Hotel Riu Montego Bay

Just returned from a great stay in Jamacia, and the Riu Montego. The hotel is very big, and the rooms are very spacious. Cleaned daily and towels changed. We enjoyed the fridge and free mini bar every day. Nice powerful shower and although the air con took a while to understand it worked well, our balcony just looked over another block of rooms, (like most did). Our check in was pretty quick but we did take advantage of a 10min ride from the airport to miss the rush which cost $20. Food at this resort is excellent, always a lot of choice. Salads were good, meat was good, cheeses, fruit, breads, pastas, burgers, Jamacian food...the lot. We booked the steak house(twice as it was our favourite and good), the Asian was nice too but buffet style. And also booked kalarmi(something like that) I had a Lobster dish in there, and a nice change from the main buffet . Jerk chicken outside is definatly worth queuing for All the staff at the hotel work hard and try to please you. From the gardeners, waiters and waitresses, cleaners and bar tenders. But i must say the entertainment team are friendly, energetic talented and work all day with a smile on their face. They don't stop dancing. The entertainment area which is half indoor and half outdoor is very clever, the Local band starts on one stage and then at the other end of the room is another stage so you all turn around and watch the next show. The entertainment team did the Jamacia night which was good, the Rock show which was well danced, and also did a couple of quiz things but you needed a phone to play it. Personally i dont take my phone out when on holiday so we didn,t bother There are queues at the bars at times but the staff are very good at their job and serve 3 at once at times. I dropped a star for this hotel as I prefered more Reggae around the pool, and not the boom boom row in the afternoon, not my choice of Jamacian music so i moved to the beach. We also didnt enter what we called the 'Amercan Piss pot, which was the sit down bar pool, which many drank at and never got out once. It was far too small. The beach was clean, shallow waters, and a few bead and weed sellers(who are harmless but can be intimidating) There is a shopping precinct over the road, which you may get asked for taxi rides and to buy 'stuff' but we just ignored them or waved them away, again can be quite intimidating., you just have to be brave. I would return to this hotel mainly for the Jamacian smiles and food.........and Sun, but more Reggae

This hotel is a 5 star experience but I can’t get that in 👍excellent hotel and food and drinks and service, the whole experience was amazing and the energy of the entertainment team made the hotel experience fabulous, Rolly Polly, mosquito, charlotte to name a few made it for us, funny, engaging, I can not recommend you guys enough, thank you for making our holiday 🤩🤩🤩

Food 5 stars, cleanness 5 stars, service 5 stars, beach 4 stars, entertainment 1 star…please , Jamaica is for reggae, none all week except twice at 11 am at pool, thanks you, none ever at night, instead entertainment was playing games with iPhone. The entertainment team never stopped yelling into microphones all week , bla bla bla, not even letting one song play…what a disappointment to a nice hotel, why not have a corner of resort for reggae and chill blues music….get ride of water slide that nobody uses ( literie saw 3 people all week using it);and make a small stage and area for live music ! Please stop the nonsense of a bunch of 20 years olds yelling all day as they were on Americas got talent …….what a waste…..btw I’m not the only one thinking that the screaming in mic’s is very annoying to say the least ! It’s a party breaker not maker !

