Riu Palace Macao - All Inclusive - Adults Only

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

6963 reviews

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  Horrible Hotel-Roaches-Bad toilets-Food-Beach not blue

  RIU Palace Macao, Punta Cana — October 15–21 Nonworking Toilets, Broken Phones, and Serious Safety Concerns What should have been an enjoyable girls’ trip with family became a frightening and disappointing experience. I paid approximately $1,800 for my stay, and I expected the basics: a working toilet, a working telephone, a clean room, and safety. The toilet in my first room did not work, and the toilet in my replacement room barely worked. On vacation, you should not have to worry about whether you can use the bathroom in your own room. The telephones in both rooms also did not work. When something goes wrong—or you feel unsafe—you should be able to call the front desk without getting dressed and going downstairs. These are basic necessities, not luxury amenities. My first room also had problems with the air-conditioning and fan controls. That evening, someone pounded on my door around 9:00 p.m. and again around 9:30 p.m., without identifying themselves in a way I could understand. Although I was traveling with family, I was alone in my room. I could not reach the peephole without standing on a chair, and there was no additional interior security latch. I reported the incidents the next morning, but similar disturbances happened the following night. Staff eventually moved me to what they described as a better room. I appreciated the move, but along with the barely functioning toilet and broken telephone, the hair dryer did not work. I reported the hair dryer after dinner and requested a repair. That did not mean I agreed to a late-night visit or entry without my permission. Late that night, while I was in bed speaking with my husband by phone, a man knocked and entered my room despite my saying “no” at least four times. He spoke Spanish, which I do not understand, and eventually left. As a survivor of a previous attack and sexual assault, I found this especially distressing. The fact that he did not physically harm me does not make entering against my repeated objections acceptable. Later that night, I found large cockroaches on my bed and had to kill them myself. With no working room telephone, I could not immediately call for assistance. I went to the front desk around 6:50 a.m., before a scheduled excursion, but was told the manager would not arrive until 9:30 a.m. I raised my concerns repeatedly, including while crying to a female staff member. The room-entry incident was characterized as a “training opportunity.” I was not asking for anyone to be fired; I wanted the seriousness of what happened acknowledged and my safety concerns addressed. Additional unexpected maintenance visits only increased my discomfort. The beach and food were disappointing as well. During my stay, the beach water was not blue or see-through, and swimming did not feel like a practical option. Overall, the food was below par, with one notable exception: the Asian restaurant was excellent. When I contacted RIU’s complaints department, I was referred to Expedia because I booked through that platform. Expedia said it did not manage the property and could not resolve the issues, leaving me without a meaningful resolution. A working toilet, a telephone to reach assistance, and respect for a guest’s refusal to allow entry should be basic expectations. My experience at RIU Palace Macao fell far short of those expectations, and I cannot recommend this property based on my stay. The staff is this hotels, saving Grace. Although the hotel room was horrible and my experience at this hotel wasn’t great. The staff were friendly. I recommend the omelettes. I highly recommend the Asian restaurant. It’s the only restaurant that served hot fresh food each time I went and ate there. The steakhouse was OK but the food was not hot and the lobster mac & cheese was watery instead of creamy. My guess is to cut cost or stretch the cheese. The first time when we ate at the steakhouse, the bread was piping hot and delicious the other two times we went there. Everything was warm at best. The lobster was rubbery. I do understand it is a resort hotel but I’ve stayed at many resort hotels and the food has been better. I think it’s this hotel chain honestly. This is my third time staying at this hotel chain. I can’t do whatever ever again.

  Oct 21, 2026
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  Rave Party Hotel

  I am not in the habit of leaving reviews as I feel we are all different and have different preferences, however I am going to make an exception for this hotel. The location is like desert island perfect, even if you did get a bit of seaweed at the beach it was cleared. The hotel is stunning as is the whole Riu Palace complex. Food - we never went hungry as there was so much variety and there are 5 restuarants to choose from each serving delicious delights to tempt your taste buds Rooms - Our first room had a lot of humidity and a damp fusty smell but we moved to another room that was great, I would advise people to take the damp/humidity catchers, which we discovered other guests had taken. The rooms are spacious, plenty of storage, optics, fully stocked refrigerator and plenty of clean towels, our room was always well cleaned. Staff - We thought that the greatest strength of this Hotel had to be its staff, who work so hard to make your vacation a memorable experience and with a happy smile. Ok now to the negative bit. We booked this Hotel for some well deserved and needed RnR, however from around 1030hrs most days the entertainment team turned up the volumn then a little later turned up the volumn again and again it was like attending a daytime Rave party, especially when the DJ was shouting down the Mic, all this was focussed around the swim up pool. We declared this pool a no go area for us, the pool water did not look healthy? The type of music played was very repetitive and mostly the same genre, with the F word being heard alot. I appreciate the entertainment team are there to do a job but the Hotel did have other guests who did not want to Rave. Yes I am a person of a certain age I did the 18-30 holidays, Ayia Napa and Ibiza but we booked this Hotel thinking it was a Riu Palace 5* adults only tranquil relaxed getaway and that is definately not what we got.

