Riu Palace Aruba - All Inclusive

We originally booked at Riu Palace Aruba – All Inclusive, but were moved to Barcelo Aruba due to renovations — with no price adjustment, despite a glaring downgrade in quality. We traveled as a large family with three separate rooms, and the issues were consistent across all of them. The rooms lacked essentials you'd expect at a 3-star hotel — no hair conditioner, no body lotion, and showers clearly not cleaned daily. Multiple requests to replenish the shower gel dispenser went ignored. Our children reported identical conditions and virtually nonexistent service in their rooms. My son's room phone didn't work. Despite acknowledging the issue and promising a replacement, it was never fixed. Paint was visibly peeling off hallway ceilings — clear signs of neglected upkeep that contradict the hotel's rating. Beach umbrellas were severely insufficient, forcing us to wake up at 4:30 AM to secure shade and chairs — an artificial problem not seen at neighboring hotels and easily fixable. The towel policy was equally frustrating: service was listed until 6 PM, yet staff refused to hand out towels after 5 PM, while the pool and beach remained open and in use. For an all-inclusive resort, the food quality, variety, and dietary options were disappointing and well below what the hotel's rating and price suggest. Overall, a deeply disappointing experience for a large amount of money — consistent across our entire family.

The entire staff were extremely welcoming, friendly and professional. The rooms were large and comfortable; the facilities were well maintained, and the gym was well equipped, and opened 24 hours. I really enjoyed my stay here.

Dining staff at dinner restaurant were rude. Wait time for dinner was unreasonable and they do not take reservations. Room A/C temperature was locked. Room never got cold and would be slightly damp due to humidity, not enjoyable.

10/10 I can’t complain about anything. Food perfect/ perfect view of the pool and sea. And great customers service.

The best resort ever! We had a great time, the food was very good, the room was nice and clean. I will definitely be back soon.

Best all-inclusive food was great staff was so friendly and the rooms were really nice. A lot of fun activities at the pool and they have things to do at night.

Room was updated and beautiful. Buffet was good. Always something to eat. Staff was helpful. Beach chairs need to be resorted at 6am (think Hunger Games). À la cartes did not take reservations and so we ended up going off the resort to eat - which was fantastic. I would recommend this hotel for families with small children but would likely say you don’t need to do an all inclusive in Aruba.

we were given rooms on the 3rd floor. They were nice but a little older and had an awful "ocean View" it was completely blocked by the building outside. One simple phone call to the front desk and they moved us the following day to the 6th floor. Those rooms were awesome.....newly remodeled, clean, and a fantastic ocean view. Staff were incredible the entire time. ONE HAPPY ISLAND!!

This was our second stay at RIU Palace. We had a great room overlooking the pool and the Ocean on the 7th floor. The room was in great condition and was kept very clean by our housekeeper. The hallway was also kept very clean and mopped daily. The pool area was very nice. The beach was kept clean. If I had to complain about anything it would be the availability of chairs on the beach and around the pool. In fairness, this problem exists just about everywhere on Palm Beach unless you pay extra to reserve chairs or a palapa. Just like a cruise ship, people get up early and put their towels on the chairs to reserve them. Then they hardly use them during the day. Many of the beach chairs had broken backs. Instead of removing them they were just put back in the stack for the next day. Many days I would watch people grab chairs and drag them out by the ocean only to realize one or two were broken. Then they would have to drag them back up to the stack of chairs and get two more. It seems it would make more sense to just remove them to minimize the frustration of people wanting to use them.