Check in: Had to take the bags to the room ourselves, we were offered help, but were okay to take them. Room: clean, no issues and lots of hangers in the closet. We used the app to request blankets and a firm pillow, said it was resolved, but had to ask again as it didn’t get actually get resolved the first time. We were in the rooms above the restaurants, and the fire alarm went off 3 times during the week we were there! Twice this was at around 12.45am! It did get silenced relatively quickly. Food: buffet is large and divided into themed sections at each meal time. Gluten Free bread products available, and cakes at lunch/dinner. A dedicated gluten free toaster would be nice to have (at all meal services), as sometimes the bread was dry. Labelling of allergens in each item is good, but some are questionable, like gluten in the baked beans... They need to make more options gluten free by default (don’t need to use flour to thicken sauces), don’t have to use regular soy sauce in every Asian dish etc. They need to be faster at refilling the food that has run out at all of the buffet style serving areas. Fruit options were limited, likely due to the hurricane, and they need to ensure its fully ripe before putting it out! Another thing that needs to change is the timing- the main buffet has a very hard stop at 10.30am for the full breakfast to shut down. They do move a few dishes over to the restaurant opposite (until 11.30am), but there’s limited selection, and they don’t label the dishes, which is an issue when you have dietary needs. Since it’s so large, they could easily keep one of the stations open for ‘all-day breakfast’. Love the app for booking the a la cartes- we had no issues getting times that we wanted, and you can look at the menu ahead of time, toggling for all allergens. However, they can adapt as needed, such as putting the sauce on the side. They do encourage scanning the QR code in the restaurant to access the menu, rather than giving out hard copies. The Pepe’s grill should be open longer in the afternoon (until 5pm), and offerings like fries, burgers, hot dogs, etc along with the jerk chicken would be great for when you just want a quick bite to eat for lunch, without going to the buffet. Bars: too much ice was put in the drinks- often we’d ask for less ice so it’s not so diluted. They should have water bottles available at all the bars so you can grab when you need them, or it needs restocking daily in the rooms. (Or use the 5 gallon water jugs in the rooms, much more environmentally friendly!) Pools: too cold- they need to be heated! The foam party would have been a much more fun time had the water been warmer! We were always able to get beds by the pool, no matter what time we went down. Liked the roll away cabana tops too. Beach: plenty of sun loungers available, and a small bar on the beach. The main issue here was the seaweed that washed up quite badly after we had a storm, and it wasn’t cleaned up at all whilst we were there, aside from a bit of raking. The washed up garbage is unacceptable though, and significant effort needs to be put in to clean up the whole stretch of the beach, including around the rocky side near the water sports. People also need to not discard their cigarette butts in the sand. Spa: it’s overpriced to the point of it being astronomical. The prices should be at least half of what they are, and then people might actually use it, and save the spa staff standing around doing nothing. Wet weather: although some board games were brought out, there wasn’t a change in the usual routine on the day it rained for the majority of the time. Some scheduled activities could have been moved to the main Exodus area. Night club: the music is far too loud, deafeningly so! It would be more enjoyable turned down a few notches. There’s also a really weird lull between the Exodus show ending, and the night club opening- it would be better if it opened at 10.30pm for more of a continuous flow. Take advantage of the photo opportunities- it's free to do the shoot- either when they're out after dinner, or you can book a private one, and they do a really good job of getting some unique shots!

We had two weeks here and absolutely loved it! The resort was hit badly by the hurricane but has recovered amazingly well. Its a huge resort but it never felt crowded. You can always get sunbeds on the beach at anytime of the day and also round the 5 pools. Entertainment team are superb, they don't hassle you so you can do as little or as much as you like. Shout out to Rhi Rhi, Charlotte and of course Roly Poly! They are all so talented and put on fantastic performances. Food was fresh and varied each day in the buffet, so much to chose from. You can use the Riu app to book the other restaurants and our fave was Kulinarium, I had the best fillet steak ever and the red wine was amazing! Steak House very good and also the Italian, Sofia,very good food and service. We had a lovely room on the ground floor away from the hub, with only a minute walk to the beach, only a view of a wall with bamboo but we were happy there as was soooo quiet. Shower was fabulous and bed really comfy. House keeping staff kept it immaculate. It had all we needed and more (optics and beers, replenished every other day!) Bar staff are absolutely outstanding, they remember you and your drinks and made us feel welcomed. The staff all work so hard. We took out the kayaks and pedalos but didn't do the catamaran trips from the beach as we were just too relaxed to do it! We loved our stay here and would definitely go back. The one thing we would like is perhaps another smaller, bar in the evenings, as the entertainment area is huge and noisy, which we enjoyed ( especially the Neon and White parties!) but it would be nice to go to a more intimate bar some evenings. The sports bar is good for day to cool down. This is a very fun place, but you can always head to the end of the beach for peace and quiet. Loved the little beach bar too! Thank you!

First time in Jamaica, loved it. The weather wasn’t great for 2 days but we had lots of fun there. The entertainment team are brilliant. I would like to say thank you so much to Titi, Shakila, Charlotte and Loe.( Not sure about Spelling sorry if it’s wrong ☺️) The food was so tasty and always loads of options. Drinks amazing and so many different cocktails to try. All staffs are so friendly and helpful. I definitely book again soon ❤️x

Lovely hotel . The entertainment crew are fantastic with a big shout out to TeeTee, Charlotte & Angela. The whole team are fantastic to be honest but those 3 are special. The entertainment throughout the day , right through to the evening is outstanding. How this crew have the energy I don’t know but I respect it. The bar staff are outstanding, always greet you with a smile , shout out to all roots & exodus bar staff. Restaurant team are amazing, shout out to Christopher and Jamie ( not sure if it was Jamermiah ) always very attentive & happy to help. My special lady Denise who was in the toilet every evening making sure they are kept fully stocked & cleaned. The housekeepers are great too ! We have had the best 12 days at this resort & was so sad to leave. The neon & white parties are immense!! We had a few rainy days and some days of wind but the whole hotel , from bar staff to entertainment crew made sure you still had a fantastic time. The reggae bands were fantastic- Robert was my favourite. Pepe - the best jerk chicken ever. The la a carte restaurants are nice but the stake house was the best. Pacha night club is a good extra too - all inclusive 11-2am . The sports bar is 24hrs . My only negative- Now the only thing I didn’t like was the fact you cannot use the Riu Reggae. We stayed at the Reggae the last time we travelled and had use of both hotels. The Rui Reggae was cheaper to stay at but we thought we would pay extra to stay at the Montego. So for that reason , I would book the Reggae and use the Montego. Rui , sort it out because this doesn’t make sense. If you gave guests use of the Reggae whilst staying at the Montego , I would book this hotel again but unfortunately due to this reason, I would recommend the Reggae and use both hotels !

