Hotel Riu Palace Baja California — Hotel in El Tezal

I’ll start with the good:

Armando was our concierge on multiple occasions. And even though he was new and in training, he was extremely helpful with everything and gave us great service. So thank you Armando. Check in did not take long, and the security level here is good, as there are two check points for vehicles to pass through. They served us drinks when we arrived which was nice (mimosas and/or orange juice for myself since I don’t drink). They took our bags and brought them to our room for us. There were four of us, so we had two rooms next to each other, with two beds in each room and the couch was a pull out, as well. Armando moved our rooms to the other side of the hotel so we would be on the quiet side, which was much appreciated since my mother and aunt are in their 50’s and not a big fan of loud music (this is an adult-only resort, so there are parties and shows). The rooms have a mini bar with basic alcohol, a mini fridge with beverages, a very nice shower, a separate toilet, double sinks, a closet, a flat screen tv, a desk, a couch, and a balcony. Nothing was wrong with our rooms when we showed up. The cleaning ladies always came on time and cleaned our rooms while we were at the pool, so we’d come back to a brand new room. The staff always comes by during the day to see if you want more drinks or beverages or anything else for your room. The room comes with coffee so you don’t have to go downstairs for that. We were here for thanksgiving and the weather was great. They offer room service, and at the pool there are servers who bring you drinks. I don’t drink so I didn’t take advantage of this, but the other guests seem to enjoy this accommodation. There are multiple food options on-site. An Italian, a Mexican, a Thai, an Asian fusion, a steakhouse, and a buffet (for breakfast lunch and dinner). There is also a taco stand by the pool. The Mexican restaurant was very good and Israel was our server, he was very good and so were the other staff members. I loved the fish tacos and the shrimp. The buffet was good every time and it has many different options for each meal so try not to eat with your eyes. Marce, Rene, Cesar, Eduardo, Carlos and Felipe were great servers at the buffet and run their staff very well. They take care of you at the buffet even though it’s a serve-yourself set up. The steakhouse was very good and they had a good menu with good service. That place is very, very busy though. I recommend showing up their at your earliest convenience since there’s always a line and a wait. The taco stand by the pool was good but it’s just a small venue so it’s more for a quick bite. There are multiple bars at this hotel and they’re not all on one floor which is good because the hotel isn’t the smallest. My mother did mention that the drinks are watered down so I guess be aware of that when you order but it is all-inclusive so I won’t complain. There are two big pools at this hotel and another pool for the party crowd. They set up pool games like mini golf, basketball, volleyball, water aerobics, and others so that’s fun. The staff here are plentiful and are always around offering different services and they are always smiling and happy. The lower pool has a great view of the beach and you have beach access, too. There is a DJ at the pool playing music. At night, there are shows on the promenade and we enjoyed them. During the day the big TV plays football and other TV programs. There are vendors on the promenade that are selling different tourist attractions but we never engaged, maybe that might interest you.

For the negatives:

The DJ at the party pool kept the music at the same volume everyday but one day they had it very loud and my mother requested that the DJ turn it down just a bit, and the DJ was a jerk and disrespected my mother with his response. My mom had to speak to the boss to resolve it. The regular pool opens later than the time states and the Thai place wasn’t good and they forgot to bring part of our food so we left. The gym is more of a fitness center and you can’t swim...

I've been to many an all inclusive resort in Mexico but this was my first trip to Cabo and while we ended up making the best of it- I would never stay here again nor would I recommend it.

Pros: -Entertainment staff were all awesome, super fun, energetic and welcoming- shout out to Yessica! And the water aerobics lady, which I believe was Maritza, if not many apologies but she was also so great! The night shows were very nice and we especially enjoyed the Kahoot Trivia, Divas and MJ shows, and Karaoke Night- all awesome, great time. Also, when sitting by stage, there is a wonderful ocean breeze and most nights great drink service.

-Food was actually very good in both the buffet and most of the restaurants on site, which was very surprising. The breakfast pancakes were delicious and overall selection was great. The steakhouse for dinner was our favorite, they served this chocolate chip dulce de leche ice cream sandwich that was crazyyyy good.

-Drinks were heavily flowing and many a grown adult was drunk lol so if that's the journey for you, you will love it. We loved Lupita at the smaller swim up bar (larger one was closed during our stay, annoying). The bar cart staff were also very nice and made really good drinks.

-Room service arrived very quickly, all RS staff were friendly but menu is very, very limited. We appreciated the 24 hour service.

Riu Party and Water Park: Very spring break energy but we had a great time at the Jungle Party (pool water was gross LOL so we stood dancing outside of it). Water park was a nice quick escape!

Cons:

Checkin: Longer than long wait time, so not sure what online pre-check in was for; front desk emp that checked us in, Yoshi continued to criticize that I didn't speak Spanish (assumed I did based off my look/last name) and to boot, after swiping my card at check in to cover local tax, I experienced card fraud and they attempted to purchase a load of goodies off of Amazon Mexico- BE WARY USING YOUR CARDS HERE- it occurred maybe 20 mins after arriving and swiping at front desk!

