Riu Guanacaste - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10860 reviews

• 

  3 star. Only because it’s renovated.

  My husband and I visited this resort for our 20th wedding anniversary. The hotel is beautiful and the rooms are newly renovated and lovely. With the exception of the black mold in the shower. The staff were for the most part very friendly and the grounds kept beautiful. Your room fridge is stocked every second day. Plenty of restaurants, but only one à la cart and it was terrible. All the others are buffet and the best one was the Asian. At the steakhouse we were rushed through. Served undercooked steak and soggy salad with hard dry mozzarella sticks. Wine wasn’t served until half way through the meal and the dessert was dry and tasteless. The food in the buffets was not great. Lots of variety. But lacking flavour and proper identification of sauces and dressings. The drinks were ok. The tamarino bar was amazing, and it had the better drinks. The evening violin music played here in was great. The pools were dirty and cloudy by the afternoon. Pool bars had great service, but only if you were Spanish speaking. The pool chairs were plentiful, but dirty with bird poop and dirt. The beach was not great. There is not an adults only pool. Most pools have many children if that’s what your there for. The pool deck is very, very slippery. We witnessed many people fall. Down the beach a bit we could see monkeys which was one of the highlights of the trip. Plenty of excursions to do. We did a boat cruise with snorkelling. Don’t go if you really want to see anything snorkelling, because it was about 30 mins of rocks and old coral. The cruise itself was well done as was the service on the cruise. Excursion to hot springs was lovely, although if you want traditional hot springs you will be disappointed. These ones are chlorinated. Souvenirs are very overpriced. 46$US for a bottle of sunscreen. So bring lots of it. Overall, I won’t visit this resort again. The beach is dirty with dead crabs everywhere in the morning that starts to smell by afternoon. I’ve stayed at many nicer resorts. This one just doesn’t have it.

  Sep 01, 2026
• 

  Wouldn't go back

  We just got home from this hotel, there are several things that myself and my family were not pleased with; for a 5* hotel I would not have expected half of the things I witnessed and I would have expected a lot more. If these amenities were available, they were not made known to my party or my family at check-in. 1. Restaurants: There was only one a la carte restaurant - We could only book it twice, no problem. Everything else was buffet, no problem. The special buffets, the food was not good, it was not clean. Kids were not monitored. Food was all over the floor and not cleaned up properly, slipping hazards in the restaurants. The main buffet was good, the food was good, the staff were friendly. 2. Beach: it was dirty in front of the hotel. Trash bins were constantly full, trash all over the beach, no chairs laid out, if you want a chair you had to drag it to where you wanted it or pay someone to drag it for you. No beach service or bar. The line of demarcation (where the resort ends and the vendors begin) was also dirty, shower pads were gross and muddy all around, trash everywhere. There was one trash can for the entire beach area. 3. Pool: understanding the pools are large, there were things floating in them constantly and maybe could have been cleaned more. There were plenty of chair available surrounding the pool, however, it would have been nice if they didn't have bird poop on them. I never saw anyone cleaning them, the chairs at the water park were worse than at the pools. The pool decks were a death trap, we were constantly seeing people fall everywhere, kids, adults, you name it, they fell. 4. Bar service: was atrocious, if you didn't speak Spanish or if you weren't from Costa Rica, you were overlooked, no matter how much you tipped. Some of the bars were worse than others, and unfortunately, the. Ad service wasn't due to the bar tenders being busy, it was due to them not acknowledging their guests. 5. Party Staff: I'm sure are overworked and underpaid. They were great! Fun, entertaining and created a fun and exciting atmosphere for the week. 6. Room: the room itself was beautiful, our view was incredible. However, we had to fight to get towels, everyday we were shorted or didn't get towels. Day one we only were given three bath towels and two wash cloths, never saw a washcloth after day one. There were no bath mats and we were only given two hand towels once. The towels we were getting were also stuff and smelled like wet dog. We were also given two bottles of water for three people for two days, to drink and use to brush our teeth with. Our shower had black mold in the bottom of it as it wasn't cleaned even after I reported it on day one. 7. Cleaners: the main areas of the hotel were well cared for, including the lobby, and the stores. Someone was always mopping the main areas. The side areas like by our elevator was a disaster, broken glass every morning/day trash piled in the garbages. 8. Gardeners: the gardens were pristine, this team is on point, trees were well cared for, grass was well maintained. 9. Facilities: the bathrooms, or lack there of bathrooms... There were three working stalls at the pool, the one pool at capacity could hold over 400 people. That's less than 1 bathroom per woman. There is also only one bathroom for the buffet, steakhouse, outside entertainment area, asian, and American country restaurant to share, and at one point none of the toilets were flushing... Things I would expect at a 5* resort, that I've experienced at lesser star resorts: 1. Poolside service- drinks and/or snacks brought to you 2. Beach service - beach loungers laid out or brought down for you. Beach bar with drinks or delivered drinks. 3. Clean beach 4. Bar service ... 5. Towels in the room that aren't stiff and smelly 6. Room service 7. Welcome drink 8. Night time vendor market - for souvenirs 9. Tastings - Costa Rican coffee, chocolate, sugar cane, fruits, etc. 10. Shuttles into town For the amount of money we spent on rooms, it was not worth it, in my opinion.

