Having read several reviews before we left we were slightly prepared for the worse but this was not the case. Firstly every staff member that we met, be it the front desk, the bar staff, pool staff, waitresses, conceirge were extremely polite and helpful. Our room was clean and of a good size with everything that we needed and beds and towels changed daily. The pool area was lovely, spacious and clean with plenty of sun beds. Breakfast was excellent, loads of fresh fruit, fresh bread, meats, salads, bacon, sausages, eggs etc etc. The evening buffet was OK but quite frankly with the number of restaurants in Miami we did not eat there except on the first night. The beach was opposite the hotel only separated by a beautiful board walk. The beach was clean and beds and umbrellas were available at a charge or we just took our towels down and enjoyed the sun and sea. On this trip it was just my husband and I who went and it was perfect. I think teenagers would be a little bored as, apart from shopping there is not much to do until they are old enough for the clubs. Small children were well serviced by the pool and beach and taxis waited outside the hotel all day. Whether the Riu staff have taken note of some of the bad reports or whether some people had a bad experience I do not know but I can certainly say that for a week or more (if you want to go down to the Keys or Orlando) we both felt this hotel was an excellent choice.

We have just arrived back from spending nine days in this hotel and all i can say is that we had a fantastic holiday and i cannot believe all the negative reviews that have been posted about it. It is very good and we would most certainly recommend this hotel. Staff were very good especially Dayana who serves in the Floridian bar, her customer care is exceptional. Breakfast lovely , ample choice and great omelettes. The only downside was that one lift was out of order at the time but to be honest we were on the fourth floor and we had no problem using the stairs, I'm sure that they would move you to a lower floor if you requested. Nothing seemed to be any problem to them and we can't wait to go back next year.

My husband and I are very well travelled and have stayed in 4/5 star hotels all over the world. After reading the reviews on trip advisor we were dreading going to the Riu in Miami. It was absolutely lovely, the staff were exceptional, they spoke perfect English, German and Spanish and they were helpful and curtious at all times. The rooms have recently been refurbished, they were clean and were of the same standard as other 4star hotels that we had stayed in. The bathrooms haven't had the refurb. yet but they were very clean and had a powerful shower. Breakfast is amazing, the chef is on hand ,making omlettes of choice and there was loads of fresh fruit, pastries, bread and cereal. The only negative is that there is still only one lift working, we were on the 5th floor and just took the stairs. Overall this hotel was lovely and you get so much for the price, would recommend to everyone!

I stayed with my family at the Riu Hotel during February 2008. The grading for this hotel was extremely over exaggerated. We've stayed at better 2 and 3 star hotels in Miami in the past where the service/customer care was within that hotel grading. The service and customer care was very sub-standard and almost non-existent. There was a constant lack of bath towels, hand towels, face flannels, toiletries were left in our room by housekeeping on a regular basis. Several complaints about the lack of essential amenities for our room (3 times daily the first time it occurred then twice daily thereafter) via the front desk to no avail throughout the course of our two week holiday. Spare toilet tissue and face tissues were not made available to us - we complained a few times about these issue too. We had read the negative reviews about this hotel prior to our arrival in Miami on trip advisor and informed our package holiday provider to move us to another hotel prior our arrival but no spaces were available elsewhere due to the Boat Show. We therefore gave this hotel the benefit of the doubt - what a bad move that was! The bar food was sub-standard and cold. The bar entertainment/singer was sub-standard and sang songs completely out of her ability/capability! We left several messages for our local travel rep to make contact with us so we could convey our various complaints on negative issues to no avail - the rep was non-existent. The front desk didn't provide the customer care you would expect in accordance with the hotel grading - all they did was to write our room number on the corner of the desk pad but either ignored our requests or plainly forgot! (understandable if the are not writing proper details down). The housekeeping staff didn't speak/converse in English which is strange working in an American hotel where the main language spoken is English/American. Only one lift was operational at the hotel for nearly the entire duration of our holiday! The poorly maintained emergency staircase was the only other means to get to rooms on higher floors if you didn't want to wait at least 10 minutes for the one workable lift - we were based on the 6th floor with two under 6's! Guests were using the emergency staircase to checkout with their heavy luggage - very much a health and safety issue. On the last morning at breakfast black bits were found at the bottom of two glasses of apple juice obtained from the machines for my children - I wasn't impressed! Definitely not a 3.5 star hotel! Some of the food was overcooked, dry or re-heated food from previous day. The first room we were allocated on the 8th floor smelled musky and damp so we had to prolong our check-in and admin it entailed by request another room at front desk - the Riu hotel were already made aware of various negative issues read by me on trip advisor and conveyed to our local rep in the UK before our departure. Needless to say I have written a very strong letter of complaint to our holiday package provider on the negative aspects and our experience at the Riu!!!