Riu Tequila

We chose this hotel for our honeymoon because we have stayed here a couple of times before and have always really enjoyed our stays. We were therefore incredibly excited to bring our two young children and show them one of our favourite places.

Sadly, this will now be our final visit.

The hotel has gone downhill considerably, and as a family, we felt very unwelcome during our stay. It genuinely breaks my heart to say that, especially as this was supposed to be our honeymoon.

I’ll start with the negatives, as I always think it’s important to end on a positive.

Arrival & Customer Service

On arrival, we were greeted by a very grumpy receptionist. There was no warm welcome or friendly introduction — it was essentially a case of being handed our room key and being told to go on our way. After travelling a long way, it certainly wasn't the welcome we expected.

It is clear that the staff work extremely hard, but unfortunately, I did feel that the level of service depended heavily on whether you tipped.

If you didn't tip, the service was often very limited or non-existent. Tipping now seems to be very much expected, which is something I didn't experience on our previous visits.

We completely understand tipping and are more than happy to reward good service, but it shouldn't feel like you have to tip every few minutes simply to receive a basic level of service.

The Rooms

The rooms are very dated and definitely need some attention. We also had mould on the ceiling above the shower, which really shouldn't be there.

Our room was cleaned most days, but for some reason, we always seemed to be the very last room of the day to be cleaned. I assumed rooms would be cleaned on some sort of rota, but this didn't appear to be the case.

This can become quite frustrating when you have young children who need some downtime during the hottest part of the day and want to return to the room to chill out of the sun.

The standard of cleaning also seemed to depend on how much you tipped the cleaner. As there appeared to be a different cleaner on different days, it was difficult to know who you should be tipping and when.

Most days we were also only left three towels rather than four, meaning we regularly had to contact reception or housekeeping to ask for another one.

The fridge is restocked every couple of days, although they are happy to restock it more frequently if you ask.

Children's Pool & Family Facilities

This was probably the biggest disappointment for us.

On our second day, we went to the children's pool and found it covered in animal faeces. I completely understand that the hotel is surrounded by wildlife and that these things can happen. However, it was very clear that the area had not been properly checked or cleaned before the pool opened.

The tables were filthy, and there were cups and rubbish everywhere.

I reported this to reception and, to their credit, someone came out within around half an hour to clean the area.

However, the following day we returned to find the children's pool in exactly the same state.

I was extremely frustrated, particularly because this is a children's pool and I believe it should be checked thoroughly before it opens to ensure it is safe for children to use.

I asked to speak to the hotel manager. When I eventually managed to speak with him, I was extremely disappointed by his attitude. Rather than listening to my concerns, I was spoken to very rudely and, in my opinion, was basically shouted at.

I was told that the mess had been caused by the animals and that the pool area had been cleaned at 6:30am.

I questioned how, within two hours, animals could have supposedly managed to get cups and rubbish over a seven-foot fence and move sunbeds and tables around.

I was told that this was exactly what had happened, and I was made to feel as though I was lying.

Having stayed at this hotel four times, I have never once seen any of the wildlife carrying cups, let alone throwing them over a seven-foot fence.

Unfortunately, this wasn't just an issue at the beginning of our holiday.

On our final day, we went back to the children's pool and, once again, found it filthy. The photographs I have included with this review were taken at 9am on our final morning. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and leave you to make your own judgement as to whether the pool had been properly checked and cleaned before children were expected to use it.

I have also included a photograph of staff washing the pool tables directly into the children's pool. This is particularly concerning because some of those tables had animal faeces on them. Watching dirty tables being washed into a pool used by young children was extremely disappointing.

If the tables had animal faeces on them, surely the appropriate thing would be to remove them from the pool area, clean and disinfect them properly away from the pool, rather than washing the dirt into the water.

After making my original complaint, we eventually received a generic apology card four days later. Considering the way I had been spoken to by the hotel manager and being made to feel like I was a liar when I raised a genuine concern about the children's pool, I have to say I found the letter rather laughable. It felt more like a standard response than a genuine acknowledgement of what had happened.

The lack of attention to the children's pool didn't stop there.

