Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, a Wyndham Grand Resort

Had a great experience at this resort. Just returned from a 5 night 6 day vacation with my boyfriend. Location is awesome, about 30 mins from the airport, 15 minutes from the rainforest and 15 minutes from Fajardo where you can see the bio bay and the ferry to Culebra and Vieques. The beach and pool is beautiful. Great views of the rainforest too! We had a rainforest view room with a king bed. All the staff we encountered was very helpful and friendly. The food was good but not many different options at the restaurants. Drinks were great and the hotel has «all day happy hour» offering a certain type of drink everyday that is only $ 5. Only negative about this hotel was that rooms do not have refrigerators and you must request one which they charge you daily for. Otherwise had a great experience!

Let me start by saying my boyfriend and I had an amazing Valentine’s Day vacation, despite the nightmares this hotel caused! We booked our trip three months in advance to make sure everything would be perfect for our first vacation together. We booked a King Size Ocean Front room, and when we arrived we were told that they overbooked and they didn’t have a room for us. This was at 1 o’clock when we arrived, and he told us to return at 4 (check in time) and he would «figure it out». When we returned we were assured that we indeed would not be staying in an ocean front room with a king bed that we paid for, but we were instead offered a Rain Forest view room with two queens. Two beds, on Valentine’s Day. I was livid, and they also offered us a «villa» with two beds with a VIEW of the ocean but quite far from it, and not on resort grounds next to the parking garage, pools, beach, restaurants, etc. Basically, they screwed us. I asked to speak to a manager and he eventually came out, defensive at first, but once he saw how upset I was he was sympathetic. However, I’m now seeing his bedside manner was all scripted, as he told others the same things in other reviews. For example, that this was «the first time this has happened» and «this is not an example of our service» in reference to Wyndham Rio Mar-​well, clearly it is! He also comped our buffet breakfasts and I requested they comp our parking also, because free buffets are NOT enough compensation for the flaws of this experience. Ultimately we stayed in the wrong room our first night, then went upstairs and packed our bags back up and moved to the correct room that we paid for. The first day was spent stressing and negotiating rather than relaxing on the beach. The manager (I believe his name was Samil) did leave champagne and cheese in our room while we were out with a note apologizing for all the craziness, which was very kind, but the mistake is really unforgivable in the hospitality business, and it seems they’ve made it several times.
Another con is the food. I really thought the reviewers were all exaggerating when they talked about how bad the food at the resort is– but WOW. Everything we ordered was barely edible, and we were finding wax paper and other cooking apparatuses in our dishes. Drinks are delicious, but we rarely got a buzz for how much money we spent on them. Except in the casino, those are strong as hell (go figure!). However, we prepared for this and rented a car, and the food off grounds was amazing.
Another con is the thin walls. I could hear every word and noise from the next door neighbor whose room CONNECTED to mine via a door (so weird). We were woken up by their morning routine every day. Also notable, housekeeping cleans the room but doesn’t replace your toiletries which was frustrating. We ran out of everything and had to go find someone a few times, and couldn’t figure out how to work the phone the whole stay.
As far as staff goes it was hit or miss, but for the most part friendly people. Overall, this is a resort that sits on extraordinary property and is beautiful to look at, but they don’t have the service to back it up. They are also clearly focused on their new Margaritaville project and it’s clear that that is where their effort and money goes. Therefore, staying in the Wyndham portion of the resort will just get you neglected (unless you’re interested in purchasing a time share). Would not stay here again, but Puerto Rico is beautiful and will return.

