Hotel Riu Gran Canaria - All Inclusive

Perhaps my expectations of this resort were too high. The resort itself is very impressive and the staff, except for one, went out of their way to help. The food was fantastic and generally it was very clean, although we did see a few roaches and were told it was to be expected in a sub Saharan island.
My biggest gripe was with our room.
This wasn't a cheap hotel but they didn't pick up on my two different requests for single beds. My daughter had to sleep on the pulled out sofa bed.
The bed frames are made from metal and on the first night my bed squeaked with every movement. I had to request to have it oiled.
The mattress is hard and uncomfortable.
We were situated overlooking the car park for the hotel next door so about 0400 every morning I was awoken by the noise of the delivery lorries. To say that sleeping didn't happen on this relaxing, all inclusive, expensive holiday wouldn't be an exaggeration. And for the record, it was just my daughter and I.
The shower had mould along the silicone and there was a damp patch in the corner of the ceiling (see pics). We had ants in our room also and I had to ask on two or three occasions for staff to come to clean them from outside our room. We did not have any food in our room what so ever and what didn't help was the gap around the door frame which allowed easy access to the ants. When the staff came every night they would spray chemicals and I would have to put a towel up against the door frame to get to stop the chemicals from entering our room. This part was horrible because the smell would indeed penetrative through and I would have to keep the balcony door open until it dispersed meaning I could not sleep until then.
So after my first day I asked for a change of room and was basically downgraded to a smaller room and was told this was the only room available.
We decided ro stay in ours and the bed was oiled and silicone replaced.
The man on reception made me feel like I was a pest when trying to explain away my concerns about the room etc and was the only member of staff what was discourteous.
What redeemed this holiday for us were the other staff and entertainment.
I can not explain how much better I felt after discovering which entertainment was on.
My daughter and I loved all of the staff and the effort they put in.
Apparently the resort was refurbished in 2023 but the rooms may have been overlooked!!

Good hotel but they are some important things to know which are unfortunately killing a bit the fun.

First, food is unfortunately not that good compared to other RIU (same class) hotels. For the island of avocado, we haven't got any avocado of the hole week.

Swimming ring and balls are only allowed in 1 small pool for a hotel of 400-600 people, this is just a very bad joke. at the end, people are doing it discretely or when the life guard is not there but honestly that is severely killing the fun.

Having a security guard fully armed checking the Sauna is also crazy. This doesn't give a relaxed sensation.

Rooms are really fine.

The every week Friday party is also a bit too much, i like clubbing as a DJ but for a family hotel, having a real club party that loud is not adapted for the families. That is not fine for a family hotel.

Final note, the evening shows are unfortunately only dances, this is a huge disappointment compared our previous hotels. There hasn't been any guest or any kind of different shows.

So not a bad hotel but there are some good flaws that you should consider.

The people working at the reception are really nice.

Our family always stays in Riu Hotels for vacations. But we must say that this hotel was by far more of a lackluster than the other hotels we’ve stayed at. What can be said first is that the Hotels structure is very unorganized. When you walk in through the main entrance the first thing you see is the exit to the inside of the hotel, not the reception. It leaves me wondering, where is the reception? Well, it‘s in the far right corner. In addition, the palm trees outside hide most parts of the buildings and makes the view unpleasant/chaotic. After we finally found our rooms we noticed that the walls, the doors and the cabinets/wardrobes were dirty. This could’ve been easily washed off for a greater first impression. But this might not be as important as the other issues. Another huge aspect was the ant problem in our room. We had tons of ants, not on the floor, but inside the wardrobes, thus our clothes. This has never happened before in any hotel we have had stayed at. We noticed them right after seeing the dirt stains everywhere, on our first day. After the long trip, we wanted to take a rest at the pools but we noticed that there wasn‘t any chlorine left in the pool which indicated that the pools aren‘t cleaned regularly enough. The chlorine dispenser inside the hotel was not appropriate based on the aspect ratio of the pool. The pool was relatively big but the dispensers left out insufficient amounts of chlorine. Food is alright. I would recommend the Italian and Asian restaurant but avoid the 'Kulinarium' at all cost, until they fix the waiting times. Our dinner lasted for 2 hours. For the most part we just waited and noticed how the people around us left even before they got their main dish or desserts with unsatisfied facial expressions. The trips they offered at the reception were good but we noticed that people from other hotels paid way less per head on site. Approximately 14€ less per head and that is a considerable difference. Nevertheless I would still recommend going to trips such as the Big Islands Tour, Gran Canaria Highlights and Las Palmas. Each trip offered plenty of free time during the stops and pleasant views.