"Fantastic resort — the RIU Parties are the highlight"
We really enjoyed our stay at the RIU Palace Macao. The positives massively outweigh the negatives, and we would definitely return to the resort.
Pros
The food is great. The buffet is varied, with loads of options, and breakfast is excellent too. The speciality restaurants (which aren’t actually à la carte) are good and, importantly, don’t require a booking, which is a big plus. We especially enjoyed the steakhouse.
Service from the staff is mostly very good. You get the occasional member of staff who looks like they’d rather be somewhere else, but that’s pretty standard anywhere. Overall, the staff are great.
The entertainment team work relentlessly and put in a huge amount of effort. They’re clearly working hard all day and night.
I absolutely loved the coffee shop. It’s open early until late and became our favourite place to go when we wanted a quieter moment and a decent coffee.
There are lots of pool options and we never had any problem getting a sunbed. There are plenty of bars too, so you’re never far from somewhere to get a drink. The drinks themselves are good wherever you are.
The best thing about RIU hotels, for me, is the entertainment. The separate RIU Party area is superb. It’s so much better than having the parties inside one of the hotels. Having what is basically a high-end nightclub-style party, with pools and easy access to bars, is brilliant. It’s really inclusive too, with people of all ages (obviously 18+) getting involved. Yes, some people get a little bit frisky, but it’s all part of the fun!
The beach is beautiful. Definitely get up early at least once to see the sunrise — it’s breathtaking.
As with many of these resorts, there is a two-tier approach, with some areas restricted unless you’ve upgraded. I’m not a fan of this, but it is what it is.
The Cuban bar is such a cool place to go when you want something a bit quieter and classier. There’s just something about the atmosphere in there that feels really cool.
The rooms are cleaned every day and the cleaners work incredibly hard. The whole place is spotless — apart from the pool bar, which I’ll come to!
There’s also a little water park within the resort, which is a nice extra.
It’s RIU, so the optics and minibar in the room are fantastic.
Another big plus is that you can use the facilities at the other RIU hotels in the resort (although not all of their restaurants). It gives you a nice change of scenery and makes the whole resort feel much bigger.
Cons
The two-tier system is probably my biggest general gripe. Some areas are out of bounds unless you’ve upgraded, and personally I’m not a fan of that approach. It is, however, clearly part of the RIU model.
Being adults-only sounds fantastic, but there are two sides to it. Firstly, it can actually be strangely quiet at times. We genuinely found ourselves missing the sound of kids playing and splashing around.
Secondly, you can sometimes get groups of particularly loud and obnoxious guests who make things uncomfortable for everyone else. This happened on both weekends, when a handful of people got absolutely hammered in the relatively small pool bar and basically took it over, shouting, screaming and demanding attention. Quite a few people looked uncomfortable and left the area.
That is obviously about the people rather than the hotel, but it is something worth being aware of with an adults-only resort.
The pool bar is too small and can easily get taken over when a group arrives. It also just didn’t look particularly clean. We only went in there once during our two weeks and left fairly quickly because the cleanliness was questionable. The state some guests get themselves into probably doesn’t help!
The room was generally very good and there’s little to complain about. Occasionally, though, there was a bad smell. It passed, but it was annoying, and it seems to be something that comes up fairly regularly in reviews of these hotels.
The hotel entertainment itself, when the RIU Parties aren’t happening, isn’t up to much. That’s a minor point, though, because the parties more than make up for it.
The shops and resort pharmacy are very, very expensive. As you’d expect at a resort, but still worth knowing.
The sports bar was my biggest gripe. It’s fairly pointless if you’re hoping to watch live sport. There doesn’t seem to be access to many premium sports channels, and there are very few options. Staff basically hand you the remote and let you try to find what you want.
The other RIU hotels have a similar sports bar setup but seem to have much better access to premium channels. We literally couldn’t get the biggest football match of the weekend on TV, which was frustrating for quite a few guests.
Overall
The positives massively outweigh the negatives. We really enjoyed our two weeks and would happily return to the resort.
Next time, we’d probably consider one of the family hotels, partly because the adults-only atmosphere can attract some particularly loud guests at times. That said, I’d happily stay at the Palace Macao again — the hotel can’t be responsible for every person who walks through its doors.
Overall, a fantastic resort with great food, excellent staff, brilliant pools and bars, a beautiful beach and, of course, the RIU Parties. There are a few things that could be improved, but they didn’t stop us having a great holiday.
