We booked our vacation on the internet through a friend recommended website. It was a monday to monday trip meant to avoid weekend delays at check ins/outs. It appeared to have worked.

I booked this trip for my girlfriend and I, we are 24 and 28. We spent most of the spring trying to get other friends to commit to a week in anywhere from Cabo to Aruba. We settled on Playa del Carmen because of the value. This was a also our first time at an All Inclusive resort. We settled on PDC because I wanted to do some excursions, mainly seeing some Mayan ruins. I read every review on the site we booked from as well as another "cheap caribbean..." site and many traveler reviews on tripadvisor. I picked the Riu Tequila because it was the highest (tripadvisor) ranked AI resort in PDC that was in our price range ($1300pp with airfare from Richmond, VA). If I could have convinced my girlfriend to spend more money, we may have stayed at the Riu Riviera Maya Palace that was right up the street. To stay there for the week would have cost us another $300 per person, and in hindsight, I’m glad we didn’t.
I think the reason Tequila ranked higher than the other Riu resorts in the vicinity was because of the food. Some places may claim better beaches, pools, bar scenes, entertainment etc., but if you think about it, are you going to use those 3 times everyday? The food was so good that we still ate the buffet our last night and the morning of departure. More on the food in a minute.

I am rating our overall trip as 4.5 out of 5. The reasons it wasn’t perfect were very insignificant to us. If you're a high maintenance fussy type of person, getting two queen beds pushed together instead of the king you requested may be a big deal. I have definitely stayed at much finer accommodations (THEHotel Mandalay Bay in Vegas for instance) than the Riu Teq. The beds were as firm as I expected them to be (thanks again fellow reviewers). Every time we opened our door after dark 3 tiny mosquitoes would fly in. No drinking the tap water. There was a screw missing in the handle to our storm door. The safe locks are pretty low tech and require you to keep up with a key on a rope, which I lost and had to pay a $50 charge to have maintenance drill it out. Also our travel rep failed to meet us two separate occasions (not to be attributed to the Riu Teq though). Despite all of this, if I could choose to redo any vacation I've ever been on, ClubHotel Riu Tequila in PDC wins HANDS DOWN!