First I am sad to write this review as I booked my trip in October 2015 for a Feb 2016 travel date. I just arrived to the hotel property only to discover my beloved King Ocean view room was «no longer available. It had been just given away. My room was not a guaranteed hold, but an open room», along with a long laundry list of excuses I head from the front desk staff. After asking to speak with a manager who was conveniently in a «meeting» for about 30minutes, Samil, the manager emerged to let me know this is not the standard operating procedures of the hotel.
I have never been to a hotel and given a downgrade, only upgrades. They tried to offer me free breakfast or a rental car for the duration of my stay. Quickly doing the math, I’m no genius, but the price of breakfast and a car rental is a lot less than what I spent on an Ocean Front room.
After canceling my room and scrabbling to secure another Ocean front room I was successful.
The hotel sits on a beautiful property. The ocean looked amazing out of the from lobby reception area. I wish I could of seen the rooms to determine how the property really is. My sister lives in Bayamon and my other sister came to visit in December. They came to this hotel and told Me how great it was. I didn’t get the opportunity to see it.
I had red flags about this property when booking and wished I listened to my gut. The hotel is listed under three different names. It is a time share property and I believe they keep the 30 Ocean View rooms to lure potential buyers.
Samil, the manager, did comp us a free cocktail and agreed to pay my $ 86 dollar taxi ride which I had just spent to get from the airport all the way to Rio Grande. They provided us a taxi back to our Ocean front room in San Juan.
If your lucky enough to get an Ocean room I think you might enjoy it.

So I just spoke to an exterminator who is charging me a whopping $ 250 to bring in a bed bug sniffing dog to my apartment. He told me bites can occur up to two weeks after being exposed and I have been itchy and my friend with whom I stayed in room 201 has bites all over her body. In addition to this disaster, the place is undergoing construction and our kids couldn’t use the playground, the movies at night did not take place, and there was no arcade or kid’s club. Additionally the food is incredibly expensive. Do not stay here.

I came to the hotel with my 4 year old son and overall we had a great time. There was some construction but the staff was very very accommodating and very friendly to us the whole time. We were disappointed that the arcade and the playground was not available to the kids so we explained to the concierge that this is one of the reasons why we chose this particular hotel and they made up for it with some comps. The water slide is awesome at the pool!
The beach off of the hotel is public but it’s basically like a private beach because no one else but the hotel guests are on it. The water is rough but Luquillo beach is literally 6 min away by car and its much easier to swim in especially with kids. I do suggest that you rent a car the first day because you do not want to eat in the hotel it is very very expensive. We ended up eating locally which was great and really close by so you cant get lost. I recommend a place called Antojillos and Don Pepe.
They had a bon fire at night but I wish they set more kid friendly activities throughout the day. They had water aerobics and stuff like that.
Oh! And the iguanas are awesome they even swim in the pool, and chase eachother around everyone loved it no matter the age.

The service is terrible! All their employees standing around doing nothing. When you have to wait 3 and a half hours to get your food. Everything is terribly high priced. The only thing that was good was the food, only had to wait for hours to get it. We will not be returning. There is no swim up bars or bars next to the pool.

WARNING: i had a colleague who got robbed at gun point on their golf course with someone being assaulted right in front of them. i really debated whether or not to post this but its a safety issue and couldn’t find a damn thing online so i felt i had to give a heads up even though we can’t stop crazy. any place can get robbed but i did catch one other instance online back in 2013

Wyndham is good resort overall, nice property, pools and beach. Front desk was nice enough to let us do early check in. (We were there at 1 instead of 4 check in time). We had ocean view room at 6^th floor but the view wasn’t that great as the trees were blocking the ocean view.
Casino was small but not that busy so always got dpi on a black jack table. They don’t have a craps table which sucks.
Food was probably the only negative part of the resort. First of all not all the restaurants on resort everyday. (Maybe because of law occupancy)
Drinks and food were very pricey and not to the standard of the price tag.
Palio was only place where I enjoyed food. Luckily they have a car rental (enterprise) booth near casino do we rented a car and went to restaurants outside resort.
I would recommend Wyndham to stay but rent a car and go out to eat.

