Hotel Riu Papayas - All Inclusive

Fantastic Week at RIU Papayas, Maspalomas 🌴☀️

We had an incredible week away at the RIU Papayas in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, exactly the one-week break we needed!

From start to finish, everything was great. The staff were fantastic, the entertainment was brilliant, and the food was excellent with plenty of choice. We never had any issues getting a sunbed, and the pool was a great temperature, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.

The only thing I would mention is the sleep quality, which I’d rate around 3/5. This was mainly because we were going to bed around 10pm while the evening entertainment continued until around midnight. As we had a pool-view room, the noise was quite noticeable. That said, this was more down to our room location and our early bedtime rather than anything wrong with the hotel.

If we return, I’d simply request a room on the outside of the hotel rather than overlooking the pool.

Overall, we had a fantastic stay and would definitely recommend the RIU Papayas. A brilliant place for a relaxing week away, with great food, friendly staff, entertainment and a lovely atmosphere. We’d happily return! 🌴🍹

Stayed for a week and we had a nice time but not to the standard I would expect for a 4 star.

Room was nice and spacious however the aircon was terrible and room would not go below 25 degrees. We told the reception who said they would resolve it but that only improved it to about 23 degrees. This was not ideal considering we were looking forward to aircon after the heatwave in the UK.

Pool was small and extremely crowded. Lots of sunbeds very close together and shaded. The adult only areas were more spread out so spent most of the time there but was not very clean so had to keep shoes on. No one collected used cups you had to put them in buckets which is fine but at a 4 star I wouldn’t expect this. The pool had a sloped walkway in but as this was the only shallow bit it would be full of children. There was a raised bit for sunbathing / reading in pool which was nice but due to being so crowded you would just be splashed by children.
No issues with getting a sunbed in the adults only section however sunbeds by the pool snapped up in the early morning.

Food at the buffet was terrible. Everything was very salty and very limited selection. Even simply tomato pasta was not good. Food labels didn’t always match the dish correctly. I know all inclusive buffets are likely to be average but this was the worse all inclusive I have been to. The booked restaurants were so much nicer.

Drinks were nice however cocktails were filled with crush ice and no straws available so hard to drink.

Cannot comment on hotel entertainment as didn’t stay for it. Location good close to yum o center and walk to beach.

Overall had a nice holiday but I think generally the standard of 4 stars are going down so will be looking at 5 star in future.

We had a very enjoyable stay at RIU Papayas and would happily return.

The hotel is modern, spotlessly clean and the staff are hardworking and friendly. Food quality was good throughout our stay, with plenty of choice in the buffet and enjoyable speciality restaurants. The location is excellent, with easy access to Playa del Inglés, Yumbo Centre and the Maspalomas Dunes, which were one of the highlights of our holiday.

The main negative was the sunbed situation. Although the hotel states that reserving sunbeds is not allowed, this was not enforced during our stay. Guests were reserving beds very early in the morning, sometimes seemingly the night before, and many remained unused until lunchtime or even the afternoon. This made it difficult to find available sunbeds despite many sitting empty for hours.

The large shared pergolas were also a source of frustration. Guests would intentionally choose sunbeds on the sunny side of the pool and then pull the pergola across, creating shade for several neighbouring beds at once. This often affected guests who had specifically chosen those areas to stay in the sun.

The evening entertainment was a little hit-and-miss compared with other RIU hotels we have visited, and the quality of draught beer varied noticeably between some bars.

Overall, however, the positives far outweighed the negatives. Excellent staff, good food, great cleanliness and a convenient location made this a very enjoyable holiday.

We stayed at this Hotel for 2 weeks this summer for a summer holiday! I must say that I arrived with a significant injury and I can only thank the hotel and its staff to be super helpfull and accommodating which let me still enjoy this holiday. We are looking forward to be returning again.
Again thank you for a great stay

We are currently staying at Riu Papayas, and unfortunately our experience has been very disappointing.

We have stayed at several Riu hotels before because we have always had good experiences with the brand. That’s why our expectations were quite high. Sadly, Riu Papayas has not lived up to those expectations.

The hotel is extremely large and overcrowded, and it is located on a street with several nightclubs. Loud music and noise continue until late at night, making it almost impossible to get a good night’s sleep.