Excursions-
We took reviewers advice and went for a stroll up 5th Ave and found discounted tours. We bought 3 days worth at once for a better deal. We did a 4 hour ATV tour that was $55pp because we shared one ATV. That consisted of about an hour and half of riding on heavily worn paved roads through the " jungle" (woods) to a spot where we stopped to rest then went through a an hour cave tour. That was pretty fun and definitely worth the money.
The next day we had booked a $105pp all day excursion to Tulum/Xel-Ha. Tulum was the ancient Mayan ruins I had wanted to see. Chitzen Itza is the huge spectacular one that has the temple you can walk up. That one was a 3 hour bus ride each way though. Tulum was smaller but only an hour from our hotel. It was cloudy when we got there, and pouring raining by the end of our tour. FYI Mayan mosquitoes LOVE tourists in the rain. We finished there around 10:30a then headed to Xel-Ha (pronounced "shell ha"). Xel-Ha is pretty much an outdoor water park that was built at the mouth of a small river that flows into a harbor then the gulf. The cost of this trip also covered AI inside Xel-Ha. There were at least 3 different options to eat all, all being feed yourself buffet style. The food was average, the drinks were free ;). There was all kinds of stuff to do there. You could pay extra to swim with the dolphin- we didn’t. There were bikes and a trail to ride on, they had a great lazy river to float on that started on a narrow stream up in a thicket, then flowed into a wider river which was blocked just short of the mouth of the harbor. It was blocked presumably to keep predator fish out and their fish in. They claim to be the largest outdoor natural aquarium...or something like that. You could also snorkel all you wanted. A $20 dollar deposit was required to use their equipment but no charge if you had your own. AND GET THIS, THEY HAD FREE LOCKERS, all sizes!!! I couldn’t believe that, I’ve been to many water/amusement parks and never have I seen such a lack of nickel and dimage!!! They also had 2 different cliffs to jump off of right off the Lazy river. They were about 2 stories high, I jumped both, pretty fun. There was also a rope swing hidden in the back of the resort. That was very lame by my standards. A rope swing requires a risk of SERIOUS physical injury to impress me. Call me a rope swing snob..oh well. By the time 4 rolled around we were beat- they even have hammock on the beach with a beautiful view of the harbor and park.
Our final excursion was was chartered fishing trip for 2 of us for 4 hours. We were told we could also snorkel if we wished. This was $200 total and did not include transportation to and from the pier. That caused a little confusion and resulted in me getting the captain return us to our hotel later so I could adequately tip the mate. Upon seeing the 25' glorified john boat we were going in, we were a little disappointed at first. I have been on a few chartered trips and know that they are expensive and that most of the $ goes to gas. The captain and mate were very polite and friendly. They were simultaneously professional and personable. We swapped fishing stories, and they helped my spanish for the first hour or two, then we started getting some bites. I caught 2 small "yellow tails" one other similar sized fish I think they called a "gullet"...? Then I got a good hit. It turned out to be about a 4lb red snapper. It fought pretty well for the 3-5 minutes that it took to get him in the boat. We trolled around for another hour or so then stopped for some snorkeling. I used my own equipment again and had planned on jumping in, swimming around a few minutes then calling it a day (my girlfriend doesn’t snorkel). I knew she was already bored out of her mind, hot and getting cranky so I didn’t want to leave her in a boat with two strangers. However the mate suited up and jumped in too. After we were both in the water, the boat left. I was nervous for a second then the mate informed me he was just going to the other end of the reef. We swam about 200 yards to the boat, and I have to say, it was BEAUTIFUL! Much more clear than the day before at the murky Xel-Ha. After we were done the mate cleaned my catch, walked us up to a restaurant on the beach, handed the waiter my catch and for $26 we had a few beers, a few sodas, chips and salsa, my fish grilled in garlic butter (with its head still on!!) rice and a salad. We both ate as much of the fish as we could and still threw away about a 1/3. This was one of the two meals we ate outside our resort and it was cheap and GREAT!
One other “excursion” that we did that wasn’t offered as a package was Cozumel. For those not already familiar, Cozumel is a small island about 20miles off the coast of PDC, visible from the beach in good weather. There is a ferry that runs every hour from the harbor ($5 cab ride from the hotel, about 2-3 miles). The ferry is $24 round trip per person. It takes about 45mins from the time you get on the boat to the time you get off. Upon arrival we were met by a bunch of people trying to rent us anything they possibly could. We settled on a red 1967 red Volkswagen Beetle Convertible. It was $40 for the day plus $50 deposit because I didn’t have my driver’s license with me. You can drive around the whole island (that’s open to tourist) in about an hour by car. The coastal route is 65km or about 40miles. Many people rent scooters and they are much slower on the open parts of the road. We drove south to the first public beach- San Francisco Beach. It wasn’t as large or as nice as the one at our hotel. But it did have a few water toys- a three story tall inflatable “iceberg” that had handles to climb up and a few water trampolines. There were also a few bars that had waiters bringing your drinks to you on the beach. We did not have this service at our hotel. Then we rode around some, and stopped at the Bob Marley Bar at the southern tip of the island. If you like reggae music at all, this is a must! No doors, all open patio bar ON the beach. Go early though; they close at six due to…electricity? Our only bad experience in Cozumel was when we returned the rental car. The renter told me to put $10 (USD) in gas in the car. At the full service only gas station, I repeated that same amount. They filled it up and said I owed $24USD. I argued with the attendants and said they can un-pump $14 if they want, but I’m only paying $10. We eventually settled on me paying $20, them giving me a receipt and getting reimbursed the other $10 from the renter. This sounded logical to me since he would reap the rewards of the extra gas. When I tried to get another $10 back with my deposit, I was met with a repetitive “Eez no my pro’lem”. Then we had a crappy meal at an authentic Mexican restaurant. The service was outstanding, the food was gross. Thank you very much Cozumel, see ya NEVER.

