Riu Bambu

We totally enjoyed our stay, the staff are very friendly and efficent. We are already planning our next visit.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RIU BAMBU – ANOTHER AMAZING STAY, AS ALWAYS! ❤️🇩🇴 Another amazing stay at Riu Bambu! As always, the food was great, the rooms were clean, and the beach was absolutely beautiful! I love that this resort offers the perfect balance of a quiet, relaxing atmosphere when you want it and a fun, lively party atmosphere when you’re ready to have a good time. But the REAL reason I return to Riu Bambu year after year is THE EMPLOYEES! ❤️ I cannot stress this enough. The staff are truly the heart and soul of this resort. They are some of the most hardworking, kind, welcoming, and genuinely amazing people I have ever met. They don’t just provide excellent service; they make you feel like family. Every time I return, I am greeted with smiles, hugs, and genuine warmth. They remember me, they take care of me, and they make every vacation feel like coming home. I want to recognize some very special people who make my stays unforgettable. ❤️ BUFFET STAFF: Carmen, Agusto (Ceaser), Luis, Berni, Familia, and Welinton. ❤️ MAIN POOL BAR STAFF: Johnny, Daniel, Casandra, Mejia, Oscar, En Paketate, and Bienva. ❤️ BAR STAFF BY BLOCK 40 (BACK POOL): Moises and Nelson. ❤️ LOBBY BAR: Padilla. ❤️ POOL AND TOWEL HUT STAFF: Every single one of you! The hardworking employees who clean and maintain the pool areas, take care of the grounds, and work at the towel hut deserve just as much recognition. Your hard work never goes unnoticed or unappreciated! I know there are many more wonderful employees whose names I may have forgotten to mention, but please know that every single one of you contributes to making this resort so special. NOW, MY BIGGEST CONCERN IS THE UPCOMING RENOVATION. I sincerely hope that RIU recognizes just how valuable these employees are and that ALL of them will be welcomed back once the refurbishment is complete. I have already booked my next vacation for October 2027, but I want to be very clear about something: If the employees who have made this resort so special are not brought back, I will cancel my reservation. Beautiful beaches, renovated rooms, and updated facilities are wonderful, but they can never replace the people who make guests want to return. You can renovate a resort, but you cannot renovate the genuine warmth, kindness, loyalty, and personal connections these employees have built with returning guests. I don’t return to Riu Bambu simply because of the resort. I RETURN BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE! These employees are the reason I feel comfortable, safe, welcomed, and appreciated every single time I visit. They are the reason Riu Bambu feels like my home away from home. My biggest hope is that when I walk through those doors next October, I will see all those familiar faces waiting to welcome me back. RIU, PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO TAKE SUCH AMAZING CARE OF YOUR GUESTS! ❤️ They are your greatest asset, and they deserve to be recognized, appreciated, and brought back. Until we meet again, much love and appreciation to my Riu Bambu family! ❤️🇩🇴

RIU Bambu, Dominican Republic – A Disappointing Holiday Made Worse by the Handling of Our Complaints ⭐ 2/5 Stars Having previously stayed at RIU hotels, we booked RIU Bambu expecting the usual standards of hospitality, cleanliness and service associated with the brand. Unfortunately, our experience fell well below expectations, and what should have been a relaxing Caribbean holiday turned into a series of disappointments, followed by an extremely frustrating complaints process. Food Quality and Hygiene One of our biggest concerns was the food. We certainly don’t expect five-star fine dining at an all-inclusive resort, but we do expect food to be fresh, hygienically prepared and safe to eat. During our stay, I discovered sausages in the sports bar that were visibly covered in mould. I photographed them and reported the issue directly to TUI. This was completely unacceptable and raised serious concerns about food hygiene standards. Following this incident, we were offered what we understood to be a relocation to one of RIU’s Palace hotels. However, as this offer came on the penultimate day of our holiday, we declined because moving hotels for our final night was impractical. What has happened since is particularly concerning. RIU is now denying that any offer of relocation was made, instead claiming that we were merely invited to visit another hotel for dinner. This is categorically NOT what we were told. We know the difference between being offered a hotel relocation and being invited out for dinner! To make matters worse, TUI appears to be accepting the hotel’s version of events over ours. It is incredibly frustrating to have experienced these problems firsthand, only to have our account disputed afterwards. The Toilet