Having been to RIU hotels before, this one was the newest we have stayed in. Fantastic hotel with loads of facilities, lovely pool area with plenty of sunbeds and parasols, never had a problem getting a sunbed at any time of the day. Probably the cleanest hotel i've been to, staff cleaning all day, even the lamp posts were polished every day! Cups, glasses etc collected constantly so even though it was all inclusive it wasn't cluttered. Good choice of food, plenty of fresh fruit, show cooking and salads, only thing i'd say is that there wasn't the volume of food i've seen at other hotels. Really friendly staff always ready to talk to you and have a laugh, recpetion were brilliant, anything you needed they would help with and bar staff were really efficient and you never had to really queue. We had a double superior sea view room which great, great view and loads of space within the room. Maid service was also excellent. Hotel was excellent, only downside was the resort it was situated in, no bars or shops to speak of really so all-inclusive was definetely a good choice.

This hotel is the cleanest we have ever stayed in the staff are cleaning and polishing all day.The food is\excellent, we asked to move to a room over the pool on arrival which the reception agreed to with no hassle, even though it was a bigger room. The Animation Team were marvelous, particularly their evening shows very proffessional. The pool areas were beautifully kept with lawns and flower beds everywhere no soon did you finish a drink or coffee and the glass or cup was\collected, there were plenty of beds and umbrellas around we had no trouble around the pool which previous reviews had commented on.
The only reason we would not go back is the lack of a quiet bar where you can enjoy a drink before dinner or chat with people you meet, the main entertainment bar was nearly always swamped with little children running around, or large crowds of young spanish who were very noisy, otherwise we cannot fault this hotel.
one last comment we went with Thomson Platignum, we were suppose to have priority check in at the airport
there was no such facility, we were also suppose to recieve free head sets these never appeared either, neither did our free drink, apparently we should have\had a voucher in the document pack we were sent but there was none in ours so do check before you go.
I would definately reccomend this hotel for families but not for older couples if you want some quiet time.

Visited this hotel in March for a week and enjoyed it so much we returned again in Sept for 11 days so i think that says everything as we have never returned to the same hotel twice in a row.The staff are wonderful and so very friendly and helpful.The food is very good and there was never any problem getting a sunbed.Idont know what it is like at peak periods aswe tend to avoid these times.Please dont be put off by the bad reports as they are a not what we expierienced.

Having been to a Riu hotel before we expected high standards this was not the case.

Repetitive food sometimes served cold, lukewarm coffee for breakfast, with poor selection of pastries.

Staff in the main ok, but some need a personality transplant.

As has been said before the Spanish allow their children to run riot, and the staff at this hotel do NOTHING to help with the situation.

Would we recommend this hotel No

Would we go back No

My wife and I returned on 24/06 from 2 weeks at the Riu Guarana.
For the last 4 years our son has been working as a Thomson Kids Rep, so we have been staying in whichever resort he was working in. His mum couldnt stand 8 months not seeing him! So this year we drew up a shortlist of 5 hotels (3 of which happened to be Riu) and the Guarana came out on top, based on the information in the Thomson brochure -little did we know that some of that was inaccurate!
I must first point out that we have never been to Portugal before, never stayed at a Riu before and the only time we have been all inclusive was on a Thomson cruise a couple of years ago for our Silver Wedding Anniversary.
We had never experienced such a multi-national hotel with everything being announced in at least 4 different languages. It seemed to take forever to get anything going!
The Thomson brochure and website states A good place to start unwinding is at one of the two swimming pools. These lagoon-like lovelies have adjoining Whirlpool Baths and are flanked by teak sun beds with cream cushions and elegant parasols
The swimming pools are fantastic although the swim up bar is only half built and not open yet. No work is being done to complete it and it doesnt look as if it is going to start. The sun beds are not teak, but the usual plastic ones, and there are no cream cushions as per the Thomson site. (In fact we are taking this point up with Thomson, as this was one of the key factors in deciding on this hotel, as my wife has a degenerative spine condition and cannot lay around for too long so we thought comfortable sun beds would help. We believe they have misrepresented the situation.) The hotel at first offered to get a cushion for the sun bed then changed their minds. One particular member of the reception staff was quite rude about it.
There are also no adjoining whirlpool baths although there is one in the larger pool. We had to be at the pool by 10 am during the 1st week to reserve our beds and earlier during the 2nd week when the hotel seemed to be overrun with (Spanish?) families and kids); however some of the worst culprits were Brits. We also felt like a couple of sardines, as it does get very crowded by the pool at times, there

The previous post by Peter Silk really says it all.
Our main gripe was, we expected Thomson Premier Collection to be a more sedate place, not young children outnumbering the adults.
Portugal is famous for Sardines, we certainly felt packed in like Sardines. Being an all inclusive hotel, no one goes out, the pool area cannot accommodate that amount of people.

The other reports are spot on. Very nice hotel, facilities were excellent only spoiled by spanish kids being allowed to run riot.

Food in the main restaurant was very good but we ate in the asian restaurant where the food was far better and there were fewer kids.

Round the pool was crampt, there is no other way to put it.

Lovely hotel, nice staff, would I go back? probably not