Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria

We stayed for a week at the Riu Palace santa maria overall the hotel.was good had a few issues with water, coffee,milk in the room often not left but once requested on the Riu app was sent up, Restaurants Riu need to look at serving Pressecco (sparking wine) as this is really available throughout the hotel even the pool bars but not in the restaurants which is very strange as you can get all the still wines and beers. Had big issues this stay with mosquito not just us but the entire hotel which we did see them spraying a couple of times but was very bad this time very hard to control I understand but maybe more fogging daily to help reduce this and also issues with Flies again not sure what prevention the hotel can take on these 2 nuisances.

We stayed at Riu Palace Santa Maria for 10 nights. Although the hotel is aesthetically beautiful, I personally wouldn’t class it as a 5-star luxury resort. In my opinion, it’s much closer to a 3-4 star hotel. The resort itself is absolutely massive, with far too many rooms and guests, making certain areas like the pool and buffet feel extremely overcrowded. The buffet restaurant is constantly packed, and the food is very average and repetitive. With so many people handling the serving utensils and food, I found the hygiene quite off-putting. I also wasn’t entirely confident that everything was being cooked properly. I ate a burger one day and the burger was undercooked and raw in the middle. We avoided the buffet at dinner and instead booked the four à la carte restaurants, which were better. The food was nicer, the atmosphere was much calmer, and the overall dining experience was far more enjoyable. I would definitely recommend booking these restaurants for your evening meals. The rooms are fairly standard and nothing particularly luxurious. One of the biggest disappointments was the number of bugs and small insects we repeatedly found on the bed and floor. This was unpleasant and made me feel itchy and uncomfortable at night. On a positive note, the air conditioning worked very well. Another major issue was the sheer number of mosquitoes and gnats around the resort, particularly outside the rooms. They were absolutely everywhere and practically impossible to avoid. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it, and it really impacted our enjoyment. The beach, however, is beautiful, and the hotel has several large swimming pools. There is plenty of choice, and the water park is a nice additional feature. The staff were generally pleasant, welcoming and friendly. The entertainment was okay, although nothing particularly special. Another inconvenience was the limited number of communal toilets considering the enormous size of the resort. We also ventured into Santa Maria town, which I personally wouldn’t recommend. It’s relatively small, with very little to do apart from visiting restaurants and shops. We found people extremely pushy when trying to get tourists to buy things, which made the experience uncomfortable. The restaurants didn’t look particularly appealing either, and the food appeared fairly standard. For a hotel advertised as a 5-star Palace resort, I expected a much higher standard of accommodation, cleanliness, food and overall luxury. If you’re looking for a huge, busy all-inclusive resort with plenty of facilities, you may enjoy it. However, if you’re expecting a peaceful, luxurious 5-star holiday, I personally wouldn’t recommend it.