"A Good Resort That Falls Short of 5 Stars"
Having now stayed at a number of RIU hotels, the first thing I have to say is that, by comparison, Hotel RIU Funana does not feel like a 5-star hotel.
We had originally booked to stay at RIU Funana, where everyone else in our party was staying. On arrival, as my friend and I were both adults, we were offered an upgrade to the adults only Hotel RIU Cabo Verde. We initially declined because we wanted to be in the same resort as the rest of our group. However, it then became apparent that our room at Funana wasn't available due to an air-conditioning failure, so we ultimately accepted the move to Cabo Verde.
As a result, although we slept and had our room at RIU Cabo Verde, we spent a considerable amount of time at RIU Funana with the rest of our party. This actually gave us a good opportunity to experience both resorts and compare them. Despite some of the issues I'll mention below, we did enjoy our holiday overall.
RIU Cabo Verde & RIU Funana , the two resorts are directly connected. Guests staying at the adults only RIU Cabo Verde can use the facilities at RIU Funana, whereas Funana guests cannot use the Cabo Verde facilities.
A number of facilities are effectively shared between the resorts, including the main entertainment area, sports bar, Pacha nightclub, spa and gym.
Before getting into the positives and negatives of the hotels themselves, there are two things worth mentioning for anyone travelling to Cape Verde.
Several people in our party experienced sickness and diarrhoea during the holiday. I cannot say for certain what caused this, and gastrointestinal illness is something we were warned about by TUI before travelling to Cape Verde, so we were already aware of the potential risk and tried to be careful.
That said, one thing we did notice repeatedly was the number of flies around the buffet areas and landing on exposed food. I appreciate that this is a difficult problem to completely eliminate in a hot climate, but from a hygiene point of view it was unpleasant to see and certainly didn't inspire confidence, particularly when several members of our group were unwell.
My advice would be to go prepared and bring a sensible supply of medication with you. When we needed additional medication, there wasn't anywhere at the resort to buy what we needed, so we had to take a taxi into Santa Maria to visit a pharmacy, where we found medication extremely expensive.
The other thing to prepare for is flies and mosquitoes generally. There are plenty of them, so definitely bring a good insect repellent.
THE POSITIVES
- Great for families -
RIU Funana is a very good resort for families and children. There are nice pool areas, plenty of activities and lots going on throughout the day.
- Splash Water World -
The Splash water park shared between the three surrounding RIU hotels is an excellent addition.
It's not a huge water park, but the slides are genuinely great fun. Before visiting, we assumed it might become extremely busy because several hotels have access to it, but that wasn't our experience at all.
It was well organised, there was barely any waiting for the slides, and there were plenty of lifeguards around keeping everything safe. We had a lot of fun there.
- Food -
There was a good variety of buffet food available throughout the day, and overall we thought the food itself was generally good.
However, the labelling of buffet food needs significant improvement. A lot of dishes were poorly labelled, some had no labels at all, and on more than one occasion the label did not appear to match the food being served. There were times when we only realised after tasting something that it was not what we believed we had picked up.
This is more than a minor inconvenience. Guests should be able to clearly identify what they are eating, particularly anyone with allergies, intolerances, dietary restrictions or religious requirements. For a hotel of this size and supposed standard, accurate food labelling should be basic.
The speciality restaurant food we tried was also excellent. Unfortunately, we weren't able to try Kulinarium because we couldn't get a reservation.
TIP: book Kulinarium as soon as you arrive!!!
- Staff -
The vast majority of the staff were extremely friendly, cheerful and welcoming. There were a couple of exceptions, as you'll find anywhere, but generally the staff were one of the positives of the resort.
- Beach -
The beach is very close to the hotels and is absolutely beautiful.
There was no shortage of sun loungers on the beach when we visited, the sea was lovely and the waves could get quite big, which was great fun. However, I would definitely be cautious with younger children when the sea is rough. The beach is lifeguarded, which is reassuring.
There's also a beach bar serving all-inclusive drinks, along with water sports nearby.
- Evening entertainment -
The evening entertainment was generally excellent.
The RIU Party on Friday was particularly good. We've experienced RIU Parties at other RIU hotels and they've consistently been excellent – very well organised with a brilliant atmosphere.
There were perhaps a couple of evenings where the entertainment wasn't really for us, but that's understandable when they're trying to provide something for a wide range of ages and tastes.
Pacha nightclub is another good option for anyone wanting to stay out later and have a dance after the main entertainment finishes.
THE NEGATIVES
- Lack of air conditioning -
This was probably one of our biggest frustrations.
We had fantastic weather during our stay, but Cape Verde was extremely hot and humid. Sometimes you simply want somewhere cool to escape the heat for a while.