The facilities are simply not adequate for the number of guests staying here. There are far too few sunbeds around the pool. If you want one, you have to set your alarm for 6:00 a.m. to reserve it with a towel – something that seems to be completely normal here. The entertainment team is also very present throughout the day. If you’re looking for a relaxing holiday, this is definitely not the right hotel.

The rooms also no longer meet today’s standards. Although they have clearly been renovated, it appears to have been done as cheaply as possible. As a result, the rooms still feel dated and lack the quality you would expect.

The food was another disappointment. Because of the sheer number of guests, the restaurant feels more like a large cafeteria than a place where you can enjoy a pleasant meal. Both the quality of the food and the overall dining experience were below our expectations.

Overall, we do not believe this hotel offers good value for money. Considering the price we paid for this holiday, we expected a much higher standard. This is especially disappointing because our previous experiences with Riu hotels have always been very positive. Unfortunately, we would not recommend Riu Papayas to anyone looking for a relaxing and high-quality holiday.

Just had a week here , overall we have had a lovey week but have been a little disappointed as we always stay at Riu for its consistency but this one seemed different from others in some ways .
Cleanliness … could not be faulted , room cleaned to a high standard every day
Food … this is where it differs from other Rius . Although what was served was very tasty it was the same thing in the same place every day, no theme nights and not replenished quickly , we did eat out a few evenings because of this . Personally I wouldn’t bring children here if they don’t eat fish or veal as they will have to survive on pizza or burger and chips
Entertainment .. excellent . Animation team are amazing , daytimes there is always something to do round the pool and evening entertainment was enjoyable
Pool area … big problems with sun loungers . Nearly all the loungers are covered by a sun canopy so the battle for sun is immense 🤣 if you want a lounger in the sun and by the pool you need to have them reserved by 5 .15 am , by 8 am you will struggle to get a lounger at all apart from the upper deck sun terrace which has no umbrellas. Pool staff whilst very efficient are also tunnel visioned and nothing stops them doing the job in hand which is good but I have literally just been watered with the plants as I clearly don’t move quick enough . Rules for the pool need setting out as you can’t follow a rule if you don’t know it then the staff enforce said invisible rules which leads to confusion such as size of floats you are allowed and where to play pool ball games . Pool extremely crowded as day goes on but good thing is pool opens early so if me you like to swim lengths there is a good couple of hours first thing where you can do so
Area outside hotel .. plenty to do here if you like a stroll . Turn right outside hotel and you have a good supermarket , pharmacy and a few gift shops and a really good karaoke bar . Turn left and you have a twenty minute stroll to the beach and busy centre with lots of shops and bars , lively at night but not much happening in the day , felt very safe .

I love the Riu chain, you can help yourself to soft drinks or beer and wine on tap rather than waiting behind people ordering lots of drinks at the bar however the white wine ran out frequently. Smaller than the usual Riu hotels, only one main pool so need to get up early to put towel down. Annoyed me when we went out for the day and would come back to towels on sunbeds that had clearly not been used all day and its 4pm! TIP -the side of the pool where reception is, Shaded all morning. Actually most sunbeds have shade sails and people use these far too early, however it was very clean and the staff were amazing, really engaging, learnt a lot about them. They work all day and night, great shows in the evening. Close to shops and can walk 20 minutes to beach or find the shuttle bus.
FOOD: Labels are badly needed here, I have a wheat allergy and nothing was labelled. There is a large variety but was mainly the same every day, one day there seemed to be only pork which i just don't like and couldn't find any chicken dishes.
the Spanish restaurant did not appeal to us but the Asian one was amazing and we booked it twice.
The Key cards kept failing and had to be reset which was frustrating, i tried to keep it away from any bank cards and phone. Also need to do something with wristbands, so uncomfortable

Hotel overall pretty good, entertainment team were very good and there’s lots to do during the day, overall food was good although the Chinese buffet wasn’t great. Downside, people vaping around pool area, need to get up early if you want a sunbed at the front near pool, no consistency when telling people where they could play ball or use lilos, rings etc sometimes the lifeguard would tell people and sometimes he wouldn’t, also babies not wearing swimming nappies so there were some leakages in the pool.It can still be noisy as well in the early hours of the morning

