Hotel Riu Playa Blanca — Hotel in Coclé

If I could rate this place 0 star I would. Currently at Riu Playa Blanca in Panama and sleeping on the lobby. There are BEDBUGS/CHINCHES in our room. We went to the front desk who told us that they have no rooms and can not switch us somewhere else. I showed them the lined patterned bites on both my legs after waking up in the morning. I also have mosquito bites, but the bed bugs were extremely itchy. The after bite ointment helped with the mosquito bites, but not for the bedbug bites. The manager then switched us to another room. While we were packing, a cleaning lady came and was flinging the used sheets around to change the bed covers. I asked her if she could continue when we leave, but she did not understand. Not her fault , I understand. I proceeded to continue taking my stuff instead. As I'm grabbing my stuff, she puts the pillow and used blanket in my OPEN LUGGAGE! That I just dont understand the logic! I was honestly about to cry at this point, but just took our stuff to the new room. We went to eat dinner and when we came back saw two BEDBUGS crawling on the bed of the new room! We stripped the bed to check and there were black spots on all 4 corners of the bed (usually a sign of bedbug infestation). Absolutely disgusting! Don't book people in a bedbug infested rooms! We came back to the front desk and he said there are no available rooms. Only thing he can do is to send someone to change the sheets! Change the sheets when there are bedbugs? Are you kidding me. What is that going to do? No accomodations, no sorry other than they have no rooms. No compassion. Save yourself the nightmare of coming to Riu. No supervisor available and waiting on lobby until 7am in the morning. It's 1:16am. The front desk is flirting with a girl in the front and busy talking to her. Never had such a horrible experience in my life. We got blankets from the cleaning staff ourselves. The front desk didn't lift a finger in helping us. Didn't help us bring our luggage to the lobby. Didn't apologize regarding the situation. Didn't check in while we are in the lobby just to see if there is anything else he can do while we are waiting for a room. Is a clean room here too much to ask? So disappointing and beyond words. Been to Mexico, D.R, P.R, Jamaica. Had a situation in Mexico once where there were bedbugs and they were far more accommodating and compassionate in switching us to another room and hearing our concerns. By far, this is the worst experience of my life as far as all inclusive hotels go.

It is 3 hours to get to hotel from airport and the food is bland. I would have been ok with just a clean room, good drinks and a pool, but couldn't even sleep peacefully at night. Only redeeming factor was the bartender Carlos who was friendly and made amazing drinks. Trying to see the bright side of this which is hard considering I'm laying on the lobby couch and itching from bed bug bites.

Update: Finally spoke to the supervisor after 8:30am. Cristopher heard our concerns and offered us compensation. Wish we got to speak with him before sleeping in the lobby. Would have preferred to get a refund and go somewhere else. They would not do that. They gave us an upgrade to a suite, a 25 mins. massage and a "special" dinner at one of the restaurants of our choosing. The special dinner was a red table cloth and a sign on table that says "love."

The black spots on corners we were told was supposedly mold from humidity. Two bugs we found were supposedly not bed bugs. No explanation for what it is, just not bed bugs. It was a baby one and a big one, ok sure... Bites that are itching/burning for two days are supposedly mosquitoes. It's been over 48 hours and other bites I got from being outside no longer itches. Only bites that are driving me crazy are the ones that appeared after I woke up in that first room. We slept on lobby after finding the two bugs in the 2nd room. Not a single bite from an open space. I speak my truth. Just glad to finally have a clean room. Will never come back. There are also cockroaches roaming around the...

I had high hopes for this five-star hotel. I have been contacting management for weeks via email prior to my visit to ensure I could get a room upgrade. Once I arrived they did not upgrade my room. . Pros and cons.. Pros: -The staff was all super friendly. -They were constantly cleaning and maintaining The hotel grounds. Gardens green. Floors clean. Bathrooms clean. The lounge in the lobby had incredible coffees and iced coffees. Great service everyone always smiling. The sports bar had a fridge at the back which was stocked with sandwiches and wraps, fruit salads, normal solids, and a self-serve nacho bar. This was open all hours at night and usually was stocked with these items after 4:00 p.m.. which was great if you were up all night drinking and needed something to fill a void. The entertainment in the evening was amusing. The many pools had different activities and themes going on. It was nice to be able to float around in different environments. The very hot black sand was new to me and very interesting. I enjoyed it. However wear sandals on the beach. You'll burn your feet. No joke. There was a small fridge in the bedroom which was stocked every second day with water bottles, and soft drinks, and a couple of beers, you could call and request it refilled daily if you wanted.

There was also four bottles of hard alcohol mounted in a box in the bedroom so you could take as you wanted.

each floor had an ice machine. The room had a mini coffee maker, and ice bucket as well.