We were in PR for a week and booked this place through Hotel Tonight for a weekend.
To begin with, the front desk is a joke. Massive construction going on but hopefully that will be finished. Always understaffed and literally people just disappear while helping guests. First our room wasn’t ready when we got there at 3:45 pm (check in is at 4), then a second later we got a different room with a double bed. Then apparently the room that I was supposed to get also went away a minute later.
You can see that the hotel is being remodeled, so there are lots of dingy weird looking hallways and then one bright lit one where somehow you did not get the accommodation.
Biggest issues
— Lack of a fridge in the room. You have to pay extra for this feature !
— Was having internet issues all weekend. This hotel’s solution was to make me call the external tech support line and troubleshoot with them. Thankfully since i am a techie, I was able to troubleshoot and pin point the issue to their local servers. But again why should a guest do this ?
— Lose a key, costs money. Lose your towel card, costs more money. Its 2015 people, do I really need to pay for key expenses. Also who does not give our multiple towels by the pool. The SPG and Ritz Carlton do. Somehow Wyndham is too for this !
Advantages
— Pretty chill beach
— A nice lounging swimming pool area.(separate ones for just adults)
— The room was nice and clean !
Overall, it was ok. I would only stay here if you got a really exceptional deal.

Located about 45 minutes away from the airport (if you take toll free roads) is the expansive Wyndham resort. Driving to the main hotel, you pass the finely manicured golf courses, as well as the updated façade on approach to check in. Self parking is convenient and is less than nightly valet. During this visit, there was much renovation and the noise in the lobby was quite jarring. Check in was inefficient, staffing the desk with 2 agents and a long queue of disgruntled fresh off the plane tourists. Even more inflammatory is the open lines at the margaritaville vacation club check in — maybe that is part of the sales pitch. Upon check in, you get your rfid wristband which serves as your pool and beach pass as well as your room key — a nice technological advancement. You also get your towel card which must be returned upon checkout or else cough up 25 bucks per missing card. The private beach is well groomed, offering beach chairs and umbrellas, as well as the many bars and lounges throughout the property. You can also find a (small) casino and other more family friendly activities. The biggest detractor was truly the check in and check out desk. It simply needs more people, or at least move folks from margaritaville to check in when the lines call for it. Otherwise a great trip.

**Edited on 12/​07/​2015. This resort gets another star for their customer service. My fiancé and I left our coat, bikini and other cloth items in the hotel room, and didn’t realized that until we were already at the airport 30 minutes before our flight back to DC. We gave them a call at the airport, talked to a person and had it handled right away. Got the tracking information in the email and received the package literally 4 days after we came back. They didn’t even charge us for the shipping. Must applause the staff for their excellent service.
4 star if you have a car. 2.5 stars if you do not have one. I extremely extremely recommend getting a car rental if you are staying at the resort and want to get the most bang for your buck. Walking off resort for food is not feasible. Also get the rental before you arrive here, or you may have to wait for a day to get a car sometimes on site. The daily parking is 15 bucks and it will pay itself by the first meal you have off resort.
The beach is beautiful and waves are great for both feet soaking and body surfing/​boogie boarding. I think the sand bar was made for both. Room was clean and our ocean front room on the 7^th floor was great to wake up to. We had party members staying at 4^th and 5^th floor facing the rainforest, and those rooms were nice too. The concierge is a great resource here and they often gives good and honest opinion for food and play suggestions. Somehow our vacation package didn’t book us for the first night and their manager really helped us out. The river course in the resort is also beautiful and well maintained. Everyone is the resort were really friendly.
Now the bad: the restaurants on site aren’t great. However, I think their breakfast buffet quality is pretty decent. I rated the restaurants separately but I think they are part of a complete resort experience so a star is taken from the overall rating. Lastly is they charge 10 bucks for room service and we didn’t see it written anywhere until when we received the bill.
Overall I think as long as you have a car to avoid eating in the resort, this is a great resort to spend your vacation at.

