Disappointing Customer Service and Food Quality
We recently spent five days at Riu Palace, staying in two junior suites. While the overall experience was pleasant, the checkout process and subpar food quality left much to be desired.
Checkout Experience: On Friday afternoon, only one counter was open for checkout, resulting in a long line despite having three counters available for check-in. When I handed over the key cards for one room and four towel cards, I informed the staff that the key cards for the other room were left inside the room. The checkout attendant insisted that we retrieve the keys or pay $16 per key. Despite explaining that we were running late for our flight to the USA, she remained indifferent and unyielding. This was particularly frustrating as most hotels do not require key cards to be returned.
Food Quality: The buffet food was typical—plenty of variety and quantity but lacking in taste. For an all-inclusive resort, expecting more might be unrealistic. However, the real disappointment was the substandard quality of food at the à la carte dinner restaurants. The Italian food at San Jose was marginal, and the Indian food at Bombay restaurant was a joke. We ordered Palak Paneer, Naan, and rice, but the Palak Paneer had neither palak (spinach) nor paneer (cottage cheese), the naan was worse than flatbread from Costco, and they ran out of rice. The ultimate joke was dessert. We ordered Gulab Jamun, but what we got was a churro dipped in cinnamon sugar col