Booked this hotel based on previous reviews and the fact that it is advertised by the Tour Operator as - 'beachfront living at its best', 'classy' and 'breathtaking'. This certainly is not the case. If you want either of the above stay next door at the RIU Palace Las Americas.

Stay at the Riu Cancun if you want:

- A 5-Star hotel which is at the standard of a low grade, in need of refurbishment 4-Star hotel.
- An atmosphere designed for people who drink excessively all day, everyday.
- A swim up bar which is packed out all day with excessively loud, over-dramatic guests and surrounding pool water which looks as though one to many consumed drinks have been passed into it.
- Excessively drunk, loud, over dramatic guests running up and down corridors knocking on doors at all hours of the morning.
- A buffet restaurant which has about as much life in the food as a dead cockroach.
- Seriously, the list could go on......

The only good things about this hotel:
- Brazilian restaurant.
- Friendly staff.

Plus, to back up the concerns RIu much have with this hotel. The Riu Cancun and Riu Palace Las Americas are directly next door to each other and are both 5-start rated yet...Riu Palace Las Americas guests CAN use Riu Cancun, Riu Cancun guests CANNOT use Riu Palace Las Americas.

Just returned from the Riu Cancun(21\09\2008-01\10\2008).18 of us in the group,including some children.We went for my daughters wedding.Travelled with Thomson,long flight but worth it.Hotel was great,heard stories on tripadvisor,but speak as you find,and I found it great!!!.Room was large and clean,maid service was good.Pools were clean,stayed away from swim up bar,for obvious reasons.Spent most time around quiet pool,and hot tub.Cleaners and Gardeners on the go from dawn till dusk.
Food was good and varied,tried Brazilian restuarant,excellent,did'nt try Japanese.Bar staff very friendly and helpful.Food and drink available 24/7.
We were scattered all over the hotel,we were on 9th floor,grooms parents on 13th,others on 4th and 15th,daughter had a suite on 4th floor of annexe.This was good,we could meet up when we wanted,but had time to ourselves as well.
We did a couple of trips(xhel-ha/pirate cruise/shopping malls),my son did most of the trips.
No need to leave the hotel if you dont fancy trips.
Only tips I have are;
1.Use bottled water for brushing your teeth
2.Keep all valuables in the safe.
3.Enjoy yourselves

This is definitely NOT a 5 star property! 2-3 stars, maybe! Our room was dated, dingy, and depressing. The dark blue furniture was new in the '70's ... and the bedding was old, thin, and pilled. The power was intermittent - often went out for and hour or two, and then came on, leaving people stuck in their rooms without air conditioning.

This hotel obviously caters to the 18-30 year old crowd that books a holiday based on how much they can drink, and how loud and obnoxious they can be. The swim-up pool bar was nasty - twice had to be evacuated because of pieces of poop floating in it. As well, the water was very murky - do you wonder why? The other pools were not very fresh looking, either. We stuck to the beach.

The food was ok if you like buffets and eating the same type of food every day/night for a week. The restaurants have no atmosphere, are brightly lit, and boring. We ended up going for dinner 5 of our 7 nights there.

I would not go back to this hotel, not would I recommend it to my friends. There are many other options that are just as affordable,with nicer ammenities, and better class of people.

After reading the reviews of this hotel on here we were so looking forward to our holiday.
However this hotel was very disappointing, and is not a 5 star by any means.

Our room was dated dull and dingy, our air conditioning didn’t work and “rattled” continuously. After 2 days we asked for it to be fixed, we were told this would take an hour for the maintenance guy to do, however 3 hours later we came back to a room with the whole air conditioning system on our bedroom floor.

The bedding was dirty with make up on the pillow cases and “marks” on the sheets.

Finally we moved rooms, however the new room was still dull and dated and not 5 star quality, and again the air conditioning didn’t work and when it was on left a huge puddle on the floor under the vent where it was leaking.

The hotel itself was more like an 18-30’s hotel rather than a 5 star, the pool which had the pool bar in was disgusting, people sat in there from morning til night drinking and drinking and not leaving to go to the toilet, and this was evident from the “murkiness” in the water.

The other pools looked grubby and a majority of the sun lounger’s were broken.

The sun lounger’s on the beach were an even lower standard than that of the pool, and the beach has almost disappeared into the sea so there not much room on the beach regardless.

The evening was an experience in itself, having drunken people falling over the tables, in the fountain and causing arguments.

People were running up and down the corridor all night long and screaming and banging on the bedroom doors until 4am in the morning just for “fun”!!

The Brazilian and the Japanese restaurants were nice, however apart from that everything in the buffet restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner was deep fried!!

On speaking to the rep we were told that “we had picked a holiday in the 18-30’s capital, so what had we expected” but as we pointed out how would we as customers have know this or is this something we were just “expected” to know? But explained that the description on the tour operators website is very different to what we experienced, using descriptions like “beachfront living at its best”, “classy” and “breathtaking”.

If you are after an 18-30’s non stop drinking holiday this is ideal for you, if you are after a relaxed break, where you can chill out this is not the hotel for you and my description words for this hotel would be more like “soiled”, “miserable” and “disappointing”.