Hotel and rooms are great. Clean. Friendly staff. Beach is not ideal. When we visited weather was not nice. Rainy. Storm brought in a tonne of seaweed. Regardless of storms, beach is small, not very long and ocean bottom seaweed and mushy sand. Pools are nice and clean. A bit chilly due to weather. Food was great in buffet. Did one a la carte at Sophia and would not recommend it. Basically was what the buffet offers. Seating was similar to buffet seating. Not very restaurant like. Lots of walking which was ok. This is a younger party resort. By the end of the week was tried of hearing boom boom music. Geared towards a party all the time. Make sure you bring water shoes for any excursion or going into the water on the beach. Disappointed with the weeks weather which is no fault of the resort. Just a big bummer for a beach vacation.

This is our 3rd Riu. We like them to be easy to get around and so on. First, your staff, wait staff, and front desk are all first-rate. My husband always has a favourite at each resort, Paula in Rose Hall, for breakfast is his new fav! What a sweetheart, always joking and smiling. As for the app, making reservations doesn't seem to work for me for the Italian, but the gal at the desk always fit us in. We enjoyed the Asian food a few times over the 2 weeks there. The Rose Hall Buffet worked out well for many meals, something different, if you're willing to try something different. The beach is okay, a little small, but when your country is getting snow, I will take the beach anyday. Yes, the rooms are a little plain, but I didn't spend all that much time in them, and they were cleaned, and I never saw bugs. We don't do evening entertainment as not our thing, so I can't comment on it. We did walk over to the mall, and yes, people kind of bother you, say no thanks and keep walking, you'll be okay. Met some nice people from all over, which was a nice change from only Canadians and Americans that seem to do the Mexico Rius.

So just got back a few days ago, and honestly are hearts are still in Jamaica. Our first time visiting Jamaica, and it was the best vacation by far that we have ever had. Once we arrived eveything seemed effortless, calm and joyful. and remained that way throughout the entire trip. The resort it gorgeous, you have a choice of 5 different pools. Water aerobics daily and lots for fun games to be had. The staff at the resort definitely go above and beyond and made our vacation one that will be unforgettable. You could feel the pride and love they have for their island and visitors and were proud to share it with you. Accommodations were clean and very comfortable, a peaceful and relaxing retreat after a long day. The food... Wow absolutely incredible. Every restaurant and al la carte experience was an experience to remember. Absolutely Incredible. We especially enjoyed the Steak house and the Italian. Selection at the Buffet was limitless and the Sports Bar had the be best Nacho's with Chilli and Cheese Sauce. A highlight of our trip was the waterslides, they are a must try and an absolute Blast and pure fun ... we're in our early 60's. The pools and the beach are simply fantastic. Soft sand, beautiful water and the calming breeze of the Caribbean. Jamacia you're doing everything RIGHT! Can't wait to come back. Yeah man

Its our second vist here and we both love it. The staff are all professional, friendly and very hard working people, the grounds and rooms are kept very clean and tidy. This hotel is a party hotel but there are other parts where you can chill if you dont want to party...the swim up bar is ok in the morning but recommend not to stay in it past midday as it gets very busy because its a really fun and enternaining area, but no one seems to go to the toilet, maybe that stuff that changes the colour of the water when people pee would change this, or at least give others confidence in the cleanliness of the water in the afternoons, many other people mentioned it to us during our stay. They do clean it every night. The staff replenish the mini bar in the room every 2 days which includes coffee and sugar etc, but, if you like a coffee in the morning before leaving the room as we do, they need to stock the mini bar with more, it's fresh coffee bags which only make 1 cup (using the cups provided) so 2 coffees each morning = 4 coffee bags every 2 days but you only get 2, the sugar and creamer sachets also run out. They do provide extra if you call reception but that can get a bit tiresome every other day. Just a couple of minor improvements would easily get 5/5 from us. I would have given 4.5/5 if i could.

Overall, another great experience at another RIU property. I have been to about six different RIU properties over the years, and I will continue to recommend them to others. The staff at this resort was so inviting and constantly checking if you needed anything. The drinks were great (and strong LOL)! My room was just a standard and nothing extravagant but as most of my time was spent by the pool or on the beach, that did not matter. My only complaints were the food was very average with little flavor, and the beach was nice but a bit seaweed-y for my liking. There also was not much shade on the beach. I did like how close the resort was to the airport, but a heads up that you do hear the planes and this location is further from many of the excursions.