  Oct 21, 2026
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  Bad food, good times

  Some context before I get into the meat and potatoes of my thoughts- I booked this resort for a bachelor party. Before we left my group had a fun time going through the trip advisor reviews because a few of them were a bit extreme and were written by Karens. We are a pretty relaxed bunch but we were surprised to find that some of the complaints were actually valid. most were exaggerated Location- 5/10 this resort is conveniently placed near the casino, the convince store, the night clubs and the Riu party zone. This was very nice. Outside of the hotel amenities I was pretty upset by the amount of seaweed on the beach and the 3 boats obstructing the ocean view. Luckily the bachelor didn’t mind because his preference was to spend time at the pool. Regardless, I was highly disappointed. I understand going to the beach is going to involve sea weed or a few boats but both never left and remained a constant eye sore. Rooms- 8/10 The rooms were one of the best things about this trip. AC worked well and everything was clean. The only negative was that the TVs in both rooms were damaged. Staff- 8.5/10 The people who work here are so awesome! Everyone is always doing their best to make sure you have a great experience and we never ran into someone rude or mean (even though we may have been inebriated enough to warrant this at times). My only complaint here was that a lot of people didn’t speak very good English and that if one us didn’t speak Spanish we would’ve had some issues communicating. While I understand this is the primary language here but when you are marketing primarily to tourists it’s probably a good idea that at the very least everyone at the front desks has at least some proficiency in English Food- 2/10 Ouch the food was bad. It was so bad that I will never ever come back. For context I am a very fat man and I didn’t get this way skipping meals or being discerning with my food choices- especially while drinking. The food was genuinely so bad everyone was skipping meals and by the time we saw Wendy’s and Taco Bell at the airport we all celebrated. Some of the items were decent but it was consistently bad and the occasional good food item became a surprise. Overall- 5.75/10 This was really a fun trip for what it was but we were all very ready to leave. I think everyone was glad this wasn’t like a romantic getaway or a big trip with an 8 hour flight associated with it. A lot of the guests were from England and I think if I had a long flight from somewhere like that i would’ve been very upset with the food situation. I would recommend this trip to a group similar to ours where fun is the main attraction, not the amenities and for around 3 days time.

  Oct 19, 2026
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  A great stay

  We’ve had a lovely stay at RIU Macao. The hotel is beautiful, the rooms are clean and spacious, the bed is really comfortable and the balcony is a great bonus. The atmosphere around the hotel is nice and relaxed, and the entertainment team are brilliant. There’s plenty going on without it feeling too full-on, which we really enjoyed. The food has been a real highlight. The steak restaurant was absolutely amazing, and the fish restaurant was just as good. The main restaurant had a great choice of food throughout the day, and the service was excellent. The only restaurant that let things down a little was the Asian restaurant. We waited around 30 minutes before anyone took our order, and we ended up spending 90 minutes there in total. The food was good, but the service was very slow. Hopefully, it was just an off day! The pools are clean and well maintained, but my one big criticism is the smoking around the pool areas. There’s nothing worse than trying to relax on your sun lounger and getting a face full of cigarette smoke. I really think a designated smoking area away from the pools would make a big difference and allow everyone to enjoy their time relaxing. Overall, we’ve had a fantastic holiday. Beautiful hotel, lovely rooms, great food and a brilliant entertainment team. We’ve really enjoyed the chilled atmosphere and would happily recommend RIU Macao. 🌴☀️

  Oct 13, 2026
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  Riu Palace Macao: Adults-Only Calm With the Best of Both Resorts

  Stayed here in September, a few months after Riu Palace Bavaro, mainly for the adults-only side of Riu. Since I've done both, here's how they compare. The 18+ setup is the first big difference. There are no kids anywhere in Macao, and the vibe is calmer. The lobby is nowhere near as impressive as Bavaro's, but the smaller size is a plus. Most guests, us included, loved how cozy and private the resort feels. The buffet is the biggest surprise. At resorts we're usually most excited about the à la carte restaurants. The à la carte here was great, with Krystal as my favourite (the octopus was fantastic), but the buffet was even better. It's very clean, the choice is huge, and we had a themed dinner every night of our stay...sushi, cold cuts, fresh eggs, daily fish, deserts, avocado, mangos, smoothies etc. The drinks are amazing, and the main pool is one of the best I've been to. Bermudez is the king. The real value is that booking Macao gives you the best of both resorts. As a Macao guest you get full access to Bavaro. We went there for morning coffee in the lobby, which is great, and to their pools when we wanted a different ambiance. We also hit their ice cream shop, which Macao doesn't have. Bavaro has a bigger sports bar and a much bigger entertainment area at night. It's the bigger resort, so that makes sense, and going over there is a must. Bavaro's food court is also nicer than Macao's. It's a 5-minute walk, with pizza, tacos, fried chicken and a noodle/fried rice spot. It doesn't work the other way around. Bavaro guests can walk over to Macao and use the pool, but that's it.

  Oct 09, 2026