RIU Tequila - All Inclusive

On this trip I enjoyed the Beach Club, Pools, restaurants and bars. In all venues I found the service to be impeccable and the food/beverages to be of excellent quality. Honestly, I can not say a negative word.

I dragged in at 7 p.m. after waiting at the airport for a ride, had guacamole & chips at the snack bar so I wasn't very hungry once I arrived at the hotel at 7. Unbeknownst to me, the dinner buffet (and breakfast buffet) was included in the price of the room. I never saw so much food in one place at one time. There were at least 8 stations of every imaginable type of meat, salad, vegetable and dessert entrees. Fabulous!

This is the second time I've been to this hotel and, overall, I think it is a great deal for the money. I wouldn't have returned a second time if my first experience wasn't as good as it was. There were a couple of disappointments on this second trip. The air conditioning was not working on our first night and despite contacting the front desk about this, they said they would not be able to repair it until the following day - so that night's rest was less than adequate. However, it was fixed the following day. Also, the catamarans were out of use most of the time due to windy weather. There is nothing the hotel can do about this but I thought those of you considering this place (or any other hotel in the Yucatan) should know this may happen to you as well. I would definitely return here a third time since this hotel has so many good points to offer.

The overall stay was very nice and the staff was very accomodating. As I was checking in and filling out my paperwork, I was provided with a cool fruity drink after 2 hrs in Customs/Immigration, it was very much appreciated. We took a tour to Chichen Itza, which included lunch at the hotel next door. The lunch was buffet-style, but the food was great (much better than at the RIU - although the food at the RIU was not bad - very "cruise-ship" like). The entertainment at the resort was also good. We also had dinner at the "Beach Club" restaurant at the RIU Yucatan, the food was not great, but the view was certainly worth seeing (esp at night). One interesting thing I noticed at the RIU Tequila was there were quite a few cats that were on the premises. They didn't bother you or anything, but I just found it to be odd. All-in-all it was a great trip/stay and I would do it again.

A much less satisfatory hotel than the Riu Cancun I stayed at 3 years ago and which I enjoyed for 3 weeks. RIU TEQUILA is far away from Playa del Carmen. 3.5 kms to get to the exit of the Playacar compound; then you need to add another 2 kms to get to the nice parts of the village. No buses are available from the hotels to the village; only an expensive taxi ride ($10.00 return from the entrance of Playacar to the hotels. Result: I only went to the village once in 2 weeks and bought nothing because the beginning of the village, next to the Playacar compound, has been commercialized in the ugliest and cheapest way possible and was a complete turn-off.The prices, however are far from cheap. There are new hotels downtown Playa del Carmen which would offer a much more satisfactory holiday. None of the restaurants are very good or even good. My first dinner in the main restaurant was excellent; after that it went downhill steadily. The Steak restaurant serves meat that is tough; the Oriental restaurant is average; the beach restaurant is poor. None of the restaurants were anywhere close to being on a par with the RIU CANCUN restaurants where I stayed 3 weeks for the price it cost me for 2 at the TEQUILA. Of course, that was 3 years ago, but still . . . I felt trapped at the TEQUILA. I am middle-aged but in decent shape. However a solid 10kms-a-day walk to go anywhere is not my cup of tea. They have a golf-cart to take clients to the beach. Why can't they have one to take them to the entrance of the PLayacar compound? I certainly would not go back nor recommend it to friends. It's a pity because I had been to Playa del Carmen some years ago in a little hotel downtown and had loved it. They were building Playacar at the time.