Pool/Beach
From what I read about all the beaches in PDC, and from other reviewer’s photographs, I was pretty sure the beach would be crappy and we would spend most of our time at the pool. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Riu Tequila is not on the beach, or even on the beach side of the road. Every 5-10 minutes from 7a-1p, then again from 3p-6p, a member of the hotel staff drives a stretched 3 row golf cart that can seat about 8 people to and from the beach. If you miss the ride, it’s maybe a total of 200 yards from the entrance of the hotel to the sand (5-7 minute casual stroll). From where the sand starts to where the water breaks is about 70 yards- plenty of sand. The first 20 yards is under palm tree cover. The beach is beautiful white sand that no matter how hot and sunny it was, never got too hot to walk on. Directly in front of the hotel’s entrance to the beach, (where the water breaks) you could see that some sandbags had been buried. But they were mostly covered with sand and no where near as noticeable as other parts of the beach. Also there was a lack of slippery moss coating on these sandbags compared to those in front of other hotels. About 20-30 yards out there were other HUGE black sandbags that sat about 5ft above the water line. With a little practice, you could climb on top of these and sit and rest. The depth of the water approaching them was over 6ft, so you could dive or flip off of them without risking of hitting bottom. As we walked up the beach, I noticed some resorts had signs up prohibiting people from walking or climbing on the sandbags. Tequila is more lenient I suppose.
Another thing about the beach, if you’re American and have small children, be warned, a good portion of the rest of the world does share your reticence about covering skin. This applies to both sexes. Men in short shorts and women topless, and not just the beautiful. On our second to last day, I was finally able to talk my girlfriend into parasailing. It was $100 for both of us, and definitely worth it. We were up in the air for about 10mins and got to see a large portion of PDC as well as Cozumel.
We never spent much time at the pool. The first day, we had our bathing suites in our carry on so we could go straight to the swim up bar after check in. It was fun; however because of our lack of sleep the night before, we got too drunk too fast! The bartenders at the pool bar were a lot of fun. I regret not going back there anymore, but mild stomach aches kept my girlfriend from being in the mood to get hammered again 

Food
As I said, this was our first experience with an AI resort. I heard mixed reviews of AIs, some completely discouraging others ranged from mild to OK. I am a very picky eater. I can’t stand most crunchy vegetable, especially onions. These buffets were DELICIOUS! There were several regulars that you could find everyday; hamburgers and hot dogs (ehhh) and pizza. We never tried the hamburgers and hotdogs, but did eat the pizza twice. It was better than it looked and it didn’t look bad either. Some sort of rice could always be found, as well as some enchilada looking small wrap or tacito (they had onions- no thanks). The pasta station that was in the dinner buffet was so good, I ate it 3 nights in a row. And I’m not some weirdo that does that routinely back home either- it really was that good. There were several toppings bowls that contained mushrooms, onions, green peppers, zucchini, carrots, shallots, shrimp, and salmon all diced up in bite sized pieces. You put what you want on a plate then when it’s your turn (there was always a line-it was that good) you hand it to the cook; he fries it in front of you. There was 4 types of pasta to select from, then 3 sauces; white, tomato, and meat sauce. Two of the three nights I had this, I went back for seconds. I could write another 4 pages on the food alone, but I’ll stop here. If you have any questions you’d like to ask me about their food, feel free to drop me a line. Oh yeah, and eat at the Steak restaurant at least once.

Service
The service from everyone in the entire country is like nothing in America. You get the sense that everyone from the bus boys, to massage therapist want you to be as happy as possible. Even the taxi drives are genuinely considerate. They would stop in the street and smile and let you pass in front of their car. Where ever there are rules, or “do not…” signs, you get the feeling they are more like request than prohibitions. The Steak restaurant had a sign that said no wet swim suites, I saw several people everyday violating this, never once was anyone reprimanded. This would never work in America, people would complain too much. But in paradise, it works wonderfully. I would suggest anyone who has ever griped about illegal immigrant workers spend a week in PDC. The sincerity they show Americans is bewildering.