Situation – Absolutely Unacceptable When we first inspected our room, we discovered that the toilet flush was not working properly. The only way to flush the toilet was to physically put our hands INSIDE the toilet cistern and operate the mechanism manually. Yes, you read that correctly. We had to put our hands inside the cistern every time we needed to flush the toilet! We reported this to reception in person on our initial inspection of the room. Despite this, nothing was done. We continued reporting the problem to reception, but it took THREE DAYS and an escalation to TUI before the issue was finally resolved. For three days, we were expected to use a toilet that could only be flushed by manually reaching into the cistern. This was inconvenient, unpleasant and completely unacceptable for a hotel operating as an international holiday resort. What makes this even worse is that RIU has subsequently told TUI that we never reported the issue to reception! This is simply untrue. We reported it in person, repeatedly, and it was only after escalating the matter to TUI that anything was done. TUI offered us a £50 goodwill gesture in recognition of this issue. At the time of writing this review, we STILL have not received the promised £50. Entertainment – Repetitive and Very Disappointing The evening entertainment was another major disappointment. We enjoy evening entertainment when we’re on holiday, particularly at an all-inclusive resort where you expect a reasonable variety of shows, music and activities. Unfortunately, the main entertainment seemed to revolve around the same Spanish-language singer, whose performances we personally found very poor. There was little variety, and certainly nothing that made us look forward to the evening programme. After the first week, we stopped bothering with the main entertainment altogether and decided to make our own fun at the TUI bar instead. We actually enjoyed creating our own atmosphere, but unfortunately, even this came with its own problems. The TUI bar is situated close to the beach, where we were regularly approached and hassled by men carrying animals, including monkeys and parrots, who were trying to make money from tourists by encouraging photographs. We also witnessed individuals we believed to be local drug dealers approaching the bar. What concerned us even more was seeing these individuals being provided with complimentary drinks. I cannot verify what arrangements, if any, these individuals had with the hotel, but their presence and the apparent willingness to serve them free drinks made us extremely uncomfortable. It is disappointing enough when the hotel entertainment is so poor that guests choose to entertain themselves, but they should at least be able to enjoy a drink without unwanted approaches or concerns about who is frequenting the bar. Swimming Pool and Facilities We also experienced the disappointment of a swimming pool being unavailable during our stay. For many holidaymakers, spending time around the pool is a major part of an all-inclusive Caribbean holiday, so having facilities unavailable was frustrating. TUI acknowledged this issue and offered £165 in holiday vouchers, which we accepted and applied towards a future booking. Unacceptable Guest Behaviour and Lack of Intervention Another particularly distressing experience involved two female guests whose behaviour became increasingly unacceptable. The situation escalated to the point where racist and derogatory remarks were being directed towards other holidaymakers. It created an extremely unpleasant atmosphere and caused considerable distress. The women were eventually removed from the hotel, but in my opinion, management should have intervened much sooner rather than allowing the situation to reach that point. Every guest deserves to enjoy their holiday without being subjected to abusive, intimidating or discriminatory behaviour. A Very Important Warning – GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING! If there is one piece of advice I would give anyone staying at RIU Bambu, it is this: DO NOT rely on reporting problems verbally to reception. GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING! We made the mistake of believing that speaking directly to hotel reception was sufficient. Unfortunately, we have since found ourselves in a position where the hotel is disputing what was reported and what was offered. Two separate issues have now become our word against the hotel’s: * The toilet fault, which we repeatedly reported in person, but which RIU subsequently claimed had never been reported. * The offer to relocate us to a Palace hotel, which RIU now claims was merely an invitation to dinner. In both cases, our recollection of events is very clear, yet TUI appears to be giving greater weight to the hotel’s account. My advice to fellow travellers is to report absolutely EVERYTHING through the TUI app, even if you’ve already spoken to reception. Take