The children's pool is the furthest pool from any of the bars, which makes it even more surprising that the drinks and ice cream trolley never came over to us. In fact, this is probably the pool where a drinks trolley would be most useful, especially for families with young children who don't necessarily want to keep walking across the resort to get drinks.

There was a drinks and ice cream trolley regularly going around the other pools, but we never once saw it come to the children's pool. I'm sure the children would appreciate an ice cream far more than many of the adults sitting around the other pools!

It also wasn't just the lack of a trolley. During the day, there didn't appear to be anyone regularly coming around the children's pool cleaning up or checking the area, unlike the adult pools where staff regularly came around collecting cups, rubbish and keeping the area tidy.

Again, it left us feeling that the children's pool was very much an afterthought.

The only real thing provided for the children to entertain themselves with was a selection of balls to play with in the pool. However, even these were taken away from the children by the entertainment staff in the afternoon so that they could use them to entertain the adults.

I found this particularly disappointing. There are already very limited activities for the children around the pool, so taking away one of the few things they have to play with so it can be used for the adults really sums up how we felt the hotel viewed families during our stay.

I also felt that the hotel simply does not cater particularly well for families.

The kids' club felt very half-hearted, and on several occasions it seemed as though everything involving the children was an effort.

This was particularly noticeable because we visited the sister hotels during our holiday, and the difference was huge. At those hotels, the staff were actively playing games with the children, encouraging them to join in and creating a genuinely fun atmosphere.

It left us feeling that because we were staying with children, we were somehow getting a lesser level of service.

The hotel also seems very much geared towards adults who want to drink and party. During our 14-night stay, the swim-up pool was closed for six days because people had been sick in it.

I completely understand that the hotel cannot control the behaviour of every guest, but it did contribute to the feeling that the hotel was much more focused on its adult party atmosphere than on families.

Food & Drinks

The food is pretty much what you would expect from an all-inclusive hotel. It can become repetitive and was sometimes served lukewarm, but we always managed to find something we enjoyed and you certainly won't go hungry.

The chefs work incredibly hard and deserve credit for that.

Again, though, I don't feel the hotel caters particularly well for children or fussy eaters. There could definitely be more options for younger children.

The bar staff also work extremely hard, and I have to give a special mention to the pool bar staff — they were amazing.

The Grounds

One of the biggest positives is the hotel grounds. They are beautiful, well maintained and very well kept.

You can clearly see how hard the grounds staff work to keep everything looking so lovely, and they deserve recognition for that.

There are also many members of staff who work incredibly hard throughout the hotel, and I don't want that to get lost amongst the negatives of this review.

The Overall Atmosphere

Unfortunately, I feel Mexico is becoming more like Turkey in terms of the amount of people approaching you and the expectation of tipping.

You are constantly being asked for tips or approached for money, and it can become exhausting.

We spoke to some of the staff during our stay who told us that it has been a very quiet year, so perhaps this explains why there seems to be more pressure to tip and why staff are trying to make up for the money they would normally earn during busier periods.

We are more than happy to tip when we receive good service — and we did tip many members of staff during our stay — but I don't believe tipping should feel compulsory or be the deciding factor in the level of service you receive.

Final Thoughts

The most upsetting thing for me is that this was once one of my favourite places to stay.

We've stayed here four times now, and we came back because we genuinely loved this hotel. We wanted to create new memories here with our children and enjoy our honeymoon in a place that already meant a lot to us.

Instead, we leave feeling extremely disappointed and, quite honestly, heartbroken that somewhere we loved so much has changed this much.

If you love to party, drink heavily and don't mind tipping every five minutes, then this hotel may be perfect for you.

However, if you're looking for a lovely family holiday, want to feel welcomed, expect to be treated with respect and prefer to tip when you feel you've received genuinely good service, then unfortunately I wouldn't recommend this hotel.

There are still positives. The grounds are beautiful, many of the staff work incredibly hard, the pool bar staff were fantastic and we always managed to find something enjoyable to eat.

But sadly, the negatives far outweighed the positives for us this time.

One of my favourite places has now become one of the worst experiences we've had, and I am absolutely gutted that our honeymoon wasn't the experience we had imagined.

After four visits, I never thought I would be writing a review like this.

