TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Family vacation Reading the negative reviews, I was a little apprehensive taking my family to The Rif but I was very pleased. I am going to comment on some of the issues that were negatively mentioned before. The check in was easy and each staff member was very pleasant. We had no problem with our luggage being held until our rooms were ready. And they were ready quicker than expected. The room was cleaned every day, and towels were never an issue, clean ones were provided every day. One family member had an issue with the safe, but it was resolved quickly. The lady at the pool towel hut was very nice and never gave us a problem. A family member would go to get all our towels, and she came back with ten each time. We did wait until 8 when she was ready. Maybe the person who had a problem tried to get them before they were ready. Everywhere we went, the employees and staff were pleasant and helpful. If you treat people with respect, they will treat you the same way. Housekeeping staff gave us smiles and "hellos" as we passed them in the halls. That can be said about all staff we encountered. I see some complain about stains on the lounges. Maybe the guests need to be more careful. I was sitting on a lounge by the pool and had my drink on the table next to it. Some boys behind me were kicking a soccer ball around and it came over to my table and knocked my drink on the lounge padding. It will absolutely be a stain. The bartenders were not stingy with the alcohol and the quality was good. If I had to state one disappointment. It was the food. Making the required dinner reservations for the next day was a very simple process of going to the concierge desk at 9am. We did that after breakfast each day and it went smoothly. Now back to the food itself. While the buffet offered a very wide variety, the taste was bland. Same for the restaurants. For us, it was like high school cafeteria food. But we managed to have a good time.

Now normally I would write a full very detailed review when it comes to staying at resorts abroad but unfortunately for this one I'm going to have to keep it brief. Yes yes people I've hit a dub once again. Advertise as a split resort under the umbrella of Hilton resorts 1/2 family the other half adult of course I stayed at the adult side allegedly at the riff. Upon my arrival I hate to be picky but there were certain things that I have to pick out. On my vehicle arrived to the hotel no bellman no greeting pick up your own bags bring them to the front for checking and wait for the outcome. A very average check-in lobby nothing to gloat about I arrived at around 2:20 p.m. and was told the room would not be ready until 4:00 p.m. . I can't lie I always find it hard to believe that a resort that has over 3 to 400 rooms is always at a Max capacity to which your room cannot be ready prior to the time that they allow check-in but it is what it is. I finally was able to locate the bellman to which I gave him my bag so I could go grab some lunch or walk around the property for a bit and come back with the hopes that the room would be ready within the next hour. One of the first things that I noticed upon my arrival was when I was checking in I heard what I would call The annoying laughter of a child in a hallway. Now I don't have anything against children or other people's children it's just when I booked an adult only resort that's exactly what I expect. And so I asked the woman at the checking counter if there were kids on the adult side she just smirked and put her head down. I then asked by the bellboy who told me there aren't a lot but there are some I didn't find that appealing at all. So let's answer the question before we move forward. Is the riff an adult's only section of the resort? And the answer is a big fat no. Over the next several days I can honestly say there were children everywhere including the adult side main pool kids swimming in the pool running around the pool toys around the pool floaties everywhere. At dinner the same at the beach the same in the evening at the bar the same kids kids everywhere super disappointed so if you like or you paid for what you thought would be an adult's only portion of the resort it is not and there is no one to regulate it either. Next up..The Food. Now I would say it's an inclusive so expect the food to be horrible but I can't honestly say that that should be the case because I've been fortunate enough to stay at many all-inclusive hotels to which had pretty decent food if not extraordinary food in some cases. Here this is not the case the food was actually terrible. Okay okay maybe not the worst of the worst but it definitely was below average. You will need a reservation for almost every restaurant besides the buffet to which I witnessed a roach crawling in the bread section. In the morning I found myself eating an omelette everyday that was probably the best meal that I had there other than that I can't vouch for anything. One night I tried my hand at the 24-hour room service that they claim is part of this fantastic resort. The menu was so bad I can literally sum it up all in a sentence are you ready? Here we go spaghetti ,Caesar salad , chicken club sandwich , cheeseburger and fresh fruit...That's IT. Oh and another thing every time you order room service there's a $15 USD charge to which they show up at your room with the machine ready to swipe your car to pay before they give you the food. Everything came wrapped and plastic wrap so all of the food was soggy. The Caesar salad was the worst salad I've ever had in my life with wilted and soggy lettuce and a bowl that was filled with at least 25% water it was absolutely ridiculous the sandwich might add was the driest sandwich known to man no flavor whatsoever bread was not toasted chicken was definitely old and given to me from an earlier preparation. The food was so terrible I took pictures have at it people. The Room. The room was decent it was clean the AC worked the bed was okay the pillows were comfortable the TV had a good selection of channels storage space was okay and that about sums that up my room is on the ground floor so there wasn't actually about any there was a section to sit outside with chairs but people would walk back and forth so there was no privacy in that. The Beach Biggest issue is the cleanliness of the beach chair cushions. They are filthy and have mold spots all over them. I was up pretty early daily and never once saw staff putting the cushions out and I have been to hotels in Mexico and tiga to which a night I would see staff folding those cushions up taking them away I assume to clean them and then putting them back in the early mornings at this resort they did nothing they just left him there damn night where they rained or they're shine all night it didn't make a difference so I found myself in the morning searching for different cushions and switching them out for ones that was somewhat cleaner in addition to adding extra towels to make sure I wasn't laying directly on it The selection at the bars were not impressive as well The drinks seem pretty watered down and very unappealing your best bet is to buy a bottle of your favorite spirits at the airport and bring it along with you to the beach. There is some nightly entertainment but I did not engage it's mostly on what would be the family side. The one thing they did have that I thought was pretty cool was they have a beachfront hookah bar that is open from 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. in the morning very relaxing but it will cost you $50 and there is no refill it's $50 every time. But for the experience of laying out on the beach having some hookah multiple flavors they have it was pretty cool but again it costs extra. In the mornings I made my way to their gym It was not the best gym in the world but decent. It can get very crowded by say 8:00 a.m. so I would go early my go time was usually between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. I will reiterate that this is not a Hilton hotel it appears that Hilton just slapped their name on this hotel and it was an older resort that may be under some sort of renovation I'm not too sure but the original Hotel name was the correndon. I wish there was more things that I could say about the hotel that were positive but unfortunately I got nothing. I would not recommend this hotel nor would I stay here again just too many negatives for me. Only bonus is that it is a walking distance to Rif fort and the Art district downtown.

