Don't book your wedding through RIU PALACE!!!!

I am posting this because I could never really find any clear opinions on the RIU Palace before we booked our stay and our wedding there; and if I can save one bride the emotional roller-coaster that I have been on in the last two weeks then it will all be worth it!

I used a travel agent who specialized in destination weddings to help me decide on where to go for our wedding. She highly recommended CABO and said that she had a lot of happy brides who choose to stay at the RIU Palace as well as have their wedding there. I was excited about the whole process and went with her recomendation. That was last December (2007). We booked and paid our air as well as our hotel with the understanding that the RIU WOULD CONTACT ME about 2 months before the wedding to settle on the details of the actual wedding (our wedding date is 7/24). So I blindly sat back for the last 5 1/2 months thinking everything was taken care of.

On June 1st I EMAILED DANIELLA because I was concerned that I hadn't heard from anybody. I thought that maybe I was missing something. I recieved a standard email that list all the "choices" I had for location, reception, flowers, photographer etc. It was not clear to me what I was suppose to do with this email since some of the choices seem to have already been made for me. So I emailed back and corrected some info, such as we are not having a legal ceremony but a symbolic one instead (our travel dates only put us in Cabo 2 days before the wedding, and the RIU requires 3 days for a legal ceremony). We were going with the Royal package, but I had a death in the family and 4 people cancled their trips because of that, so I wanted to change my package to the Classic.

I then get an email from my travel agent saying that the RIU is going to charge me $350 for the canceled judge since "I changed my ceremony type". I explained to her that it was never suppose to have been a legal ceremony and that we were not even at the RIU the required 3 days before the wedding so they should never have made that mistake.

She emailed them back and they insisted that I have to pay that fee as well as the fact that they were canceling my wedding since I don't have 80% of my guest staying at the hotel (a policy they have which they gave me permission to break back in December when we booked). I told my agent that I have the email they sent confirming they were going to allow me to have my wedding without the required 80% as long as all the guest not staying bought the visitors day pass ($75 each).

I forwarded the email on to the RIU to show them they had made the exception. They replied by saying since I changed the package from the original agreement (Royal to the Classic) then they don't have to abide by that agreement.

So basically the RIU cancled my wedding over a $300 loss of day passes. We argued back and forth for over a week trying to come to a compromise until I finally decided that even if they allowed me to have my wedding there I woulnd't be happy working with Daniella or anyone else in the hotel. Thankfully I bought travel insurance that allowed me to cancel any part of my vacation for any reason. So I canceled my wedding and my stay at the hotel. I am now staying at the Villas del Parmar.

I emailed a few wedding coordinators in CABO explaining my situation and asked if they could help me plan a wedding in less than a month. I had several replies for some very sympathetic cordinators and in the end we went with Elizabeth from Sunset Weddings. They have been VERY comforting and have taken care of EVERYTHING so far.

Please think twice before going with the RIU Palace. I know there are a lot of people who have had great experiences at the hotel and maybe if all this drama had not happened I would have loved the hotel; but had this happened a week later I would not have been able to have my wedding in Cabo at all!!!!

I'm glad that you are now happy with the new WC and resort.

It really stinks that they tried to change things up on you like that. I'm glad that you did change resorts so maybe they will learn not to do that to people.

wow that is scary! that is a small part of the reason that we chose totally handle the wedding/etc offsite and completely by ourselves. we didnt want to deal with all the drama.

so glad to hear you were able to rebook something and that you can have your cabo wedding as planned!

Geez, that sounds like a nightmare! I'm glad for you that you were able to get out of that situation and start with a clean slate. Now that you have an outside WC to work with things should go smoothly! Good luck!!!

wow, so sorry to hear they yanked you around like that. besides the fact that my FI didnt like AI resorts, i didnt like all the rules about where our guests could stay and stuff, which is why we went with a non-AI. i'm sure your new WC is going ot do an excellent job - she wouldnt have taken your business on if she didnt think she could do it. good luck with everything and let us know if there's anything we can help with.

Wow, I can't beliece they did that to you! That's complete BS!!!!

Did you have other guests staying there? were they able to get a refund and book at the new resort?

OMG. I'm so sorry to hear that you've gone through all of this drama. Thank god that you were able to secure another venue. I agree that if you would have continued your stay there, it may have ruined your entire trip. Your perception of Riu would have already been tainted. Good luck to you and I hope all goes well!!

I didn't want to deal with any of this so we decided to have our wedding off site at the Westin. We are all staying at the RIU though.I don't trust the coordinators at the RIU palace. I'm happy you figured something out last minute.

Well I'm glad you managed to find help in such short time!! Good luck!!!