I booked through Expedia and everything was included except for the $ 100/​day deposit. The room was clean, but my linen was heavily stained and contained hairs (YUCK). Also, the 5^th floor smelled like a vet’s office. Maybe it used to be the only floor that allowed animals?
It’s a nice hotel, but you def need a car to get around. It’s about 30 minutes from the airport and the food offered at the resort is overpriced American food. If you want authentic PR food (and reasonably priced food or drinks), you will have to leave the resort. The food is only average. However, the orange juice is delicious! The best food at the resort was from the Iguana Pub. It’s at the front of the resort and a shuttle runs every 10 minutes.
You can rent a car at the resort through Enterprise. If you decide to do that, I recommend you do this the DAY BEFORE you actually want to go somewhere. The person at the desk is often away and the cars aren’t available for a couple of hours. Also, remember that PR has an 11.5% tax… If you don’t want to rent a car, the bell boys can usually call taxi services to get you around. I would request «Rain Forest Reuben» if you want a rain forest tour!
The best thing about this hotel is the beach. Free towels, beach chairs, and beach umbrellas. Though my beach towel was heavily stained as well. There’s also a bar right at the pool and it borders the beach as well.
This hotel has wonderful views! There’s also a nice sized Casino downstairs. The gift shop has some nice souvenirs.
All in all, a very nice uncomplicated stay!!!

My husband took me to PR for our very 1^st time. I had always wanted to go to PR because my father was born and raised in PR. So this trip was sort of like brining me back to my roots.
The resort is clean and nice however our 1^st day the hotel sent a notice under our door while we were out enjoying the pool. So my husband and I go to the desk and the guy says to my husband we will need your credit card again. Oh and he said oh we do a 300 dollar a day hold… my husband said what are you nuts!!! Something they say they do. So getting all information about there holding process is important. Needless to say we did not allow the high hols on our card.
My biggest gripe would be the food. I am 50% PR and I wanted to experience my cultural food. Well if you don’t go off the resort your beat! !!! Can you believe no authentic Puerto Rican food in Puerto Rico crazy. If you don’t have a rental car forget it. However, they do offer a shuttle bus to take you to a restaurant called Richie’ s very good PR food and they’re up on the mountain so the view is beautiful.
If you have a car I would highly recommend trying a place outside the resort called Dom Pepe outstanding food!!! This place is a jem!!! Not hard to find once your out of the resort down towards the main road take a left and it’s about 2 miles you will not be disappointed. I hear they have amazing breakfast too!
If you love spanish Leche coffee go a little further down you will find a bakery call Peter pans Oh my! the baked goods are made fresh daily and are amazing.
There also is a strip food mart going the opposite direction you can’t miss it it’ has about 20 or more places all together in one place selling authentic PR food. I hope this was helpful and Dom Pepe is a Must try! !!!

My husband and I spent 7 nights at the Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, (Wyndham Grand Resort) in October of this year to celebrate our anniversary There were things to love about the resort and things to NOT love.
The staff is very friendly but efficient service is not their style. We got to the point where we skipped asking the concierge any specific questions aside from directions because we figured out more with Google then they could help us with. When a phone in our room was blinking for 24 hours beginning on Saturday the staff mostly shrugged and said an electrician won’t be working until Tuesday. Finally, someone came to the room and literally broke the blinking button to get it to stop.
The rooms are kept very clean but were nothing more special then any of the major hotel brands. Our room did have a beautiful view of the pool and the beach. We enjoyed sitting out on the balcony and reading towards the end of the day.
There are two pools at the resort, one for families and one for adults only. This was a nice feature of the resort. As hotel guests without kids, we appreciated the adult pool. The beach, which is steps beyond the pool, is not owned by the hotel but it is quiet and well maintained. We spent a lot of time at both the pool and the beach.
Our biggest disappointment in the hotel was the food inside the resort. No matter where we ate it was average at best. We did have a reservation and the resort’s Italian restaurant Palio for our last night but by the time that day rolled around we canceled the reservation and ate at a very nice restaurant nearby the resort. We highly recommend going off the resort for much better food.
All in all, we would stay there again but having a car to leave the resort made life much easier for us.

