Hotel was good

The part of the hotel we stayed was old. This was very visible. Room safes were very small and we felt unsure using them as they were a key lock. How many keys could there be? there was no fan in the washroom and no hairdryer in the room, had to go to front desk to ask for one. The food was fine and had a selection. The service in the buffet was hit and miss. The bar service was fine. The resort is large and spread out. There could have been a few more washrooms around as you had to search for [... lire plus] them. The entertainment in the evening was more for the kids in the resort. I have travelled to many destinations and I feel this one was the worse for adult entrainment. Do not feel I will stay in RUI hotel again.

Fun, good but not great

Nice beach with lots of chairs and shade, big resort so you can walk lots, entertainment was average, buffet was good lots of choices, however a la carte restaurant you have to wait in line and hope you get in and really not that special if you do get in! Don't use Canadian money the exchange rate varies from place to place and minute by minute and normally not good!

Great resort!

Food was great, buffet was always a hit so many options, beach was nice and the water was clear! Having access to all three hotels was great we spent most of our time on the beachs at the other resorts! Rooms were clean and nice equipped with a hair dryer. Great time great experience.

Rui Merengue

Hotel and grounds were well kept, rooms comfortable, air conditioning could use an upgrade. Food was great, variety and well presented. Service was great. People were accommodating. Sun Wing rep was questionable, his error cost someone in our party out of pocket money for their mistake.

Older resort with some hiccups

Food was great and lots of shady spots by the ocean. Al la carte restaurants good except that you cannot reserve ahead of time Towels and lawn chairs always available Clean resort Older resort so many things tend to break down such as water taps fridges. Toilets and a/c Didn't look at our requests for same building for all 5 female travellers and 2nd floor rooms.

Great stay!

Stayed March 7 to 14 as a couple The resort met my expectations of a 4 star hotel and really I had no complaints. We got there at 10 pm and check in was just picking up our keys, it was perfect. We bought the 'super saver room' and yet both our room requests were met. In the AM I noticed our fridge wasn't working, we went down to let them know, had some food and checked things out and it was fixed by the time we went back in a few hours. Very clean resort and friendly staff is why I give this p [... lire plus]lace 4.5 stars. There are three sections to the Rui and they all offer the same amenities besides the disco being at the merengue and the Casino at bachata. It's all close enough together if you are an able walker, check it all out and enjoy the scenery! It was very busy so if you want quiet this place isn't for you. Lots of fun entertainment and very family friendly!

The Good, Bad and Ungle

My husband and I arrived at Riu Merengue in Puerto Plata, Dominican on Feb 24th for a 2 week vacation and I wanted to fly home on Feb 26. The hotel was advertised as a 4.5 star but I would give it a 3 or under. The Good - My husband had a birthday and they went out of their way to help with the celebrations. Our room was decorated, received a bottle of wine with dinner, received a bottle of mamawana and some coffee and had a special birthday cake. No time share hassles. I`m not sure if the h [... lire plus]otel was just not up to par for time shares or if the Riu chain doesn`t allow them to hassle customers. Every evening after dinner they had a band that played dancing music, very nice to enjoy with a special coffee. Our Nexus rep, Stanley, mentioned that we should move up an excursion we booked because the weather was going to change. We did move it up and had a great trip snorkeling. Also did the city tour which was very nice. The Bad - Buffet restaurant was very busy and several times we could not find a clean table to sit down and eat. They have 500 rooms and they don`t have the facilities to accommodate the numbers in their dining room. They had 2 al a carte restaurants which only served 100 guests per night so you had to line up early to get in. No reservations. Italian was awful and the steakhouse was just OK. Ran out of keg beer on February 27th which was a holiday so the staff was scrambling to get canned beer from everywhere. In the buffet restaurant they had bread that you could cut which was great, however, many people didn`t use the napkin to hold the bread when they were cutting it and of course the germs on their hands were spread across the entire loaf of bread. They did have butter, some places have switched to margarine so I was glad that they offered butter. The Ugly - our first room 1611 had cockroaches. I have been travelling to warm climates for 20 years and have never had any roaches in my rooms. The hotel sprayed the room (which we didn`t like due to the impact on the spray for humans.) We meet with the NeXus rep and wanted to know what it would cost to move resorts or to fly home. The sales office was closed because it was a Sunday and Monday was a holiday so the earliest we could talk to a sales rep was Tuesday. My husband demanded to talk to the hotel manager and we did get another room on the 2nd floor and did not see any roaches in our room after that. They advertise that they have internet in the lobby - they don`t. We had to go to one of their other hotels to get internet - the lobby was so busy with people trying to communicate with others that it was insane to find a place to sit and most people had to stand. If you have any reaction to smokers, don`t go to this hotel. There was smoking everywhere except the dining room. Lots and lots of smokers. The dining room had a lot of flies. I believe this was because they had place mats that were never wiped off. I watched how they cleaned the tables and they would wipe around the place mat. It was kind of sickening that we had to swat flies as we tried to eat.

