RIU Palace Jamaica

If you are considering staying at Riu Palace Jamaica - especially with vulnerable or elderly family members - be warned that this resort fails completely in basic safety, guest protection, and human decency. On night two of our stay, my elderly grandmother suffered a physical fall. What followed was a complete failure of duty of care and an appalling breach of conduct by resort security leadership. A Security Supervisor named Mr. Johnson arrived at the scene. Rather than managing the situation professionally or ensuring guest safety, he actively escalated it into a hostile confrontation:

1. Verbal Assault of a Vulnerable Guest: He aggressively yelled at my elderly grandmother - who was already traumatized on the ground - in a language she does not speak or understand.
2. Harassment & Intimidation: After we asked for 5 minutes to safely evaluate her before moving her, he continuously refused saying “she has to get up and go to her room now, it doesn’t look good to have her stay here.”

He then publicly degraded and verbally attacked me, shouting: “I can’t believe you declined a nurse, that shows what kind of granddaughter you are!” 3. Hostile Resort Environment: Following this traumatic event, management simply did nothing but say “sorry, we know he is stern and has a history of fighting with people who stay here.” We had to continuously fear encountering and crossing paths with the same aggressive supervisor for the rest of our trip, leaving three women feeling unsafe, targeted, and intimidated in a foreign country.

RIU Corporate Customer Care acknowledged in writing a "lack of commitment or concern from the staff," yet local management attempted to dismiss a severe psychological and physical safety incident with standard, mass-produced room amenities (a fruit plate and coffee). Really? This is how you manage these situations?

This is not a service issue - it is a systemic management failure and a brand crisis. Staff members in position of authority are permitted to scream at, demean, and intimidate paying guests without immediate intervention or removal.

We were left traumatized, and fearing for our personal safety inside a high-end resort. Do not put your family’s safety or dignity in the hands of this property. They will do everything they can to verbally degrade you, and other reviews affirm this behaviour is usual and lived by not just us.

Our second trip to this property, 2022, then just leaving now [July 2026]. POSITIVE first. We love the close proximity to the airport. Delta Vacations gave us private transportation. Customs went quick coming in. The hotel was essentially the same. We like the main pool bar, thank you to Winston this week. There is another adjacent pool if you want to avoid the afternoon activities. Both pools look directly at the beach. Food was similar to our last visit. Room was similar to our last visit. SUGGESTIONS for IMPROVEMENT next. Our room was not elevator accessible. If you need accessible you better request it. There was also a fight outside of our door last night (not the hotels fault) but I wish there had been another security lock on the inside of the door. If you requested something for your room fridge you have to be there to receive it? Apparently they do not have access to the room. The women by the pool and in the main dining, were not as friendly as we remember. The gift shop is small (I think there is a bigger one on the next door property you can access). But limited in stock and every souvenir seemed to look like weed. And the TV was terrible. We like to rest in our room some at night and it was very very limited. Also, the last time we came there was another pool they now have labeled as “elite”. That’s aggravating to me because there was NEVER anyone in that pool and for people that don’t want pool volleyball and bubbles in their face it’s the only place to fully escape. Please reopen that to all it is adults only after all. ACCESSIBILITY now. Overall good for the pools, dining, and lobby. Several had mobility scooters. See comments above you better check first. The VIBE. Typical Jamaica feel, Sandals is literally next door. Water great, clear, can swim some but it’s limited by these peddlers that harass you in their kayaks selling stuff. We will come back but would love some consideration of these suggestions.