, we enjoyed our stay. You want for nothing, and the staff go out of their way to help. However, we’ll probably choose a fully adults-only RIU for our next visit, as we feel that would suit us better.

Our wonderful experience at Riu Palace Peninsula began before we even arrived! Customer Service Representative Violeta Garcia listened to our requests and took the time to check on us during our stay. Her thoughtfulness made us feel truly welcome and valued. A special thank-you also goes to Marcelo at the adults-only Elite pool. He was attentive, kind, and hardworking—we were never without a drink or a kind word. He made our time by the pool especially enjoyable. The service, food, and cleanliness are exemplary. This was our first visit since the renovation, and the resort is better than ever. Thank you to everyone who helped make our stay so special. We look forward to returning!

While the beach here is amazing, I am extremely disappointed with the service my family and I are receiving. We have been to many different Riu and the service here is by far the worst. The staff is quite careless and sometimes you will repeat yourself more than twice for the same thing you want before they finally bring it to you. The cafe area at Capuchino is lacking a lot of items and very limited (by around 8/9 PM, it’s already empty and not refilled). The buffet has limited selection of foods, and any cafe drinks I have ordered have all been watered down/incorrect. The Sports Bar has like 2 waiters and it takes a while to receive anything, even your drinks. I think the biggest disappointment is the tone of voice the managers up front use, they seem to not care about what my family and I have to say as far as the care we are receiving, and always have an attitude. Actually, when I asked to talk to the front desk manager about a concern, she was there infront of me but refuesed to even look up or approach me to talk to me, instead sent someone else. What kind of management is that? I believe that with the amount of people that vacation here & refer their family and friends the service should be outstanding, this hotel is not cheap at all. I really wanted to love this hotel, but the service provided so far by staff and management is making me not want to come back or ever refer anyone here again. People wait so long for their vacations sometimes, and they deserve to have great service and food especially at hotels like this.

I'm currently staying at Riu and whoever said it was a non-stop party is absolutely insane. Everything goes quiet at about 9-10 pm

Reception check-in excellent and was quick and efficient. Room was spacious and we were on the 15th floor with a great view of the beach and complex. Cleaners come daily and kept the room immaculate. À la cartes were very good especially the steak house, Sakura Asian ,and Krystal. The Mexican was ok but we found a lot of the food we could get in the buffet. There’s an Italian also that we didn’t visit. You don’t need to book just turn up and if it’s busy they give u a wait time and a buzzer which you can take to the bar until it activates to let you know table is ready Buffet was ok and had all the staff offered exceptional service and did everything to cater to your needs Cappuccino bar was good offering selection of coffees and cakes. They have also introduced an ice cream parlour which was very good. Pools were good cleaned daily and there were numerous sun loungers so u didn’t have to get up early to grab a spot. I was down there every morning around 8.30 and was able to find a good spot without issue . Bars excellent, especially lobby bar but waiters come around often to take your orders around pool and bring drinks to you from the pool bar. Towel booth opened every morning between 7am and 7pm. Sports bar very good and you can order lunch in there which I found better than the buffet lunch. Beach was a disappointment with lots of seaweed along the coast and on the water but this is something a lot of carribean islands are having to tackle. They had workers trying to clear some of it every morning but were fighting a losing battle . My wife got ill after 6 days and rather call a doctor to visit the hotel we used Medicare centre cancun that had English speaking doctor and cost of examination over 30 minutes was around £53.00 . Much less expensive than if we had asked hotel to call one. Antibiotics were prescribed that treated various bacterial and parasite infections as they were not sure what type of infection she had and she began to improve after a couple of days so if you suffer any kind of bacterial bug on holiday this clinic was excellent. It was situated a mile and a half from resort between hotel and RIU los americanos hotel. Reception was very good when I asked if they good do some chicken broth as she couldn’t eat anything from buffet and they arranged for soup to be brought to her room. Animation team did lots of activities throughout the day and there was a good kids club for the young ones. Now for some small negatively about resort. Buffet not as good as three yeas ago and became repetitive. Last visit there were more food stations serving things like Japanese yakisoba noodles and rice with other Asian dishes but no longer. No pate for breakfast and the buffet for lunch and dinner was certainly not as good as the food three years ago. . Second moan was the animation team who were far too loud on the microphone and speakers. Music played at time was so loud I though my sun lounger was in the middle of a night club. They need to turn it down and only play music loud enough for the area they are doing the activity rather than blast it all over the pool complex. Bingo was played twice a day around the pool with rep bellowing out numbers on microphone. Would have been better to have held bingo by pool bar on table and chairs as was done in another RIU palace I stayed at in march this year so not to spoil the ambiance of the pool area and use of speakers. Lastly dress code. I went to get a coffee at 6pm to take to my room to be told I needed to put on a top as I only had a towel on me. I apologised as didn’t know it was a requirement but the next day at the same time , three woman in bikinis were ordering coffees and nothing was said to them. I have no problem with dress code but apply it consistently or don’t bother. Last tip don’t use atms in hotel or outside as you get ripped of with poor rates and high transaction fees . The hotel has an exchange desk and I found that much more beneficial than atms. Overall a great two weeks despite the few moans and if your a party goer they have 4 RIU parties a week at the next door RIU Caribe.