  Aug 17, 2026
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  Our experience at Hotel Riu Guanacaste. Not a five star stay.

  Beautiful hotel. What we didn’t like is most restaurants were buffets, taking the romantic / formal feel out of it. No shellfish served, such as crab or shrimp. Same foods regurgitated in every restaurant. Staff hardly smile, in a way kinda racist. If you’re not speaking Spanish, the service is not the same. Our sheets weren’t changed for two nights. They made the bed with the same sheets.

  Aug 16, 2026
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  Beautiful Resort with bad food

  Beautiful resort, gorgeous pools. Lots of seating and shade around the pool. Rooms: The rooms were comfortable with comfortable beds. The toilet had a sulfur smell every time you flushed. Beach: The beach experience was a disappointment. The beach chairs are stacked in a pile in the corner of the beach. You are responsible for pulling them off the pile and setting them up on the beach. There is no shade unless you set up under one of the 3 trees. There are no umbrellas. There is no one to help you. No beach service. No lifeguard. Food: The food was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. We could barely find anything to eat. At certain meals, my kids only agreed to only eat some fruit, which even that wasn't ripe. The meats (beef and chicken) were overcooked, dried out, and bland. If you don't eat pork, there were limited protein options. The food sat under the heat lamps hours and looked and tasted dry. Even the steak restaurant was gross. Nothing was made to order, only bulk preparation. The steak was bland, dry, and overcooked. They need to hire a new chef.

  Aug 16, 2026
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  Extremely Disappointed – So Glad We Did A Visit Before Our Wedding

  We visited Riu Guanacaste because we were seriously considering it for our destination wedding. After this "test drive," we are incredibly grateful we came before committing. It confirmed this was absolutely not the right venue for such an important event. Our room was one of the biggest disappointments. Every time the toilet was flushed, the room filled with a sewage smell. We had specifically requested a quiet room, yet were placed directly above a noisy party area. We also paid for a courtyard view, which was unattractive and far from what we expected. The arrival experience was not welcoming at all. Check-in felt chaotic and inefficient, and we were expected to transport our own luggage to our room. For an all-inclusive resort that hosts destination weddings, the lack of service was surprising from the moment we arrived. The food and beverage experience was equally frustrating. You cannot order a Bloody Mary or many other alcoholic beverages with breakfast, which seemed odd for an all-inclusive resort. There are also strange operational rules throughout the property. At some locations, you can't order food at the bar, but you also can't order drinks unless you're seated for food. The entire setup feels disorganized and not designed with the guest experience in mind. The restaurants were perhaps the biggest disappointment. One evening we arrived at 8:40 PM to a restaurant that closed at 9:00 PM and were refused seating. The following night we returned much earlier and were told the wait was over an hour. When we finally did dine, the food was honestly some of the worst we've experienced at any Riu property. Combined with the long waits and poor service, dining became something we dreaded rather than looked forward to. What stood out most was the overall lack of customer service. Staff rarely seemed interested in helping guests or finding solutions. The resort appears focused on moving people through the system rather than creating a memorable vacation experience. As a prospective wedding couple, the experience was even more disappointing. The wedding coordinator knew we were on-site specifically to evaluate the resort for our wedding, yet never made any effort to meet with us, check on our stay, provide a tour, or ensure that our experience reflected what our guests would receive. For a resort that actively markets destination weddings, the lack of engagement was shocking and ultimately reinforced our concerns about the level of service we could expect for such an important event. In the end, this trip saved us from making a very expensive mistake. We have since moved our wedding to a Sandals resort, where service, hospitality, and guest experience are clearly a higher priority. Had we booked our wedding here, it would have been embarrassing to host our family and friends under these conditions. If you're considering Riu Guanacaste for a wedding, I strongly recommend visiting first. We're certainly glad we did

  Aug 14, 2026