Room: Definitely not 4 stars, more like a 3. Very dirty, dusty, mold/mildew in bathroom, mildew/sewer scent filled the room. Walls/Sofa was stained, bed decorations were filthy and smelled like a dirty rug. My luggage and clean clothes came back smelling like a fish tank. There was also stains all over the room and left over tape from group who stood prior and apparently hung decorations. The WORST part of the room was the shower, it was like being on a balance beam trying to not trip over drain gap and hold down the shower button as it would work without doing so, the water pressure was more like a leaky faucet.

Food/Drinks: Although, reservations are not required, if you show up anytime after 730pm they turned you away, especially at the steakhouse, so to avoid stress, we ate dinner most nights at the buffet- special shout out to Daria who was always so attentive and kind, she ensured to apologize and make up for the live fly my cousin found in her salad.

Drinks- now I'm not a hater but the entire time during our stay, it felt like a twenty something spring break but I already anticipated this based off reviews I read prior. Every single morning when exiting our hotel room though, we saw thrown drink cups and our floor was sticky, gross as heck. You will also hear noise of intoxicated folks heading to their rooms until minimum 1am.

Pool Bar Staff (across from grill): RUDE, RUDE, RUDE- and they were especially rude if you didn't appear to be of "value" to them, do the math.

Pool Seating: Good luck getting seating by infinity pool that overlooks ocean, I went down as early as 630am and all seats were taken. Larger pool by grill, won't be an issue to find seats.

Beach: We opted not to even bother as the vendors are intenseeeeee and are relentless.

Overall not the best but not the worst resort I've stayed at but absolutely not worth the price point. I'll stick to East coast of Mexico as the resorts are more up to date and way better than my experience in Cabo, deff not...

Lack of Management attention to violations and unsafe location

To Whom It May Concern,

I was recently staying at the RIU Baja California resort, Feb 2025.

During our stay, when sitting out on our deck, the people in the room directly below us were smoking cigarettes on their deck. The smoke was terrible, we weren’t able to occupy the deck and had to stay inside our room. I contacted the front desk on Tues (2-Feb) and let them know. The person at the front desk said they would contact the people in the room below us and let them know smoking was a violation.

For the next couple days, we would occasionally smell cigarette smoke. On Saturday (15-Feb) we were sitting on our deck and smelled a very strong cigarette smell. I verbally asked the people below us to stop smoking. It continued so I contacted the front desk, they would call the people in the room below us and let them know they were in violation. After 15 – 20 mins, the cigarette smell got very strong, I looked below and saw 2 people smoking cigarettes. I have pictures.

Next, I went to the front desk and reported the smoking violation to the front desk. They said they’d call the room and ask them to stop smoking. I shared with them I had reported the smoking violation on Tues and earlier that day and the people were still smoking. I asked what they were going to do to ensure me they were addressing the smoking violation. The front desk person called and spoke to someone in room XXXX. They first denied smoking, when they were told there was a picture, they then said it was someone visiting their room and it was not them. The front desk informed them they needed to report all violations……the person in room XXXX got very upset, was speaking loud enough I could hear them. Next they said there must be a miss-understanding, they were told it was OK to smoke on their deck when they checked in. The front desk person did not accept this excuse and told them a report would be filed and an RIU manager would review it the next day and they might follow up with them.

I left the front desk, returning to my room. When I got close to our room, I could hear someone pounding and shouting loud. When I got to my door, a woman was pounding her fists on my door, shouting obscenities and curing. She approached me with her fists, shouting at me. I opened my door to escape her, as I entered my room, she tried to gain entrance by pushing the door open, telling me she was going to cause physical harm to me, I had to use my strength to close my door so she could not gain access. She continued to pound her fists on the door, shouting obscenities and threatening to attack me physically. Assuming you have security cameras in the hall areas, please review to confirm.

I called the front desk and reported her behavior. They said a report had been filed and a manager would review it tomorrow. I insisted they call the police as I was being verbally and physically threatened. They indicated they’d send Security. Shortly after, the noise quit. I do not know what happened next.

We were not contacted by Security, we did not feel it was safe to leave our room. The RIU staff abandoned us, no response, nothing. I doubt they contacted the folks in the room below me any of hte times I reported smoking, Our requests were ignored, management allowed the situation to escalate into a verbal and physical situation.....endangering us.

RIU Baja is a very nice, upscale resort. I stayed there in the past with my family, we enjoyed and felt safe. That is why I decided to return. We paid a premium to stay at RIU Baja and more of a premium for the Elite Club benefits.

We were not able to enjoy or take advantage of the amenities the RIU had available and the Elite Club. We did not feel safe during our stay.

We would not recommend staying at RIU Baja Calif.

I am sharing this experience with others as when I tried to reach a manager, was told to file a formal complaint via email, their response was they'd reply back to me in 15 - 20...