My girls and I have decided to have a little mini vacay at the right time. The resort is not crowded at all.
We had to check in early since our flight came in early. We had a driver from the airport take us to the hotel. I didn’t think they would let us check in early. But they did. And whats even better was that we got upgraded to an ocean view two bed room suite. Amazing. The rooms are clean and set up so nicely
The staff at the front desk was so helpful. Everyone actually was very friendly. Always smiling and always willing to converse.
The resort has a spa, and adult pool, and kiddie pool with a large slide. And a regualr pool where live entertainment is done. Also has a fire pit to make smores.
The beach is just steps away from pool. Very clean ! The sand is so soft. You dont have to rent beach chairs or umbrellas because they are free. The sucky thing is that the beach closes at 5 :(
The tiki bar has great drinks and food. Just a heads up. An extra shot of rum in your drink will be $ 10.
There just too many good things to talk about. All I know is that I will be returning.

The food was terrible! We ordered the yuca frita and the queso frito. The yuca was somewhat edible, but the cheese was dripping in oil and was chewy like rubber. Both appetizers were accompanied by warm guava sauce which tasted as if it were fermented. We also ordered the chicken sandwich, which was also rubbery, because it was under cooked and the fríes were cold. The mayo bottle was hot and although the bottle says it does not have I be refrigerated, Im pretty sure mayo in the hot sun equals hepatitis because as we all know, mayo contains eggs!
I gave this place two stars, because the waiter was attentive and apologetic of the undercooked meal and he took it off the tab. The service was the only good part of the meal. The Oceanview makes for a beautiful ambiance, but all of the patrons looked frustrated by their stay at the hotel and I didn’t see one smiling face which is hard to do in a place serving alcohol with such beautiful surroundings. I would never eat at this place again and did I mention that the total for two terrible apps, 2 Perriers and 1 piña colada was $ 50? Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth…

The hotel is amazing with beautiful views of the ocean or the forest. We had an ocean view queen bed room with a nice size bathroom for 5 days. The Marabella restaurant was is were we ate breakfast everyday on the weekends you have a choice of buffet or menu. I’m not a buffet person but it was great here.
They had an huge pool area one side being adult only quiet pool and the other was the family pool with water slide and volleyball nets. Pool side service. They have nice bars inside lobby so you can always drink. The casino is tiny but still fun to use. The have a spa which we ran out of time to try.
My cons 1– the hotel is under construction and there is a lot of noise, closures and 2 days of 4 hour power shut down. Very inconvenient when you have children. They did have some activities but not enough for 4 hours. They complimentary hors d’œuvre during outage and when we got to tiki bar it was gone. Again that is a problem when u have kids.
2– we have to wear hotel bracelets the whole time you are here. It’s an eyesore and tan line ugly.
3– rooms do not come equipment with refrigerators nor microwaves– not children friendly. We did request fridge which they brought up right away but literally standing on 2 legs and to place in area were it would not tip over on my child.
4– during the week the hotel is skeleton staff the waits from the restaurant to room service are ridiculous and would be unacceptable in a ⁴⁄₅ star Hotel.
They did try very hard to provide service and were very friendly. So the cons are really administration of the hotel and not the staff. I still would recommend this hotel and the cons will not keep me from coming back. They look like they are building family suites which are greatly needed here.
The hotel is still beautiful I just now know what request to make before I get here. My family and I still love the hotel.