In closing, if you have the extra money and prefer a big rocking pool scene, and a beach view, check out Riveria Maya Palace. We didn’t eat there, but assuming that the same ownership would entail similar food choices, this may better suite you. I booked the Tequila because it ranked higher on Tripadvisor’s ranking system. If I were to return to PDC with a group of friends, I might stay at the RMP. For just me and my girlfriend, ClubHotel Riu Tequila was PERFECT

I returned from the tequila 24/07/08 and am very disappointed.
ROOMS
My room was smelly and damp the air con didn't seem to work properly the vent was filthy. The mini fridge was rusty and couldn't say when the inside was last cleaned. The shower had a large chip out of the marble step. The bed had a leg that kept falling off and it bowed in the middle it was also very hard even with a mattress topper.
FOOD AND DRINKS
Be prepared to Que for drinks as this hotel has no waiter service
Drinks were served in the sports bar in plastic cups and if they ran out of clean cups you got your beer in a polystyrene cups.
Food was very repetitive and at times it wasn't very warm it was basically the same in the main restaurant every night with a different meat or fish.
24hr snacks consisted of leftover hamburgers, hot dogs,pizzas that you heated in the microwave in the sports bar and sandwiches made with hard bread. They ran out of snacks quite frequently.
POOL
There is a open restaurant there as well it was pretty much the same as the main restaurant repetitive You have to watch your plate as the birds will eat of it if you leave it to get a drink (they are a nuisance) there is also a lot of cats about this area also there is a strong sewage smell about this area. The sunbed area had a lot of plates and cups lying about it wasn't kept tidy. It was hard to get a sunbed in the morning as the towel game was played here. The pools had paint peeling off the bottom and frequently had dead insects floating in the water.
ENTERTAIMENT
The animation team tried very hard but in my opinion the shows were very cheesy it was OK if you were 10yrs old.
GROUNDS
The gardens were kept immaculate the gardeners worked very hard.
OVERALL
I felt very let down by the Riu chain as I stayed In the RIU Cancun last year the hotel had the same rating as the Tequila but it s standards and services were by far more superior than the Tequila I would not return to this hotel and would not recommend it. I certainly would not rate this hotel as 4T platinum holiday as Thomson advertises it more like 2+ or maybe 3 at a push

just returned from rui tequila late july and still mad!
ROOM. outdated, air con vents dirty what was i breathing ,
no wonder my asthma flared up,
bed hard and bed cloths old and smelt of damp infect so did my own cloths after a while,
towels had a bad smell and were washed done,
had to ask for mini bar to filled on several occasion"s,
had to ask to be moved to a new room on day 3 could"nt stick the damp fusty smell any longer,which wasted a day out of my holiday,

POOL. need to be up early for a sunbed,
not the cleanest insects and hair floating in the pool. was the filters working? actually seen people feeding cats of the plates that we probably ate of later, also a strong smell of sewage around pool area, paint peeling of the bottom of pool. 5 stars i question? your not on the beech not much of a breeze,

ENTERTAINMENT.they do try !a bit cheesey for my likeing,once you watched one week"s show you"l find it hard to sit throuhg another, the kids enjoyed it!
ran out of red and rosie wine on several occasions. corona on tap didnt hit the mark, the corona from our min bar tasted much better and stronger, four every two days was your qouta even with tiping the beer boy didnt seem to work.(i only drink beer or wine)
this hotel is selfservice no waiter service be prepared to que for drinks! again 5 stars i question??????

FOOD. steak house was nice getting your meal set down to you,
you had to be up and book it at 7am!
buffet restarant the food was quiet repetitive more or less same food night after night with diffierant meats and fish not the warmest. 24 hour snaks you could get pizza and burgers etc late at night in the sports bar you had to ping them in the microwave and also hard sandwiches, often ran out of food aswell!!!!

OVERALL.was very let down with the rui tequila standards! i stayed in the rui cancun july 07 was much superior and rated the same. would not recomend the tequila and wont be back!!!!

Transport:
We booked through Orbitz.com and purchased their optional transfers through Grayline.
Grayline representatives were waiting at curbside assisting people with getting on the proper vans for their destinations. There didn’t seem to be any order to the madness, other than if you were pretty, you were given priority service. We watched many people that showed up after us get a ride before us. Once aboard our van, we had stops at several different resorts before reaching the Riu Tequila. Total transport time including loading and wait time: 2 hours. Your driver appreciates a gratuity.

