Hotel Riu Guanacaste 5*

We recently stayed at RIU Guanacaste from September 27–30, 2026, and unfortunately, the way the resort has handled a very important lost item has completely changed my opinion of our experience. When we checked out on September 30, we realized that my son’s navy fleece dinosaur blanket was missing. This is not simply a replaceable blanket to our family—it is extremely special to my son. We know it was accidentally left in his bed. Within just a few hours of leaving the resort, I emailed the hotel to report it because I was never able to get a human being to answer the telephone at any time despite MULTIPLE attempts. I was told they would communicate with housekeeping, but after that, communication became incredibly frustrating. I repeatedly tried again contacting the resort and could not get anyone to answer the phone. I sent additional emails and also contacted RIU’s complaints department, yet I received little to no meaningful follow-up. Because I was getting nowhere, I eventually had to take matters into my own hands and seek help through social media just to try to get someone at the resort to look into the situation. What has been especially frustrating is that several days after I initially reported the blanket missing, I learned that reception had seen my email but had still not checked with housekeeping. That was incredibly upsetting considering I contacted the hotel within hours of checkout specifically so the room and housekeeping staff could be checked as quickly as possible. We were also later given information suggesting that a man had gone back into our room after we checked out. That statement is extremely concerning because it was not my husband, and neither of us returned to the room after checkout. I still do not understand where that information came from or why it was being used in relation to our missing item. At this point, my biggest complaint is not simply that an item was left behind. Accidents happen. My frustration is with the complete lack of urgency, compassion, communication, organization, and basic customer service that followed. In this day and age, there is absolutely no reason it should be this difficult for a guest to get a straightforward answer about whether housekeeping found an item in a room on the day of checkout. Had someone simply checked with housekeeping promptly and communicated clearly with us, this entire situation could have been handled very differently. Instead, I have spent days emailing, calling, contacting the complaints department, and trying other avenues just to get someone to take the issue seriously. As a Mom I would do anything for my kids. This blanket was given to my son by my mother who passed away last year. He's had it since he was 2 and it's priceless and irreplaceable. For a large international resort, this level of communication and customer service is unacceptable. We were genuinely hoping for help locating something very sentimental to our son. Instead, we have been left frustrated, disappointed, and shocked by how poorly this has been handled. I would strongly encourage anyone staying here to keep very close track of their belongings before checkout, because based on our experience, getting meaningful assistance afterward may be extremely difficult.

The hotel itself is very nice, well maintained and room are comfortable. However, the food experience is the worst of all the previous 7x that we stay at Riu hotels and resorts all over Mexico. Of the 4 specialty restaurants, 3 were buffet style with approximately the same food that you can find at the main dining. This was disappointing but the worst was the staff, nobody smile and it seems like they don't care about their clients. When it was time to return to the Liberia airport at the end of our 7 days vacation, we had to walk 2km+ on the road to meet our transportation because the road was blocked by a fallen tree. It was pitch dark, wet and a very steep road to walk. There was families and young kids on the road at 04:30; to finish a vacation it's awful.