Hotel Riu Palace Tikida Agadir

We’ve just returned from a lovely family holiday here and overall we had such a good time. There are so many positives about this hotel and some genuinely wonderful people working here. The staff & our room 🏨 The staff were absolutely brilliant – so friendly, welcoming and hardworking. A special mention to housekeeping, who took the time to make some gorgeous decorations on our bed with rose petals. Such a lovely little touch and things like that really do make a holiday feel special. We were incredibly lucky with our room and had a beautiful unrestricted beach view. Waking up and looking out at that every morning was gorgeous and something I definitely miss already! The Wi-Fi could be quite intermittent, which could be frustrating at times, but it certainly didn’t spoil our holiday. Food & drinks 🍰☕️ There was a good variety of food and we always found something we liked. But I have to give a HUGE shout-out to whoever is responsible for the desserts because they were amazing! 😂👏 The flambé bananas were such a fantastic addition and the custard-filled profiteroles were absolute perfection. Honestly, well done to the dessert chefs! The cocktails weren’t really for me, although perhaps that was a blessing for my calorie intake 😅. On the other hand, the coffee was really good. I normally struggle to find coffee I like on holiday, but they made a genuinely nice cup here. Pools & atmosphere 🏊‍♀️ I loved how many different pool areas there were. It meant you could move around and find somewhere that suited you rather than feeling stuck in one main pool area all week. My favourite was the second pool down from the main building. The foam pool party was brilliant! Such good fun, great pop music and I ended up fully in the foam dancing away 😂. Definitely one of those silly holiday moments that you remember. Some of the areas around the sunbeds could have done with a little more regular cleaning, but overall we really enjoyed the pools and grounds. The spa 💆‍♀️✨ I ended up visiting the spa several times during our stay and it became another little highlight of the holiday. I had reflexology on one day, a scrub and massage on another, and also treated myself to a gel pedicure – so I gave it a pretty thorough test! 😂 Every visit felt like a proper little holiday treat. The reflexology was incredibly relaxing (I was practically falling asleep!), and the scrub and massage were lovely too. It was so nice having somewhere to escape to for an hour, properly switch off and come out feeling completely relaxed. I was also really pleased with my gel pedicure. It was lovely being able to have it done at the hotel rather than having to venture anywhere else, and it lasted beautifully. The spa staff were welcoming and made me feel comfortable on every visit. If you enjoy a bit of pampering on holiday, I’d definitely recommend making time for the spa – and apparently, if you’re anything like me, one treatment may very quickly turn into three! 😂💕 And now for the part of the holiday I wasn’t prepared for… the cats 🐈❤️ I honestly didn’t expect the hotel cats to become such a huge part of my holiday, but they completely stole my heart. I’d actually brought cat biscuits over from the UK and started feeding them, and before long I was looking out for the same little faces every day. They all had their own personalities and I became ridiculously attached to them – particularly my little favourites who we ended up giving names to. But the one that really got me was a beautiful mumma cat and her kittens. She was such a gentle, trusting little soul. The fact that she eventually trusted us enough to let us stroke her babies and even hold them felt incredibly special. Sitting with her and those tiny kittens became one of my favourite parts of the entire holiday. What I wasn’t prepared for was how difficult it would be to leave them. On our last day I knew every time I went to see them that it might be the final time. Saying goodbye to the mumma and her babies absolutely broke my heart. I cried then, I cried afterwards, and I’ve cried since getting home too! I never imagined I’d go on an all-inclusive family holiday and come home missing a group of cats quite this much. 💔 You start worrying about who will feed them, whether the kittens will be okay and whether that lovely little mumma will continue to be looked after. You know they’re not technically your cats, but after seeing them every day, feeding them and earning their trust, they somehow become part of your holiday family. So to anyone visiting who is an animal lover – be warned. You may arrive with a suitcase and leave with several imaginary cats in it. 😂❤️ I really hope the hotel continues to treat the cats kindly and recognises what a lovely part of the resort they are. For some guests, particularly animal lovers like me, they aren’t a nuisance at all – they’re one of the things that makes the place memorable. I’d love to think that future guests might give them a little bit of kindness too. If you’re heading here and have room in your luggage for some cat biscuits, you’ll make some little furry residents very happy. 🐾 Overall ❤️ We had a genuinely lovely holiday. Beautiful views, lots of pools, fantastic staff, some excellent food and plenty of memories. There are a few areas that could be improved, which is why I’ve given 4 rather than 5 stars, but I’d happily look back on our time here with really fond memories. And apparently I’ll also be thinking about a ginger cat, a little grey/black-and-white one, a beautiful mumma and her kittens for the foreseeable future. 🥹🐈❤️ Thank you to all the wonderful staff who helped make our holiday so special – and please look after those gorgeous cats for me. Love Sam x

Had a great family holiday in this hotel. Food was excellent, service generally in bars and restaurants very good and attentive. Overall, we enjoyed our holiday but only realised when we returned home that we were overcharged for our stay. On realising this, we emailed reception in the hotel with our issue, they asked us to email reservations, which we did. We have not heard back from them or received a reply. It has put a bad taste in my mouth over the holiday experience and as a large hotel chain, I would expect a bit more professional handling of this. Unfortunately, I would not consider this hotel for a repeat holiday in future. Also, don't stay on ground floor as we had a few (crawly) visitors in our room.