A couple of 60 year olds, and went because of a recommendation. Upon arrival was greeted very well by everyone. Rooms are clean, a little dated but spotless so no complaints from me, the fridge was filled most days, water, beer and various cans of pop. The grounds are immaculate making it feel like it surrounded with trees in a Forrest. The first down side is the amount of Coati animals running around the grounds, at first they seem cute until lunch arrives near the pool, they hunt for food in people’s bags and on tables, crazy people feeding them don’t help but it’s clear they are out of control in numbers as it’s a problem the hotel turns a blind eye to, honestly seen people playing tug of war with them poolside over a bag, leave your drink and they turn up and top it over, assume it’s the sugar in the drinks ? Oh and they bite they want food be careful. This isn’t a hotel for young kids, it’s more of a party hotel, kids will get bored in my opinion. The swim up bar can get lively as people get smashed in this pool, but to be fair it keeps these people isolated in one pool and keeps them out of others and they are on holiday and it’s want they came to Tequila for. There is another 3 pools to avoid the swim up bar if that’s what you want so again it’s not an issue. Usual food for all inclusive not great but I’ve certainly had worse, the choice of food is vast but sadly the quality always failed for me, if only less choice was offered but the focus was more on quality it would be better for me. Tips are encouraged which I was aware of and took US Dollars to give out, yes I’d agree service does get better if tips are issued but most places are like that now and it’s what I expected. Drinks have to be ordered at the bar which I found unusual as there was no table service on a night, so although I tipped I don’t think it influenced this particular bar on a night time. Entertainment was good to basic and as it’s isolated with other hotels its limited if you don’t like it, why oh why the nite club doesn’t open when the show finishes is crazy, so if you want to continue the night after 10:30pm it’s the sports bar. For me that was fine but for the younger people it wasn’t. The staff work really hard and are great, a true gem to the hotel. Sun beds were always available, as normal some people got up early and left towels on beds then walked away but I never had to do that and always had no problems. 5th avenue is around a 35 min walk away or $150 pesos taxi which I’d recommend. There’s also a bar 5 min walk out of the hotel that seeks some great beers next to the shops for a change. If you like a lively hotel I’d recommend it, but night time entertainment is very limited. It was great value for money for me because it was all inclusive but has issues that makes me think again about returning.

We have just come back from another great stay at the Riu Tequilla and must say the staff and service is amazing. We did our check in on line so when we got to the hotel getting to our room took minutes even though it was busy. I had put a few pre check in requests which were all done for us. Our room was spotless (3604) and our attendant made great effort to make us so welcome. As a Gold Class customer we were treated to a lovely gift and a bottle of "bubbly" too, a nice touch. When we requested additional mini bar items on the app they arrived within minutes although l stated there was no rush (this was evening time). The same service for the broken toilet handle, a maintenance guy arrived within 5 minutes and replaced it, amazing service. The grounds were immaculate as usual, corridors and service areas were super clean too. The wildlife is amazing in the grounds, woodpeckers, Coati's, Raccoons, Parrots, Iguana's, lizards, Eagle's to name but a few. The restaurant and buffet food was lovely and again service in all were great. The staff throughout the hotel were happy, friendly and very polite which made our stay even better. The bars inside and out were "crewed" by the most professional and hardworking staff and were so polite even when inundated with large amounts of people at the bars, always smiling and happy. Staff on the pool bar inside and out were brilliant, lots of laughs with them and at the Sports Bar Andrea was fantastic, always serving us no matter how busy she was as we arrived in the Bar. Just a few things need sorting out, firstly the toilet block near the pool bar, the tiles when wet outside it are lethally slippy and I had a bad fall on my way out hurting my ribs, quite a few slipped there. Even though an attendant continually tried to keep them dry I think new rougher tiles need installing there. I also think that there needs to be a bit tighter security presence at the pool bar as people were smoking round the pool and quite alot of young people (and older) were really drunk and had to be taken out of the pool in the wheelchair of shame. I also think that some of the seating around the actual bar ought to be removed so people could actually get served. A few people told me they felt intimidated by groups of people blocking them from getting to the bar. Some people aren't that confident to make space to get in. All in all though a great holiday.