Riu Palace Macao

So I was at the resort from the 15th to the 20th and I when I say i was super disappointed with this hotel. 1st thing I’ll get into is the fact my group had 4 swim up rooms and when I book the room I was asked did I want double beds or just one and for 2 out of the 4 rooms I asked for doubles and wasn’t given that the hotel made no effort to rectify the situation even said the hotel that all their swim up rooms had one bed instead we was told we could downgrade to a room upstairs no as the days progressed as I was walking pass the swim ups I seen a room that had two beds go figure. 2nd issue two rooms was under one reservation and instead of the hotel charging what the break down was for each room they decided to charge one with almost 4000 and the other one 1458 when each room was suppose to be charge 2500. And now the issue wasn’t caught on our end because the hotel charge one card 2100 at check in then two days later they charged the 1458 when we bought this to the front desk supervisor attention he was adamant that we swipe one card twice which was not the case I showed documentation of the price of each room which basically didn’t matter because all the supervisor kept saying was that we swiped one card twice. When I further explained to that maybe he and his staff should take accountability of this issue because the staff was suppose to charge each room the supervisor stated it was his staff that does the breakdown but the reservation team. When asked to speak with the reservation team the supervisor put me on the phone with a team member who informed me it wasn’t them that charge what was charge but yet the hotel was the one’s responsible when in informed the reservation team the hotel is say it’s their fault they asked to speak with the hotel supervisor. There was a conversation between the 2 in Spanish that I could not understand but basically all they did was inform to write a complaint via email. 3rd issue the RIU brand is known as a party hotel and that was far from what we experienced. While at the bar there was another guest who literally stated this is giving retirement home. The did have there white party which was dead than the pink party which I will say was very packed. Last was the neon party which we didn’t make it to but I didn’t hear anything about the party so idk if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. 4th issue The food the buffet was just like any other all-inclusive hit or miss so I wasn’t expecting much from it a bigger selection could have helped possibly. The Italian restaurant was a no . The steak house was okay my group had it twice second time majorly of the group ended up with stomach issues. The highlight was pepa which was by the pool and I have no complaints about their food . I’m going to end this long review with I’ll never return to a RIU brand I will stick to what I accustomed to which is the Royalton brand of the Hyatt brand . If whoever reads this decides to go I hope your experience is better than mines

This stay was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime anniversary trip, something special we spent over $3000 on. Instead, it turned into one of the most frustrating and disappointing travel experiences we’ve ever had. From the moment we arrived, things were not right. The room had basic issues that were never resolved. The TV was broken the entire stay despite reporting it twice. The room phone also did not work, which meant every single time we needed anything—whether it was towels, questions, or room service—we had to physically go down to the lobby. For a resort that presents itself as “luxury,” this felt completely unacceptable. What made it worse was the complete lack of coordination around our anniversary dinner. There was no communication between staff. The restaurant had no idea about our reservation or arrangement, and instead of taking ownership and fixing it, we were told to go back to the lobby and figure it out ourselves. It honestly felt like we were being passed around instead of being taken care of. Throughout the stay, we kept hearing that things would be “taken care of,” but nothing ever actually was. Issues were acknowledged, but never resolved. The feeling was not just inconvenience—it was disappointment after disappointment, especially for something that was supposed to be meaningful. At one point, we even escalated concerns because it became clear nothing was being addressed properly on-site. For a resort that promotes itself as high-end, the lack of service, follow-through, and basic organization was shocking. This was not the relaxing, special anniversary experience we planned for—it was stressful, frustrating, and deeply disappointing. I would not return, and I would strongly advise others to think carefully before booking

My wife and I decided to give Punta Cana (Bavaro area this time) another try. We stayed at a resort last year which was half way between the airport and this location. While that trip wasnt at a Riu, the vacation was nice but not great. This year we were very pleased with not only the resort, but the staff and beach area as well. It was an excellent trip and we felt it to be a very good value. My wife and I are in our early 50’s and traveled from the Northeastern US. We flew direct and stayed at Riu Macao from 4/8-4/15. We met a wide range of people from Europe, Canada, and Americans representing young couples to those enjoying their retirement years. The atmosphere was very laid back with typical events like volleyball, pool aerobics, stretching, and other games to keep guests engaged by the pools and beach. There are 3 pools, in relative close proximity to each other. The pool with a swim up bar naturally gets pretty busy but there is still plenty of area to enjoy yourself. We never once had to play the towel game. There were always seats available and I believe the resort was at capacity during our trip. At no point did it feel terribly crowded. This area was beautiful. The stretch of beach was long and wide. We did a 2 mile walk every morning in each direction. The water was mostly clear of seaweed but there was a little more on our second to last day. The resort uses heavy machinery to keep the beaches virtually immaculate. Even on the beaches there was plenty of chairs for all. We have grown to really like the Riu brand. Their staff in our opinion has been among the best we have encountered. We have stayed in Aruba many times as well as Cancun, their hotel in NYC and now Riu Macao. Their customer service makes you genuinely feel welcome. Last year the resort staff (again, not a Riu) was the main factor of us not being very pleased with an otherwise very nice resort. We were almost reluctant to return this year. Id like to thank our breakfast server in particular Degoberto and the bartender Kelvin at Joey’s Bar for remembering my decaf coffee in the morning and my wife’s espresso martini’s after dinner. There were many other very personable staff but these two in particular really went out of their way day in and day out with exceptional customer service with a smile. The dining options here were pretty good. We are spoiled with very good Italian cuisine at home so we skipped their Italian option. No reservations were needed at any time for any of the restaurants. We ate at roughly the same time every evening (around 630) and with the exception of our last night we never had to wait to be seated. On the second to last night (our second visit to Kabuki-the Japanese themed restaurant) we did have to wait an hour, but we went across the lobby to the Cuban bar and had a drink while we waited. The buffet was good with typical offerings. Each night featured a different theme (Latin seafood, Italian, American, etc…). The resort itself was immaculate. It seemed very well staffed and maintained. Our room was nice with a king sized bed, walk in shower, and double vanity. Due to all of the palm trees and distance from the hotel to the beach, several hundred yards) ocean view really wasn't a big factor although we did end up with a view facing the ocean. Noise level was pretty good. The Japanese restaurant ws pretty loud inside and occasionally the evening entertainment ran until about midnight and could be heard from our room-but it wasn't overwhelming by any means. I don't want to ramble on too long but wanted to share some our experiences here. Aruba has always been our “gold standard” for vacations- but this is a very, very close second at a far greater value!

An extremely clean resort with excellent service. It’s well worth the money. The pool area and beach are very enjoyable, with plenty of palm trees adding to the atmosphere. You get a pass for all 4 Riu.

Probably the best of the 5 or 6 RIU Palace I've stayed at. The all inclusive is nice but I felt some of the cocktails were more ice than content. Not much choice in beer either. Food was fine but as a vegetarian it was not easy as labelling in the buffet was very patchy - I even overheard another guest asking if a dish was vegetarian, so not just me. The specialty restaurants don't seem to have heard of such a thing, but the Italian did do me a vegetarian pasta on request. The room was very nice and modern and the service good (but I always leave them an extra tip). There were a couple of cockroaches I saw when getting up in the middle of the night (I'm old) but that comes with the climate. (On my last day/night I actually caught and repositioned both of them - yay!) Of the four RIU on this site this has the lowest room count and it shows. Walking through the others they are noticeably busier, especially Bambi and Bavaro with more than double - and kids. The one downside of this site is location - you can't really walk off site to anything, it's tour or taxi.