Check-in: The reception people are mostly European, and very hospitable. A welcome fruit punch was given to us as the hotel layout and dining times/restaurants were explained. A room key and safe key are given, as well as stickers with your room number for each of your bags, and porters were waiting. Total time: 10 minutes
As we headed to our room, Manuel, a commissioned sales person with Grayline asked us if we would like to go talk to him about possible tours, and to make time arrangements for our return transport.

Rooms: Our room was ground floor and easy to find using signs. A heavy mildew smell was present during our stay, but we got used to it by day 2. Rooms are spacious, very simple and the beds (two doubles) were firm but not uncomfortable. The ugly thin green bed sheets you see in all the photos are well-worn, but heavy as lead and very warm. There is an extra blanket in the closet if needed. We tested the ceiling fan before the porters left to make sure it worked, and once we manually started it via pull-string, all was well. We reduced the thermostat to the lowest setting, where we kept it for the endurance of our 10 day stay. The safe looked well used and could probably be removed from the drywall with a screwdriver. Nonetheless, our possessions remained untouched during our stay. Small mosquitoes were present on the wall and ceiling of the toilet area, as well as in the bedroom area. I asked the housekeeper to fumigate, and that reduced the mosquito population about 70%. We went to Wal-Mart and bought a plug-in mosquito repellent (about $25pesos) that seemed to help. We didn’t get bit our entire stay.

Housekeeping/Mini-Bar: Our housekeeper, Neima, did a wonderful job. No matter how much sand we tracked in daily, our tile floor was spotless the next day. She was attentive in observing the things we used most, and accommodated us by leaving extra glasses and beverages we liked. Most of the worn and tattered towels we used during our stay smelled musty, like they weren’t thoroughly dried before folding, a few of them stunk to the extent of unusable, not the fault of our housekeeper. The latest we left our room one day was around 2:00pm, and we still received housekeeping. We tipped our housekeeper daily, and on our last night, Neima left us some hand-cut flowers in a water bottle, a very sweet gesture of thanks.

Resort: The resort is fairly easy to navigate, except around the pool areas due to the chairs. There is always a pleasant breeze blowing to take the edge off of the heat. The grounds are very tropical and full of wildlife, not limited to birds, coatis (raccoon things with the long tails), geckos, iguanas, agouti (tailless rat-looking things), and wild house cats. The pools are huge, and look very nice and spacious, with Jacuzzi jets built in at certain areas. Too keep the tropical non-crowded feel, the property is pretty spread out, so get some good walking shoes.

Beach: The beach is a good 10-14 minute walk from the front of the resort, or about 4 minutes via golf-cart shuttle, which runs continuously from 7am-1pm, and 3pm-6 or 7pm. Those big dark colored things you see in the photos are massive mesh-type sandbags that are used to limit beach erosion. They are an eye-sore, but many people like to layout and sun on them and slide off of them into the water. There was never a shortage of beach chairs even on the busiest days we were there. The water is very cloudy and sandy, due to the continuous daily pumping of sand as the resort tries to restore the beach. Taking your snorkel gear in front of the resorts is a waste of time and effort as the visibility is nil. There are fresh-water showers, restrooms, a buffet, and drinks, all at the Riu Yucatan which rims the beach. The clientele at the Riu’s are primarily European, so topless sunbathing is normal. Facing the water, walk to the right for about ½ mile, past all the resorts, and you’ll find some pristine beach and very clear water. There are no restrooms, chairs, shade or concessions down there, so prepare before you walk that far.

Beach Towels: This was a nuisance. You are given one “towel card” per guest, and you must obtain a towel from the “towel hut” located by the pool at the Riu Tequila. The hours are limited, and you can only get one towel per person, per day. You are not allowed to exchange a dirty towel for a clean one within the same day (yes, they actually keep a log of this), only the following day. Should you walk all the way to the beach and discover that you forgot to take your towel, you are not allowed to use the towel hut at the Riu Yucatan, you must walk 20 minutes back to the towel hut at the Riu Tequila.

