Riu Guanacaste - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10497 reviews

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  Loved Riu Guanacaste! So much goodness, hard not to enjoy.

  Just returned from a stay at Riu Guanacaste.  Usually I leave a very detailed review of the resorts we stay at, but this one has 1000s of reviews so I will just touch on each area. Resort: we found the resort & grounds very beautiful. Staff and grounds workers were always cleaning and taking care of the place.  It is quite huge when you add in the new section. While others might not appreciate how spread out it is, we loved having SO much room to roam. Between that & the beach, we were logging around 20000 steps a day.  The app was helpful to see what was open and where things were. Room: Great. I could care less if it is a little outdated. If fact it was refreshing so see something other than the overused grey and white! It was a good size, clean, had a big bathroom with tub and shower with plenty of hot water and pressure.  Please note they only offer shampoo and small hand soaps. Balcony was plenty big for 2 people. Tv had lots of channels but very few in English. Fridge had plenty of beverages and was refilled every other day as were the coffee supplies. Room was cleaned daily. Sure, a key card would be more convenient than a key. Food:  was good and lots to choose from in the buffet. We liked that we could get our own beer and coffee there instead of waiting for table service if we wanted. We ate at the Ocotal steakhouse and Mexican place and both were good. The only thing we didn't like was how the salad bar was set up at the Ocotal.  If you move the window to get access to what you want, you have to look back and make sure someone else's hand isn't in the previous window or you will close it on them.  We loved the Food Court for lunch. So quick and easy. Activities/entertainment:  Activities seemed to not materialize as scheduled and it didn't list where they were supposed to be.  We looked for 4 days for the Spanish class and were sent from place to place and they never seemed to happen.  Same for the stretching.  The only thing that seemed to happen regularly was the water aerobics. the workout facility was great.  Entertain was good.  They didn't advertise the pre-show entertainment, which was fun, so we didn't realize it was an option until 3 days in. Beach area was great, clean and huge. 1 mile black beach from end to end.  Only complaint was not enough beach chairs there.  Beach vendors were kind and not overbearing. Pools: were great but crowded. Generally enough chairs.  Both had pool bars and in pool seating which was nice and they were SO warm.  We never got a chance to try the waterpark but it looked fun. The only thing I was surprised about was how HOT the walking area was.  Even to walk from the chair to the pool was scalding on my feet. I think I may have burned them the first day so was more sensitive.   Staff: every single staff person we interacted with was great.  Patiently let us practice our Spanish and were very attentive.  They were not on "island time" as we often see.  We did hear many reviews of people having money stolen from their room but thankfully we did not experience that. I will say though, within an hour of us arriving, all of a sudden we heard someone trying to get in our room without knocking and sure enough the door opened and the woman seemed startled. She asked if we needed our room cleaned. She was not a maid and we had only been there for half hour so we were on high alert after that and had our safe area booby trapped. Haha. No one entered our closet while we were there. Things to improve upon:  A few more water stations to refill water bottles would be nice.  Another bathroom added near each pool. Make sure the listed activities happen and are easy to find.  Get the stealing irradicated!  I did not like being preoccupied wondering if our things were safe.

  Mar 02, 2025
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  Riu Guanacaste Feb 2025

  We stayed at the Guanacaste for 2 weeks. I was a bit concerned having read some of the previous reviews. I needn't have been. We stayed in the old part, yes it is dated but that's being rectified. The AC worked, actually quite chilly. No issues with the safe, no one was sick. We didn't eat in the al la carte restaurants as we like to go for an early evening walk so didn't want to have to be ready and que by 5.30pm. We always found something in the buffet. Breakfast was the best meal of the day. It was my husbands birthday whilst we were there. The hotel decorated our room, left him a small gift and even had a cake ready at dinner. A lovely touch. The grounds are lovely and lots of wildlife in and around the resort. The bar staff are great, Moses, Alexis, Luita, & Romais. We never had to wait even if we didn't have a $1 (80p) in our hand. We found a smile and good old manners went a long way!! Which from some of the clientele was in short supply. We tipped at the end of our stay. It's a shame Tui will no longer be offering Costa Rica from the UK. We would definitely return to this lovely country for the wildlife and adventure which it has in abundance. Check out frank the tank for any trips/tours you would like to do. We did 3 and can't fault anything.

  Mar 02, 2025
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  My experience at Hotel Rui Guanacaste, Costa Rica

  Having recently returned from a stay at this hotel I find it important to relay to anyone considering this as a vacation spot to hear what I experienced. I discovered that the safety deposit box in our room was not working and wanting to keep our passports, valuables and travel cash secured I stopped at the lobby desk to ask to have it repaired. They assured me that within the hour the issue would be resolved. I thought to myself at the time that's an impressive response time. I had to stop at the desk again the following day to inform them that in fact it had not been fixed as promised. Desk personnel called maintenance while I stood there and I was told they would meet me at the room within 20 minutes to fix the safety deposit box. I went to the room and waited for nearly 1-1/2 hours and nobody arrived to make the necessary repairs. I went back to the desk the following day to report that nobody had shown up at the the room as promised yet again. Unfortunately over time I talked to three different people on numerous occasions. Each time being assured that things would be handled when actually they were not. As a result of managements inability or lack of concern to address the safety deposit box issue I had $186.00 dollars in cash stolen, yes stolen from my room. We had returned from an all day excursion to find an inside hallway door jamb busted. I went and reported everything but again no response from staff. The day before our departure I stopped yet again to address the issues we had been dealing with, the broken safety deposit box, the stolen $186.00 dollars and busted door jamb. I said then that management had 24 hours to settle things to my satisfaction and if not I would leave a review sharing my experience. Departure day arrived with nobody from management reaching out to me. I have no illusions this review will change anything but I will have done what I felt I needed to do as a result of my experience at Hotel Rui Guanacaste.

  Feb 28, 2025
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  Love this place

  We go here every year. Beautiful atmosphere. A lot to do, zip lining right next door and things to do right on there campus. Staff is very friendly. Food is great

  Feb 28, 2025
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  Wife 50th

  Nice clean hotel Was closing in April for a refit. Nice pools friendly staff. I didn't like how people queued up (1720 for 1800 opening) the restaurant every night and then it was fully booked up. We never dinner in any of them. I think your room should have 2 settings a week so to the same people don't do it every day. We are going to stay in other RUI hotel again later this Yr.

  Feb 27, 2025