Very close to a 4 star. The resort location is definateky a 5 star location and the resort has potential. The service varies depending on department/​division, the room service and maid service are excellent. The associates are eager to please, pleasant and very timely. The restaurants/​food are so so… I know I am on vacation but there is no sense of urgency or timeliness here. Maybe I just need to slow down IDK, but when I am done with a meal I don’t want to sit around and look at an empty plate and wait for my check. On the other hand, the drinks live up to all expectations. Beautifully made with the right balance and smile on the bartenders face. Recognizing my Mom with all the people served and after only one visit to the Tiki Bar was a big plus. She felt special, thank you!
I should rewind a bit and mention that I received a very nice welcome by Juan at the front/​valet entrance. This guy is a true asset to the resort and is in the best spot you could have him. He has a great personality, good conversationalist, knows local spots and is confident in recommendations. Whyndham should be sure to rexognize him and keep im happy as he is putting smiles on many customers.
The concierge desk/​associates are also very good. There is one that you can tell really loves his job as he is especially animated and excited to talk about all the fun sites to see. Sorry I wish I knew his name, just ask those that work there who is the most excited, there is one that stands out over the rest. All are however very polite and helpful as well.
The towel check out service has some work to do. They were less than welcoming and seem to expect me to know what I was suppose to do. Remember although you may check out a 1000 towels a day, the next person in line may have not visited the towel check out before. I know it isn’t rocket science, but being polite and welcoming goes a long way.
The café associates have NO sense of urgency and seem to need some training and guidance. I have seen many customers frustrated with the service and lack of organization.
Overall a fantastic resort. Location is amazing. We were able to get out and see so much. Highly recommend renting a car. The rainforest and Lucillo Beach are close by and a must see, Old Town San Juan is amazing. The town, cathedrals are and the forts are just incredible.
improving service in certain areas and food quality would help the ratings. Not anything that would keep me from coming back and again so close to 4 star.

Rest and relaxation is what we came here for and we got it. However, if you’re looking for entertainment, night life and a really good time for adults during evening hours… forget it. This is not the place for you.
The resort offers a casino that stays open until 2am but if you’re into gambling and big time game play, this casino just doesn’t cut it. It’s small and not a lot of choice games to play. Limited space, limited amount of games so by the time you finish with one game, and you go to the next one, your night is pretty much over.
One of my biggest complaints along with many others is the fitness center. It was like stepping into a closet. It’s located in the spa area and if you’re not aware that that there is a fitness center, you’ll never find it. I went there every day because I love to work out and stay fit. One of the main machines for ab conditioning was missing a seat so I couldn’t use it and there wasn’t anyone to help you in anyway. No attendant, no nothing except one TV screen.
The resort has several restaurants that my wife and I frequented and nothing really popped out to us other than the Marbella restaurant and the Barista Café that offers pizza and amazing pastries. Marbella restaurant is located directly in the middle of the hotel. Pricey to say the least and that was the norm for all the restaurants. The drinks and variety of cocktails were enjoyable but pricey as well.
Our room with the view of EL YUNQUE was magnificent. The tropical breeze that hit us as we stayed on the balcony was so tranquil that we literally fell as sleep at times with the COQUI in the background.
TV service sucked. Poolside service was okay but we did enjoy hanging out at the Tiki Hut Bar for cocktails.
All in all, our experience was delightful because of its tranquility, it’s vistas, the secluded beach front and the pool with private cabanas which of course you had to pay for.

This resort is located about 50 minutes or so from the airport. It’s pretty far from Old San Juan as well, but if you’re looking for a quiet resort on a big stretch of sand with a view of El Yunque from your hotel window, this resort is for you. That’s about all this place has to offer though, peace and solitude. Yes, there are plenty of families with their broods and the children’s pool is a hell of a lot warmer than the adult pool (YIKES)
but there is no festive feeling anywhere to be found here.
As the other reviewers have said, rent a car or suck it up. The restaurants are pricey and the food is just not very good except for Iguanas where the local cuisine is served. This restaurant/​pub is located on the golf course and you need a shuttle to take you there, but it’s worth it.
We had a great time because we were looking for a relaxing week without much effort.
However, we would never return. There were too many little things that annoyed us.
1– We had to haggle to get a room with any kind of view because we are Wyndham Owners and «paying hotel guests» got first choice. How that makes any sense is beyond me. But that’s what we were told.
2– The restaurants were terrible. Even the Italian one was marred because the manager was a snooty ass who tried to school guests on the proper etiquette of making reservations. Get over yourself buster, the restaurant is empty!
3– It’s too far away from anything. Cabs costs lots of coin.
4-​No nightlife activities at all. There are no clubs, lounges, bars, or music. NONE.
Thank goodness I love my husband plenty and enjoy reading books, sunning and sleeping late or this would have been a disaster!