photographs, keep screenshots, record dates and times, and insist that any offers or promises are confirmed in writing. I cannot stress this enough. Had we known our verbal reports and conversations would later be disputed, we would have documented every single interaction. Overall Verdict We are experienced travellers and generally very easy-going people. We understand that things occasionally go wrong on holiday, and we certainly don’t expect perfection. However, there is a huge difference between an occasional inconvenience and repeated issues involving food hygiene, broken facilities, disappointing entertainment, unwanted approaches around the bar, unacceptable guest behaviour and a complaints process where your account of events is subsequently challenged. What has disappointed us most is not simply that things went wrong, but the way our complaints have been handled afterwards. We paid for a relaxing holiday, not three days of manually flushing a broken toilet, concerns about mouldy food, poor entertainment, distressing incidents involving other guests and then having to defend our honesty when raising legitimate complaints. We have already booked another RIU hotel in Jamaica for 2027, so we clearly haven’t written off the entire brand. However, this experience has seriously damaged our confidence in RIU and the way customer complaints are investigated. Would we return to RIU Bambu? Absolutely not. The Dominican Republic is a beautiful country, and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from visiting. However, based on our personal experience, I cannot recommend RIU Bambu. And to anyone planning to stay here, please remember: Photograph everything. Report everything through the app. Get every promise in writing. Because if something goes wrong, you may find yourself having to prove conversations you never imagined would be disputed. A holiday should leave you with happy memories, not a battle to have your concerns believed.

Before coming to the RIU Bambu we saw many hugely negative reviews and some good we didn’t stress just decided to take it as we found it. I’m glad we did there was no horrific issues the rooms weren’t falling apart or anything drastic. Okay for finer details Rooms are nice nothing spectacular but you do have a mini bar and fridge re stocked every two days this was enough for us if your a big drinker you may need to request extra through the app, Our shower drain seemed to empty really slowly but wasn’t a massive issue One night our aircon which was a god send started to leak at 11pm typical cause maintenance don’t work after 11pm I reported the issue to reception and it continued to work throughout the night and maintenance came in the morning and fixed it no dramas. Bed was harder then I like but that’s a personal opinion. To be really picky they could do with a light on the balcony but again not a huge issue Housekeeping perfect never an issue respected do not disturb door card and cleaned well when we wanted it done. Waiting and bar staff couldn’t fault them at all we tipped more so the wait staff and they definitely appreciated it it’s true what they say if you tip you get better service if that angers anyone then so be it but maybe look at how hard they work around you and Google their wages it might make you want to tip more! all the pools were clean and tidy except one which we didn’t use for that reason and it’s the swim up bar pool where everyone seems to think smoking and drinking and leaving there mess wherever they want is okay so not the hotels fault it’s guests being disgusting and lazy The hotel provides all your towels bath towels and pool towels the orange ones being pool towels which are in your room when you arrive you use them and take them to the towel hut and they give you towel cards to collect new ones the next time you go to the pool. Food and drink there is way more than enough to choose from if you can’t find something then it’s not the hotels fault it’s the fault of your pickiness unless you have an allergy then you might struggle as no allergy info is shown so you need to figure it out from looking. But chefs at each station were seen to be cooling fresh for some people. Maybe that was why? Entertainment mostly Spanish so we didn’t bother we went back to our perfectly airconned room and played cards 😂 We booked our day trips through get your guide which was cheaper then most places and all turned up on time no issues.

WORST HOTEL EVER. Do not bother booking here!! Rooms are disgusting, food is terrible. I wouldn’t let a dog stay here. There’s plug sockets hanging off the wall, bugs on the bed and crawling up the walls, dirty bed sheets and pillows, broken showers, broken taps, I could go on. A handful of staff are really helpful but the rest are rude. Has never been a 4-5 star hotel, it’s more like a 1 star hotel and I’d be nice to even say that. Do not waste your money coming to this hotel as you will regret it like we have.