Hotel Riu Palace Las Americas — Hotel in Cancún

“Propped up by staff and food, but absolutely not a 5-star hotel”||||Let’s be clear: Riu Palace Las Américas is not a 5-star hotel by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve stayed in Travelodges that are better equipped, better furnished, and better maintained than this property.||||Yes, the food and drink are decent, and the bar and waiting staff are excellent — attentive, friendly, and hardworking. But those positives only highlight the deeper problem: it’s like being served fine dining while sitting in a bland, noisy, and dated cesspitt of a hotel that stinks of cigarette smoke everywhere. The “palace” branding is laughable once you look past the service.||||🚧 Construction & Noise||We endured two full days of loud construction noise from the rooms above — at times sounding like a pneumatic drill. Poorly planned works during peak guest occupancy, with no warning or apology. For a so-called luxury hotel, this level of disregard is astounding.||||🚬 Cigarette Smoke & Management Indifference, Another major issue: cigarette smoke everywhere. Corridors, balconies, even common spaces. Management clearly turns a blind eye and “accepts it,” rather than enforcing rules. It cheapens the atmosphere completely. Riu hotels have a no smoking policy across there hotels. Management at the Riu Palace, do not enforce it, at all. It stinks and reminds me of an old working man's pub or a welfare pub from the late 90's.||||🛎️ Rude & Unhelpful Front Desk||The front desk staff are dismissive and unprofessional. Concerns are brushed off, lies told, and blame shifted elsewhere. They don’t listen, and they certainly don’t resolve problems — they pass the buck until you give up or escalate to management. In my case, I had to get in touch with the Riu head office in Manjorca, Spain for the front desk to do anything about my concerns.||||🏚️ Infrastructure & Décor||The hotel feels old, tired, and dated:||Chipped paint, scuffed furniture, cracked tiles, and slapdash repairs with silicone filler.||||Rooms lack any inspiration — they feel dull, empty, dated with poor repairs and soulless. There are cracked tiles. Curtains hanging off the rails. Scratched furniture. Holes in the curtains. Holes in the wall. Dirty stains on the walls - everywhere.||||The “suite lounge” is a large room that’s as dull as dishwater: no ornaments, no lamp, no artwork, no plants. Just bare, boring space with a mini bar from Del boys flat in peckham.||||Sofas and chairs look decades old. Faded pelmets on curtains (who still has those?). Bedding and soft furnishings look faded and cheap.||||The minibar setup feels like a throwback to the late ’90s: watered-down spirits, a fridge that looks like an afterthought, and nothing about it feels premium. Ive seen better premium at premier inns.||||Even the hairdryer was embarrassing — I’ve seen better ones on Temu.||||And lets not get started on room refreshments. Wheres the tea? Complimentary biscuits? Cappuccino and latte sachets? This is marketed as a premium hotel. How is it that you get this at a premier inn for a 1/10th of the cost, but not here? Make it make sense 🤔 ||||🏨 General Impression||This hotel is propped up solely by its staff, food palm trees, pool and beach. Everything else feels like it’s stuck in the past. If the service and dining were dropped into a genuinely luxury property, as you'll find elsewhere in cancun it might deserve its star rating. But here, they’re just a distraction from the truth: this place is coasting on branding and marketing, not reality. The Riu brand would do well do sell this place to travel lodge. It would cost too much to bring it up to standard.||||It feels like many of the glowing reviews come from sheltered American visitors who, frankly, haven’t experienced much better. In truth, this is a 3.5-star property at best, pretending to be a 5-star.||||✅ Final Word||If you want a beach front, palm trees good food and kind staff, you’ll find it here (also construction noise and cigarette smoke). But if you’re expecting a polished, modern luxury experience that lives up to the price tag in everything else, look elsewhere. This is not a palace — it’s a faded, dated hotel propped up by hardworking people who deserve far better than the crumbling infrastructure around them.||||I've been sold a lie by booking this place and I'll be sure to issue a section 75 and with my credit card supplier for a full refund for staying at this dump.||||I've been to cancun before and stayed in an air bnb for a fraction of the cost, and it was a far better experience. If want an all inclusive experience , then this is one for you to avoid at all costs. Pay a bit more and stay somewhere...

All in all it's a good place, reasonably priced and relaxing. Would I come back to this specific location? Probably not. Will I recommend people to come here? Sure. I will list all the pros and cons.. and a few tips as well.

Pros: The lobby, rooms, restaurants, pools and beach were very well taken care of and clean. Everything was easily accessible, and because we stayed at a Riu, were able to go to other Rius to access their pools, beaches parties and restaurants. Shuttle comes around every 30min or so (we did NOT do this, we only stayed at this location for everything) All the staff I interacted with were very kind and always smiling The bartenders and waiters are fantastic and know how to pour a drink All of the pool activities (volleyball, water aerobics, push up contests, etc ) were all fun and hosted by great staff Buffet food was average- above average (I personally liked breakfast the most) Live entertainment was good 24 hr snack bar was a life saver at times where buffet was closed to get ready for next service The self serving liquor bottle in the room were great