Lovely hotel, good choice of food, friendly staff, lovely kids club, great night entertainment great location 😀

El hotel impecable
La atención maravillosa
La comida riquísima
Fue un placer ir y disfrutar de las instalaciones

En general el hotel está fenomenal, dentro de que es grande, se siente acogedor y todo esta muy "a mano" en sus instalaciones. No tienes la sensación de estar en un hotel excesivamente masificado como puede ocurrir en otros todo incluido, de hecho, no sueles tener ni tan siquiera problemas a la hora de encontrar por ej. una hamaca o sitio en cualquiera de las terrazas para tomar algo o comer/cenar. Las intalaciones comunes (zona de escenario, restaurantes, recepción...) están impecables, se ven muy nuevas.

Destacaría igualmente su buffet: bastante variedad, buena calidad y mucha cantidad de comida. Tiene dos restaurantes temáticos bajo reserva que también están muy bien. Nos sorprendió especialmente el español, donde puedes incluso elegir el plato principal a la carta.

El personal es encantador, todo el mundo es increiblemente amable, destacando especialmente al equipo de animación: el gran trabajo que hacen en todas las actividades y shows, y sobre todo su trato con los más pequeños, que les cogen muchisimo cariño durante los días de estancia.

El personal,el servicio fenomenal

This was named as a TUI platinum 4 star hotel so had understandably high expectations. While in the main the hotel was good, there were some areas that let it down.

Firstly the good, the staff were all very good all over the hotel from room cleaning to bar, the buffer and reception, all extremely helpful. There were plenty of sun beds but it did depend if you were up early enough to get the best spots, I would say probably around d 6-30am or get the early sun. The 2 litre bottles of water freely available to put in the room in your fridge were very handy. There was a very wide choice of food available so no matter how picky and fussy you are there should be something available for you. The daytime entertainment was plenty although pretty much the same thing most days like aqua aerobics and bingo with some variations on some things.

The areas that could be improved on are that the cocktails either came from an automated machine or from a readymade mix so difficult to tell if there was any alcohol in them. They were also served in very small plastic glasses. The labelling of the food needs to be much better as my wife has special dietary requirements so couldn’t work out what some of the food was and while she could have asked did not want to have to do this all the time. There is a lot of pork, veal and fish dishes so maybe some more variety could be seen here.The evening entertainment was very limited with a kids disco and then a main show starting around 9pm for about 45 minutes and that was pit apart from a couple of karaoke nights which unless you want to take part or listen to songs in a variety of languages wasn’t great. With no quizzes or game shows the entertainment could be finished before 10pm.

A couple of final points, book the Riu free Friday night party (free but off site) as soon as you check in, we were told by reception staff we could book the following day but when we tried to all the spaces had gone couldn’t go. Also I wouldn’t call the speciality restaurants special ! The Asian one had good food but was still all buffet and the Spanish was a buffet started then served from a choice of mains then a set desert. These do need booking in advance.

Overall an enjoyable stay and while I’d happily go to another Riu hotel, it wouldn’t be this one having also explored the local area.

La piscina

Great stay here was our first time wont be our last on recommendation by friends it didn’t disappoint
Cant fault the hotel or staff
Fairly central for beach and other places to visit usually 10-15 walk
Great bus service just outside hotel
As well as local shops and bars 5 min walk

Just got back from the Riu papayas, we had a nice holiday but I wouldn’t return. The food was nice but felt like there was too much fish every day. The drinks weren’t the best, my kids were looking forward to the slushes but they said they were bad! The pool felt too over crowded for me, lots of sun loungers but everyone is on top of each other, there’s no space

Brilliant hotel! Clean, friendly staff,
Nice food! The only thing that let the hotel down was the Rui staff! Hotel staff were brilliant! Couldn’t ask for more but as for the two Riu staff booking in excursions! Wow! Shockingly rude, unhelpful! I’m actually shocked at how bad the service from them was! I’d avoid them at all costs! Don’t bother booking excursions! When you book you’ll get told the transfers included only to find out on the day, you will need to get yourself there!! Totally miss sold the package! But don’t let this take anything away from the hotel! Brilliant place to stay & very good staff! - Riu I’d get rid of the two reps immediately, joke of a service!