Overall a fantastic holiday, the more recent reviews are pretty extensive but I would agree with all their positive comments so won’t labour the same points too much. Entertainment staff really deserve their own call out - full on productions every evening, starting from 5:30 through to 10:30/10:45pm. Music throughout the day by the pool, live DJ’s for most of the day and we had a live band by the pool playing Jamaican classics who were also great. Despite the hotel being full of a wide variety of patrons, from younger people in their mid-20’s right through to older couples in their 70’s I found the entertainment to hit the mark on ensuring there was something for everyone. The only consideration I would say is the music by the pools is very loud, you have the option to sit by 3 of the ones slightly further away but it still reaches you as the sound system is so good. Bring headphones if you prefer to read or nap and you think the noise would bother you. Food is always a dealbreaker for me so want to give my thoughts on this - overall I’d give the food 7.5 out of 10 on value for money, quality and variety. I think it impressive they managed to cater for so many at this level of quality, my only criticism is I found some of the foods a little bland, the Jamaican cuisines were understandably the tastiest, but once you start opting for other things I found they were playing it safe on the flavour profiles, I found things like the pastas and potato salads as an example very under-seasoned so it all started to taste a bit ‘samey’ after a while. I am quite particular about the quality of the food I eat so I do try to manage my expectations when it comes to a buffet. We tried 2 of the 3 restaurants you need to book, I found them on par with the buffet to be honest but with a little more restaurant quality service. The two things we missed were snacks and ice creams. The lunch buffet has cones and serve yourself ice cream but I think a poolside offering would be appreciated, we didn’t always want to get dressed and go into the main building to the buffet just for an ice cream. The Sports Bar offers Nachos, Patties and sandwiches (pre-made in the fridge) for you 24/7 however these were a bit lacklustre, I’ve stayed in resorts where they have hot fries and pizzas served all across lunch if you don’t want a full buffet which often we didn’t, they do have Pepe’s which serves jerk chicken, rice n peas and salad every lunchtime by the pool but we didn’t want this everyday (this was by far the best place to get fresh hot chicken). Some salty fries by the pool with a beer would have topped it off for us! The on-site shop offers crisps and some snacks but they are very overpriced $15 for a share bag of Lays! But there is a supermarket within a 10 minute walk, we brought some snacks in our case which I was glad for as this saved us needing to buy stuff for the first few days at least. Overall I think this hotel is well rounded - decent food, very comfortable and clean rooms, good facilities and entertainment. The lobby has a taxi stand which we found to be pretty closely matched with the Uber prices so opted to use them for safety, there is also an onsite Spa, massages start from around $140 which is at the higher end but I can’t speak for how good they are as I opted not to have a treatment this time. Rooms have a drip coffee filter facility, not an actual kettle so bring a travel one if you like tea in your room.

I honestly don’t understand how anyone as anything bad to say about this place it’s absolutely amazing , staff all wonderful so friendly , food was the best all inclusive we have ever stayed at entertainment was excellent they all work so hard I honestly haven’t nothing negative to say about this place been home 2 days and already want to book again we will definitely be back x Ps the steak in the French restaurant was the best we have ever had 😍

We had a few minor issues with our room and these were sorted very quickly. No problem! The Riu Montego bay is only 7 mins from the airport so it was a quick transfer. The hotel had been closed for a month after the big hurricane in Oct 2025 and has come out of it well. The hotel grounds still need a bit of patching up but it is looking very good. The staff work phenomenally hard and showed a lot of enthusiasm to make your holiday as good as they can. The food was magificent. Lunch there is a bbq area which serves amazing jetk chicken. Download the Riu app and book ala carte at the steakhouse highly recommended, the sofia Italian restaurant, the Golden Dragon Chinese or the Kulinarium the seafood restaurant. You are not limited to how many times you can go but can only book 2 days ahead. There is a beautiful private beach with white sand. I would happily come here again.

From going in I walk with a stick they immediately without hesitation changed me from block 7 to room 29 above reception and sports bar(heaven). Staff are so very very friendly especially Kevin at poolside bar and Brandy in Exodus bar. This hotel everywhere I went was immaculate,our room was huge and again immaculate never caught the name of our cleaner. Don't do beaches but it looked lovely. Food in my opinion was stunning I put 17.5 pounds on !!! Jerk chicken with hot sauce and beef pattys from sports bar contributed to this. Met 3 lovely couples who helped make this holiday. Some very good entertainment on especially the steel band. Entertainment team work their socks off Brian was very sociable but the shining star was Roly Poly she is different class and even got the DJ to play some 60's ska music which is much better than the new stuff. We did a few trips but Falmouth mystic lagoon blew me away. Several RIU resorts I have stayed in and this is up there with the best. Assistance both ways at airport was phenomenal even though we were delayed going home. A amazing holiday had and some very special people met.