Hotel Riu Palace Antillas

Total agreement with Nancy Hutt review

This was my first trip to Aruba and I stayed at the RIU Palace Antilles. I was told by many friends that this place was great and was just remodeled. My room was nice however, I was supposed to have an ocean view but only had a view of the next hotel. We had asked for our rooms to be close by each other but we were all on different floors and there was no assistance in trying to fix that. The 2 couples checking in before me had the same issue and that’s just how it is. You are treated like cattle at the restaurants. You’re supposed to get there by 6 pm and a certain number of people are allowed in. If you don’t make the count you are given a beeper and have to wait about 2 hours otherwise you have to eat at the buffet. We spoke to the manager about this and she said people would make a reservation and not show up and they would eat in town. I would think at least they would give 10 min and no show bring someone else in. I don’t believe this problem should be put on the customer! Also, in the restaurants you can’t get a cocktail. Only beer wine or soda. (1 type of red 1 type of white) the drinks at the pool are in 4 inch glasses. The food was just soso I ordered sangria at the main bar and I could see the bartender smell it. He called his manager over and he took the bottle and the glass in the back and came back and handed me a glass of sangria. I tasted it and it was sour I think they gave me the same one. I just went to my room and dumped it. I would order room service for breakfast and it’s extremely limited. Toast, rolls, cereal or hard boiled egg. I wrote in bacon and couldn’t get it. I had sent clothes to laundry and 2 days later I called front desk to check on them since I didn’t have the laundry number. The gentleman was very nice and said to hold and he would check. He came back and said they were on the way. When I checked out they charged me for the in house phone call! She said I’m supposed to call front desk and they will call. I said that’s what I did as I don’t have the laundry number! She responded well that’s what in the system! The customer services was awful! It just seemed at every turn there was something less than appealing. I had spoken to other guests I had gotten to know and they said this hotel has changed to the negative over the years. Last year I stayed at secrets cap Cana in the DR. We were treated like Queens! My group was assigned to our own concierge who navigated everything for us. Dinner reservations etc. you were able to get anything you wanted whenever you wanted. I loved Aruba. We rented a jeep and toured the island on our own but I would not stay at this hotel again!