Both RIU Cabo Verde and RIU Funana have surprisingly few enclosed, air-conditioned communal areas. The hotels favour large open-air spaces, which I'm sure works well when temperatures are lower, but in hot and humid weather it can become uncomfortable.
The gift shop near reception was air-conditioned, the sports bar was reasonably cool and the coffee shop (in RIU Cabo Verde) was comfortable, but otherwise most communal areas and restaurants were open to the heat.
This was particularly noticeable when eating in the evening.
The Asian restaurant, Mandalay, was unbearably hot during our visit. Staff were cooking on flaming grills while we were eating and even the ceiling fans weren't running. The food itself was very nice, which made it even more frustrating, because the temperature made the experience extremely uncomfortable.
For a hotel marketed as 5-star, again I would expect considerably better temperature control in the restaurants and main indoor areas.
- Sun loungers & towels -
Poolside sun loungers were another frustration.
To be fair, we travelled during peak season and the resort was very busy, but there simply didn't seem to be enough loungers for the number of guests.
You need to be up fairly early if you want to guarantee one. On a couple of occasions we ended up sitting on chairs around the bar waiting for loungers to become available.
As with many resorts, part of the problem is guests putting towels on loungers and then disappearing for long periods, leaving apparently "reserved" loungers unused. That's frustrating and something I think the hotel could manage better.
Pool towels also seemed to run out surprisingly frequently.
One thing that did concern me was a conversation I overheard at the towel collection point. A member of staff appeared to suggest to another guest that, for a few euros, he could ensure they got a lounger.
I obviously can't say whether this is common practice or hotel policy – and I would strongly doubt that it is – but it was disappointing to overhear when other guests were struggling to find somewhere to sit.
- Smoking and Vaping -
Smoking and vaping also seemed to be widely accepted around the resort, which surprised us. At other RIU hotels we have stayed in, this has been much more strictly controlled, with designated areas and staff intervening when guests smoke or vape elsewhere. Here, it seemed to happen freely in communal areas with very little enforcement.
- Getting an iron shouldn't be this difficult -
This is a relatively small issue, but it sums up some of the service frustrations we experienced.
There wasn't an iron or ironing board in our room, so I called reception and asked if one could be sent up. I was told that they would not deliver one and that I would need to go to reception personally, sign paperwork and collect it.
I went to reception and eventually managed to get an iron and ironing board, although there seemed to be a surprising reluctance to provide them. I was also told they needed to be returned within four hours.
Is this the biggest problem in the world? Absolutely not. But this is exactly the sort of small service detail that separates an average resort from a genuine 5-star hotel.
At other hotels we've stayed in, an iron and ironing board would simply have been delivered to the room without any fuss. Having to walk to reception, complete paperwork and then rush to return it within a few hours just felt unnecessarily inconvenient.
- Condition of the public toilets at RIU Funana -
The toilets near reception at RIU Funana were probably one of the clearest examples of why I struggle with the hotel's 5-star classification.
They were in a very poor state.
There was graffiti inside the toilet cubicles, which I honestly did not expect to see in a supposedly 5-star RIU resort.
One cubicle lock appeared to have previously been broken, with damaged wood around it and what looked like a temporary repair where it had simply been screwed back into place.
None of the hand-wash dispensers were working when we visited, and neither was the hand dryer.
Any one of those things individually might be relatively minor, but taken together they gave the area a neglected and poorly maintained appearance.
By comparison, the toilets near reception at RIU Cabo Verde were in significantly better condition.
For communal toilets immediately beside the main reception area – effectively one of the first public areas guests encounter – I think this urgently needs attention.
OVERALL
Despite everything above, we did enjoy our holiday.
Cape Verde is beautiful, the beach is excellent, the weather was fantastic, most of the staff were friendly, the water park was great fun, the evening entertainment was good and there was plenty about the resort that we genuinely enjoyed.
However, several members of our party becoming unwell obviously affected the holiday, and there are a number of areas where both the standards and maintenance need improvement.
In particular, RIU Funana is in desperate need of investment and refurbishment in certain areas. The poor condition of some communal facilities, buffet hygiene concerns, inconsistent food labelling, lack of air-conditioned spaces and some of the smaller service issues simply do not match what I would personally expect from a 5-star hotel.
Having stayed at other RIU properties, that's probably the biggest disappointment: the 5-star description sets an expectation that the hotel, in its current condition, simply does not consistently meet.
That's not to say it's a terrible resort. It isn't. There are plenty of positives and we still had a good holiday.
But if you are booking this expecting the standard, finish and service normally associated with a modern 5-star RIU property, I think you may be disappointed.
For me, RIU Funana feels much closer to a solid 3.5- to 4-star family all-inclusive than a genuine 5-star resort, and with some overdue refurbishment and attention to the details, it could be considerably better.
