Hotel Riu Palace Macao

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.

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. 🌴☀️