Dining: There is always food somewhere, primarily buffets, available at the Riu Tequila & Yucatan resorts, until 10:30pm. The breakfast buffet had an extensive variety of dishes, including fresh fruits and omelets. The lunch buffet was more limited, but I will say, their hamburgers and fries are excellent, even if that’s not your type of food. I didn’t care for the pizza at any of the restaurants, but the Spanish and South Americans seemed to love it, their cheese is very different than the mozzarella we use in the United States. The dinner buffet was always varied in the 10 days we were there, serving some standard favorites and nightly themed cuisine. The ice cream is not to be missed! My wife got up early one morning and stood in line to make dinner reservations for the steakhouse, and that was the only meal I was disappointed in. The fried appetizers were good, as was the salad, but my steak (mind you this is a “steakhouse”) was almost un-chewable. The servers were nice and the Baked Alaska was excellent. If you’re hungry after 10:30pm, you’re out of luck with the exception of hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, and some tasteless sandwiches in the refrigerator at the Sports Bar. One night around 9pm, after eating at the Jalisco buffet, I attempted to take a plate of desserts back to my room for snacking later that night, and was stopped by the Maitre’D and told I could not remove food from the dining room. This was quite embarrassing as he did this in front of a line of people that were waiting to be seated.

Drinks: Your in-room mini-bar is stocked with Jose Cuervo Tequila, and Blat (a Mexican brand) Vodka, Gin, and Rum. Your refrigerator is stocked with Corona (the only beer brand this resort carries anywhere), Pepsi, 7-Up, Orange Soda, Sparkling Mineral Water, Bottled Water (several liter size bottles), and Tonic Water. The bars stock the same brands, and a few top-shelf liquors such as Beefeater Gin. If you do not request a certain brand when asking for a drink, you will get the Mexican brands by default. TAKE YOUR OWN THERMAL MUG, as the drink cups they give you are about 8 oz. Soda, water, reconstituted fruit juice, coffee, tea, Corona and low-grade white, red, and rose wines are available on-tap in every restaurant. All bartenders there are very fast and efficient.

Entertainment: This is the area where the Riu Tequila truly shines. This isn’t the type of entertainment you’ll find in Las Vegas or on a cruise ship, this is homegrown Mexican fun. Every night their actors/dancers put on some form of show that was usually comedy-based. Each actor plays many different roles, and some of the men played better roles as women than the women did, especially the Tina Turner impersonator. Even Michael Jackson would be impressed with the Michael Jackson impersonator. The comedy after 9pm generally tended to lean toward risqué, and I was amazed at how many parents allowed their children to watch the shows. We give our sincerest thanks to all of the hardworking entertainers that made our evening so fun.

Nightlife: After 11pm, it’s either the Sport’s Bar, or the La Piñata Disco. The Sport’s Bar has air hockey, pool tables ($30pesos), and an internet café ($35pesos = 15 minutes, $55pesos = 30 minutes, $80pesos = 1 hour). This is primarily where the younger teenagers that the parents have forgotten about hang out and try to get booze and companions. La Piñata Disco has some good loud house mix music, both English and Latino and a small dance floor. This is where the 18-35 age group hangs out until 2am.
Many people take a taxi into Playa Del Carmen ($60-70pesos) where there is plenty to do until the early hours, from shopping to dining, to nightclubs.

Overview:
The negative: The guest rooms are definitely in need of remodeling. ALL linens need to be replaced. The beach is fairly crowded, and the water isn’t clear due to the continuous pumping of sand. The beach is a long walk from even the entrance of the resort, much less the guest rooms. Though this is a 24-hour All-Inclusive, many of the amenities have limited hours, even the pools close at 8:30pm. Food is pretty much over at 10:30pm, save the fridge at the Sport’s Bar.

The positive: The customer service is overall excellent. The food is decent/good quality and the variety is amazing, no stomach issues in 10 days. The grounds and facility are well-maintained. Entertainment was excellent. For the money, this resort was an EXCELLENT VALUE.