Hotel RIU Atoll

Paradise, blue lagoon, clearly water, perfect staff, cola drinks, manta air- top airline, clean, quiet, my wife was really happy, lot of animal, but too much alcohol for guests. Hope back NEXT year with infant:)

Revisiting this hotel over and over and it keeps getting better!

Staff is very attentive, cleaning service at Villa 14 is exceptional, stayed there 4 times and no complaints whatsoever

Food is really good, always smth to choose from, good job!

In love with bar service: whether you come for a coffee or cocktail - always meeting your expectations, very friendly and exceptionally attentive! Special thanks to Nishantha and all the managers who are taking care of the service!

Scuba Caribe diving is amazing! We’ve had the pleasure to have Grettel as our instructor, she is the best, very understanding and very sensitive to all what is going on during your education! Apart from that we haven’t met even 1 staff member who wasn’t nice or helpful, simply a dream team!

Entertainment is great, always smth new! Always looking forward to it!

Management takes good care of the resorts, over the last 2 years we see that the hotel is flourishing and we couldn’t be happier with everything!

We highly recommend to visit!

As frequent travellers, we're familiar with the Riu hotels in Europe and the reviews were mostly positive, so we thought we were making a good choice. Unfortunately, it's been a disappointing experience. It feels like we are at a hotel in Marbella or Tenerife - nothing about this place feels like we're in the Maldives. And as much as I love Spain, that's not what we come to the Maldives for, in fact it would have been a lot cheaper to book a hotel in Spain instead!

To explain: I've stayed at Thai, Italian, American and Middle Eastern brands in the Maldives (amongst others) but they all managed to at least channel a Maldivian feeling, however this resort has no character at all. Nothing about the architecture channels anything of the Maldives. I feel like we could have just booked a hotel in Tenerife for less money and it would look the same, except the sand and sea is a slightly different colour.

To be fair, the island is very pretty and the interiors of the duplexes are fine, spacious and in good condition, but I'm glad we didn't pay more for a water villa because not only are they tiny (with 3 guest rooms crammed into each villa!) but also they look like ugly nuclear bunkers linked by concrete jetties.

My biggest beef is the island is really crowded because they built too many rooms for the size of the island. This means the beach is packed full of people, just like the beaches in Europe (we don't come to the Maldives to be packed like sardines alongside everyone else, this isn't the Amalfi Coast!). The sea is equally crammed full of people. They didn't provide enough sunloungers or restaurants to cater to the huge number of people here, so the 2 a la carte restaurants are constantly booked out, meaning we can only eat at the main buffet restaurant. The buffet food is average to poor. I thought they'd get paella right (being a Spanish company) but it didn't even have any saffron in it, so it was just a kind of watery tomato sauce with undercooked rice (I used to live in Valencia so I know paella!). Last night we went back to the buffet 3 times to try to find something that tasted nice but each time the chicken and fish was dry and bony, so we didn't even eat properly yesterday. The salad was OK but a bit old, so I ended up sticking to the mas'huni for 2 days running. The mas'huni was nice at least.

Each night, huge tropical ants come into our room but I think they must have coated the floor with pesticide because they are all lying dead on the floor by the morning. A huge one somehow got onto our bed last night. I know it's hard to deal with such things here, as we're in the tropics, but I can imagine that would freak some people out. For me it's just unpleasant.

The welcome drink was orange squash, and whenever I order orange juice (except at breakfast) they give me orange squash instead of fresh juice, not even juice from a box. I know it's a 4 star, but really, rationing real juice so you can only have it at breakfast?! I've been to many other 4 stars here where the food and beverages are much better.

The entertainment is good, with DJs and live bands, and they always seem to get a good turnout. This is not so common in the Maldives, and it's nice to be able to socialise. Most of the staff are also really nice, although one of the guys on the entertainment team texted by boyfriend last night to try to get him to hook up with him in the men's toilets, which was a bit of a shock since he is not gay, lol. (They both like DJing and my boyfriend was a professional DJ and is into networking so they swapped numbers). I'm still processing it but it seems very unprofessional to say the least to proposition a guest like that!

The island is quite long so it's quite a long sweaty walk to the restaurant but they don't provide bikes, and shuttles are few and far between. Also they refuse to let you jump on a shuttle after 10.30pm, even if they are passing you on the road. Yes, there's an actual paved road slap bang in the middle of the island. Again, this makes the resort feel very clinical and characterless. I suppose it's helpful for those with mobility issues, but personally I miss the sandy paths. I've stayed at 5 stars, other 4 stars and even 3 stars here many times before so I know what a Maldivian 4 star should be and I can't help but feel for the price point this resort does not deliver. Riu just seems to have totally missed the point of the Maldives here. The island itself is beautiful, so it seems like a wasted opportunity and that Riu really didn't understand how to do the Maldives.