Cons: The smell of the cleaning products used was unpleasant to me, not sure what they were using but it smelled sour. Rooms are outdated as is the lobby There is no ventilation fan in the bathroom, the bottom half of the bathroom door is louvered.. so... If something you eat doesn't sit right and you use the bathroom, the entire room will know it because not only does the smell escape right away, the lovers are right next to the toilet, so everyone will hear it as well The walls are very thin. I got woken up from sleep a few times because drunk people were laughing in the hallway or the room next to us slammed the door. The food in the "restaurants" was not great. Meaning, it seemed like they had prepared the dishes and they sat under a heat lamp. Had I known that I would have not even went in them and just gone to the buffet the whole time as it was the best choice. Out of 5 restaurants we went to 4 (the 5th one had a 40 min wait) and of those 4 restaurants I only had 1 meal that I enjoyed and actually ate (Italian restaurant- my meat was well done when I asked for med, but at least it tasted good unlike the others). The other 3 restaurants I was only able to take a bite or two and wouldn't finish because the food was not good ie really dry, oversalted etc. This isn't really a con, more of a preference but the pool water was really really warm, like hot tub warm. I know they can't really do anything about that. Between the sun beating down on it and all the people in there warming it up, but at some points it was uncomfortable. It was 95 outside and it felt like the pool was 100

Tips: I highly recommend bringing a large insulated cup (yeti , Stanley etc) they will fill it up with your drink of choice, it'll stay cold, and you don't have to keep going to the bar MAKE SURE TO BRING CASH. I know it's an all inclusive but the best decision we made was to bring $1,$5,$10, and $20s. When we found a bartender we liked, we'd tip him $20 once and every time we went up for a refill, he knew what we wanted and filled us up again no time wasted. We did the same with the waiters coming around getting drinks. The same waiter would come around often to make sure we had drinks and never ran out so we didn't have to get out of the pool. This isn't to say that you won't get service with out doing this. There were several times we didn't tip waiters/bartenders and still got excellent service. You don't have to bring cash as everything is included I just believe in paying it forward when you get great service, even if you don't have to Thicker blankets for the beds are in a bag in the closet There is another set of drapes to block out the sunlight behind the curtains and drapes that are for show. There are robes and an iron in the room. The menu for room service is on the riu app There is a giant touch screen in the lobby that tells you what pool activities are going on

Like I said, overall...

🌺First time staying in this strip in Cancun, as i always stay in Tulum…but i wanted to see what this area had to offer. The strip of hotels here is quite SAFE …it resembles Miami very modern. All the beaches are white sand with clear turquoise water!!.

My room was just Amazing as well as this All-inclusive Hotel. So glad i booked here. As i walked along the beach…i noticed none seemed to compare to this one.

I felt super SAFE …in this Hotel specially as sometimes i travel solo and needed much Sun, sand and rest!!..🌴🌺🌴🥂

Their beach is PRIVATE. Some people from other hotels will walk through our beach..but it’s just a few… and souvenir sellers once in a while. Gorgeous white sand beach…always kept clean. Most of the rooms have balconies facing the Ocean. Nicely furnished beds, mini bar at no cost and they supply you with 4 water bottles daily at no cost as well. They have food basically all-day buffets and 4 restaurants that have amazing food. Thank you Saul & Richard the best waiters in the Steak House restaurant!!. Their staff is AMAZING. Always greeting and asking if there’s anything i need!!. They have a coffee shop with pastries thats open until 11pm also included. Their latte is awesome. Was so nice to have a late snack i can take to my room every night ☕️🍰☺️. I felt really safe waking around their grounds even at night, as a sometimes solo female traveler this was important!!. They have a huge entertainment room with a stage & shows every evening… except Wednesday & Friday. Music will be a bit loud from 8pm to 11pm…then quiet so you can sleep😴💤🌙✨. Remember this is an adults only Hotel. they give you a wristbands so they know to cater to your every need.

On the beach there was always a waiter walking by to take drinks orders…so no need to get up if you want a piña colada or margarita..;o)..and drinks are inclusive..of course🥂🍹🍻. Right in front of the Hotel across the street…are many souvenir shops, restaurants and pharmacy…quite convenient.

Isla mujeres island is a MUST..and do bring HATS and WATER…. as it gets really hot. The Southern-end of the island is a MUST see..called “PUNTA SUR”..where you pay like $5 to see gorgeous rocky cliff views of the Ocean. They have several trails that go down some stairs around the cliffs at the tip-end. you can take a public BUS there for like $2 or a TAXI for like $5 (if they tell you you can walk there..they are crazy…it’s like 5- miles away)….Or rent a golf-cart for $80.

I took the public bus there for $2 and it did take a little longer since it makes stops. No air conditioning so you know!!.

On the way back i took a taxi which was fast and cheap. but if you dont see any taxis …buses run every half hour. ALSO…you need loose change in PESOS always… to pay for bathroom EVERYWHERE . Some ask for $10 pesos coins and some $15 pesos coins. Bring plenty of change.

I recommend to take the “Ultra Mar Ferry” that is only a mile away down the coast in TORTUGA Beach. Don’t go to the one thats a block away in Caracol Beach. This “Ultra Mar Ferry” location is CLOSED and people will say its “open” just so you can spend your money there on drinks and. food. I went there and 20 minutes later they said we had to be buses to the Ultra Mar port in tortuga beach. Which was a Free bus ride they take you..but it was an extra hour waste of my time. Go STRAIGHT to TORTUGA Beach to take the Ferry and don’t waste your time.

Anyways…i will definitely…come back to beautiful Hotel…as they made me feel right at HOME. Quality hotel, quality staff, great food and gorgeous private beaches..it was a PERFECT...