Cons: our room had a moldy dank smell from day one. The dresser is provided there. Also smelt terribly in the drawers. I did not use them.. The rooms were pretty plain and slightly disappointing. our Garden view room faced a swampy area with a foul odor as I mentioned. part of the beach is Hotel property, the rest of the beach is public Access. Which means lots of garbage on the beach. beware of the horse people on the beach... These people have horses which poop all over the place, and they also constantly harass you to sell you illicit substances. When you go to the beach in the morning they are there till evening, they are constantly calling you constantly trying to get you to buy stuff from them or to bring them drinks. It was extremely extremely annoying. Police Were there a few times. Nothing ever happened.. everyday every moment They were there pushing.. . Did i mention the horse poop?? Its everywhere.

Excursions :. I regret all the excursions I took. The Sunwing sales representatives for the excursions were not so honest with us. Firstly, we asked every excursion. The distance. Asked about traffic. I asked about costs. And asked about inclusions. Because we are traveling on a budget and wanted to see Panama. We were very specific with our questions. It cost me 190 USD to take a trip for 2 to the embera tribe. . Sunwing assured me it was a hour and 15 minute bus ride, maybe 2 hours with traffic. We spent 5 hours in traffic till we finally got down there. For a 3-hour tour, which we were told that would end at a waterfall, and then it did not. We had a very short tour of the village, then we were ushered to Buy their products that were handmade. The prices were incredibly high.. then another 5 hour and 20 minute bus ride back. We left the resort at 7:00 a.m. and we were only back at 9:40pm

The second excursion we took was the Panama canal with the new and old Panama. Again a 3 and 1/2 hour bus ride. Then we rode a boat into the Lake of the Panama canal where we saw monkeys. There were so many boats and so little monkeys.. then we boarded the bus again to head to old Panama which is similar to the old Port of Montreal had an expensive hamburger meal which was not included, then back on the bus stuck in traffic for another 2 hours. Drove past New Panama. Didn't even get to stop or go look at it. It. Ended up at the locks to watch a container ship coming in. Interesting. Then we washed a Morgan Freeman narrated movie about the Panama canal. And then another three and a half hours on...

We had a good 7 day vacation with family at the Riu Playa Blanca - Panama - I write honest and sometimes lengthy reviews about the good and the “ not so good ,” so people can make a good decision based on their own specific needs . I am not too picky , but I am observant . I like to start with the GOOD - The Staff - The staff were all so kind and accommodating - When you needed anything , they were quick to address it. They were all kind and always cheerful and many spoke pretty good English , making the language barrier not much of a problem . — The rooms are COLD if that’s what you want - but remember , you must call the front desk in order to have your temperature adjusted. You can’t do it from your room . The rooms were clean and spacious , and the cleaning staff did an amazing job . A very clean resort !! The water pressure in the showers were great , no complaints about the rooms at all. — The chairs at the pools and by the beach were plentiful . You didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn , there were always places to sit and a lot of chairs especially on the beach ! — The gift shop prices were really great . Same price in the gist shop as the beach vendors . So you won’t get a better deal on the beach so shop in the air conditioning if you want to . — The bartenders worked very hard and they were fast to get drinks so the lines weren’t that long for a drink . — Jose in the dining room , was a fabulous waiter . All of them were . All employees were very kind. Cleanliness of the grounds were amazing . THE NOT SO GOOD — — Very far from the airport and from the canal - everything to do was very far away - approx 3 hours from Old Panama and anything you could really want to see . LONG trip with traffic took us over 4 hours to arrive from the airport . — Food selection was bad. The food was not good . No bacon at breakfast except for 1 day. You could always find something to eat but it was the most limited buffet I have ever had at a riu resort . Not up to PAR . I was disappointed . — NO RIU themed parties - No pink party , no white party . No foam party , no beach party ( because they said it was due to light rain on this one - but this would have been the only theme party they would have had ), NO Michael Jackson show - no shows really . — Hardly any games - no prizes - they would say they were gonna do a game and then they wouldn’t have it . My teens love to compete and they had no winners . Just a game , no prizes , when they did have games . — No arcade or teen club — nowhere for teens to congregate if they didn’t want to be in the sun , at the pool — nowhere for teens to meet and hangout . My teens were actually pretty bored . Not many teens here . Not a good resort for entertainment . We are glad we had cousins along or for the first time on any trip , our kids would not have had the usual groups they meet to hang out with . — No menu of “ drink “ of the day for kids or anything like that . Not a fun resort for kids . Not much the kids liked to eat either . Just some information to pass along now - —-The beach horse men were not as bad as what we read about — they were actually ok and pretty kind - they didn’t bother you once you told them no but they were also friendly to people who wanted to take a horse ride and I saw many who took them and they were fine . —- The beach was nice - it was hot sand and the waves were big some days - but we brought tubes and floated in them . There is a drop off that is welcomed after your feet hurt on the shells as you walk into the water . —- There is a lot of sea glass you can collect and starfish wash up early in the mornings and that is neat to see and to throw them back in the water . —— The weather - don’t even pay attention to it - it will never be accurate . Though we had many overcast days - as long as it wasn’t pouring down rain , we were happy to have the clouds - and I am a “ sun person “ who gets aggravated usually if my vacays aren’t sunny but it is so hot when...