The property itself is beautiful, and the seamless access to the sister resort really makes the overall experience feel expansive with plenty of areas to explore. The location is also excellent — about a 15-minute walk from downtown, which made it easy to enjoy both the resort and the city. The rooms were spacious, modern, and comfortable overall. Staff were generally friendly, especially Norma at the towel stand, who was consistently welcoming and helpful. Unfortunately, the service experience significantly tarnished what could otherwise be a great stay. The issue seemed less about staff attitude and more about being clearly understaffed. Nearly every bar had long wait times, often with only one bartender handling a large crowd. For a resort marketed as 4- or 5-star, the lack of poolside service was disappointing. Even something simple like circulating staff with carts of premade drinks around the pools could help reduce the excessive bar waits and improve the guest experience considerably. The restaurant reservation system was another frustration. The resort “app” is really just a website, and it is not very user-friendly when trying to make the required reservations for the à la carte restaurants. Without reservations, you can easily be turned away despite visibly empty tables, which again felt more like a staffing issue than a true capacity problem. Better communication at check-in or even a simple pamphlet explaining the reservation process, activities, amenities, spa, and tour desk would make a huge difference. Many of the available facilities felt oddly hidden unless you actively searched for them. One additional issue was a noticeable mildew smell coming from the bathroom that became more apparent after a couple of days. Keeping the bathroom door open helped, but it would be nice if the hotel at least left the same scent spray the cleaning staff uses so guests could freshen the room themselves if needed. However the room was spacious and modern. Overall, while the property is undeniably beautiful and in a fantastic location, the operational and staffing shortcomings outweighed the positives for me. As it stands, I would not choose to stay here again.

If I could give this property a zero, I would! From checkin to check out, not a customer service concern for anyone. As a Diamond member, was pretty much ignored and given non of the options other than a different checkin desk, no upgrades etc… We ran into two newer employees trying to make change but fighting against: Dirty rooms, unkept unserviced minibars, workers not wanting to be there, huge language barriers with many workers, inconsistent to horrible food quality, bar to bar discrepancies in quality and options for drinks and rude servers, no internet for almost 3 days, unkept beach areas, broken furniture in and outside, lack of consistent communication in all areas, and a male manager Hannes, that basically blew us off and ignored after my initial conversation with him. There are two pools , one on direct property that Is nice and a wonderful coffee bistro…that’s about it! Steer clear friends!

For the people who are giving this resort 1 and 2 stars, they need to wake up. This isn’t a Sandals and they aren’t charging Sandals prices. This was a good to very good cheap all inclusive. Surprisingly the food at the buffet was very good with a very good selection. The à la carte restaurants were a bit hit and miss. The Turkish and Mexican restaurant were good and the barbecue and seafood restaurant were bad. However, if you don’t like dinner, just go to the buffet afterwards that’s what we did. The à la carte restaurants only allow you one entrée and the appetizers and sides are small. We left every restaurant still hungry. This is not a problem because then you just go to the buffet. Our room was clean and turned down every day. Our mini bar was restocked every day. The room never got below 22°C despite us trying to turn it lower. That is probably done by design. It was a little warm for us, but nothing to complain about. Other reviews complaint about the service. The service was good to indifferent. However, most people were not tipping the servers and bartenders. We were. It made a huge difference. There would be a line of people at the bar, waiting to get a drink, and we would be spotted by the bartender and served immediately. Simply by just giving $1 per drink. 90% of people didn’t tip. It’s your choice whether or not you want to but your service will definitely reflect it. We had multiple bartenders and servers who knew us on a first name basis and would seek us out when we walked up to the bar. They had a surprisingly good selection of alcohol including Grey Goose. Some of the bartenders didn’t know how to make a Mai Thai or Rumrunner but again I don’t care. I can always find something else to drink. Should they know how to make that in a tropical environment? Probably. Am I going to sit there and complain about it? No. The front desk staff was great no complaints. I think most of the negative reviews for this place stem from People expecting world class service without paying world class price. There was a lot of people smoking, which I believe is a cultural thing. As Americans, it is uncommon to have that many people smoking around you. It was annoying, but I’m assuming that that’s their culture. Another thing that was a little concerning was that there were many young girls under the age of seven without shirts on while swimming at the pool. As an American, I didn’t like this. But again, I am assuming this is a cultural difference. Overall, it was a good vacation at a good value. You get what you pay for. Will I be back? Probably not. Was it a giant waste of my money? No.