Beautiful resort!!

the resort was well keep , grounds and beach well groomed , staff were friendly -- just a very busy place with all three resorts packed together , alacarts were first come first serve no reservations witch made it difficult to get seating at times , over all we enjoyed our stay!!

Very Large Resort

The hotel is well maintained, beds need replacing through out. Food was very good and front desk and bar staff friendly. Housekeeping and dining staff not friendly. I did share the negative with front desk. Also because it is so large there is alot of walking. No bathrooms at the Beach.

Awesome!

Thoroughly enjoyed beautiful pools and its long beach with warm water, would return next week if I could!! Staff was great very professional and accommodating. Enjoyed myself and can't wait to go back!!! Two thumbs up!!

Okay resort

The place was decent. Should be a 3 star. No air conditioner for 2 days no water in our room for a day. Staff was nice. Food was good. Beach wasn't as nice as I thought. Very busy on the weekend and was hard to get a lounger.

Outstanding service!

Grounds were carefully taken care off everyday. People worked hard at whatever their job was. Maids at cleaning, servers at serving well and with a smile, reception at being helpful. We travelled with kids and absolutely every single service person made sure to play or be gracious with our kids. No one was creppy either. Food.... surprisingly for an 'all inclusive" food was outstanding. There was just 1 thing that made our trip a bit harder and was the lack of at ATM. The 3 RIU's are togeth [... lire plus]er hosting 3000 at a time and there was no ATM as it had damaged. This was unacceptable since we wanted to leave tips, buy extras or spend on memorabilias and liquor. Please administration - do bring a good ATM back its crucial. Overall We really enjoyed the RIU's and look forward to travelling again with them!

Great resort

Been to this resort four times plan on going back againThis is a big resort Always clean great food lots of chairs and sun get to use pools and have lunch at the other resorts staff is very friendly always smiling

Riu Merengue

Its a nice resort to relax at. People are nice. Experiences vary. Overall, it was good sun, food and drinks. The week I spent there was good. I would go back, however, I would give other resorts the same opportunity.

Great value for the price

Stayed here January 31st-February 7th, 2017 and it was our first trip to Puerto Plata. Hotel and grounds were very nice. Beach itself was OK, but there was lots of seaweed in the water and water shoes were a must. My only real complaint was "no coffee pot in the room".

Really and Truly the worst resort

I am so disappointed and while I cannot say much due to a lawsuit in progress I would encourage you to never stay here . From the cockroaches all over the dining room to the lack of fresh water to the excessive amount of bugs in the pool and the spiders in the room. RUI does not take pride in their property nor their management. I will see to it and make it a personal goal to ensure no one I know ever sees this resort. We are extremely disappointed in 85% of staff members and their lack of compa [... lire plus]ssion and pride in their role.

Really lacking

This hotel was run down and needed a facelift immediately. The staff couldn't care less about their job or the people around them. They just chatted with each other. No one to take luggage to room. No air conditioning. No warm or hot water. We switched rooms from one side of the resort to the other side and had to carry our own bags. The bars were not open. Overall just lacking in customer service. Then there was the rats running around outside the restaurants and the cockroaches in our [... lire plus] room. I would not recommend this location at all.

RIU GOOD TRIP

All was great at the Merengue resort. Good food, beautiful grounds, multiple hotels to share services and helpful staff. The room was clean, freshly redone and everything worked. Best of all was the way we were treated by the front desk staff, particularly Delmis. RIU resorts needs to clone him for all locations. We will be back!

Enjoyable last minute vacation

Clean hotel with well maintained grounds. Friendly and helpful staff. We had a slight hiccup at check in, they couldn't find our reservation. Instead of making us wait the front desk suggested we go have lunch while they sorted it out. Even off the resort the friendly staff recognized us and gave us some helpful advice.

Good resort

The front desk never did send a blanket to my room The maid only did her job 100 percent if you left a tip. (We didn't one day becaise we couldn't get small bills so she didn't give us any towels....and to add insult to injury, she even took the Swan towel that we kept by the bed) the food was good The entertainment was not. No swim up pool bar Dirty patrons that leave their cups and garbage all over the beach /poolside Bar service is great and quick if you have a dollar in your hand  [... lire plus]Beach was nice ...not cleaned/raked in my 7 day stay It was a good place... I'd recommend the Bachata over the merangue... better wifi, food and entertainment and has a swim up bar.