My wife and I stayed 26/4-3/5 2008 and had a great time from the moment we arrived until we unfortunately had to leave to come home.
The reception staff where very helpful and booking in was a pleasure, Its a big complex, over 800 rooms in total, so the bell boy service for taking our cases to our 3 floor duplex room in the annex was a pleasant surprise.
As previous reviews have stated the annex has seen better days and whilst the room was clean and acceptable It was rather basic and not what you would expect when you see the the RIU from the main road, We stayed at Las Marismas in October the accommodation there was by far superior.
That said we did have a great view from our balcony across the dunes to the sea on one side and the mountains on the other. I could have mistaken it for Dubai.
Its an All inclusive complex and was surprisingly busy for the time of year. We used the dinning facilities in the main hotel for all our meals and the food was of a high standard with a good variety and show cooking etc in the evenings, drinks snacks etc where available all day at the poolside bar.
This was possibly the best aspect of our stay as it ran like clockwork with no queues etc thanks again to the wonderful staff.
2 al a carte restaurants are available if you get them booked on time, we never managed to but as we eat out 3 nights so as to visit or favourite restaurants this was not a problem.
The pool was not busy but you would have been hard pressed to get a sun bed at anytime close to it ,we went to the beach everyday so it didn't matter to us but if you had kids and wanted to keep an eye on them it might be a problem.
There is another pool in the annex but it seemed equally as busy.
The complex is mainly geared towards Germans and the evening entertainment is also but was still enjoyable.
Work has started in the main hotel and the annex to smarten the exterior of it but I would say its a fourth bridge type project and in general all the communal areas are well maintained.
In summary we had a great time staying in a complex we always promised ourselves we would go to one day.
If your into all inclusive I would say this is as good as it gets around Corralejo.
Our room was a little disappointing but the complex is very well run and while we wouldn't be in a rush back that is only because I don't think all inclusive is for us as there are too many good restaurants we wanted to visit.
If our kids still went on holiday with us I'm sure it would be the top of my list

We are a family of 4 who stayed at the Riu Olivia Beach hotel from 9-16 April 2008. I read other reviews before we went and found some of the advice very useful.

Accommodation - we knew before we went that we would be allocated an apartment in the annexe. We have stayed here before self catering so requested a split level apartment that had 2 single beds and bathroom upstairs and sofabeds downs stairs - open plan. The apartments were a little 'tired' and could have done with a lick of paint. Fridge very useful. The children had to sleep on sofas that became beds at night - bit difficult for our over 6' 1'' 16 year old!

Food - fantastic but we would have become a bit bored with it if stayed for 2 weeks. The Mandarin restaurant well worth a visit but need to book at 8 a.m. the day before you want to eat there (it is not open every night). We were not told when we checked in that you could use either restaurant. The annexe restaurant is very family orientated and crying or wandering toddlers are the norm. The hotel restaurant is more formal with no toddlers - we preferred this as our children are older. You need to get a table then help yourself to as much food as you want. The italian food in the hotel restuarant is particularly good. Beer, wine and soft drinks are on tap- watch out as beer very frothy from the tap! Pool bar at main pool good for lunch or can go into the restuarants wearing shorts and t shirts.

Dress code - Men need to wear trousers in restaurants at night. Generally guests did not get dressed up in the evening and jeans were the norm for men and woman.

Towels - guests staying in the annexe do not get free towels for sunbeds/to take to beach. My husband raised this with reception and was given tokens for towels. The 'towel man' is at the main pool 9-12 noon and you swap towels daily (give tokens in on the first day).

Sunbeds - we were up earlyish and did put towels on sunbeds at the main pool at 8 a.m. before going for a walk on the beach. After 11 all beds had been taken. The sand area near the pool that has hotel sunbeds on it is lovely but as soon as the wind got up the sand whipped up.

Beach - 3 euros for a sunbed or brolley. It does get very windy so would advise staying a hotel pool and wandering to beach now and again as when the wind gets up the beach is not bearable. There is a guard on the gate.

Entertainment - mainly in German. Not alot to do for our 13 and 16 year old. Free internet room and pool tables.

Drink - cocktails, beer and spirts all good. Coffee machines around site also.

Staff - brillliant and very helpful. Cleaner came 5 days out of 7 and was very efficient.

Overall we had a great time. We enjoyed the luxury of all inclusive and the location next to beach was great.

Guests- the guests were mainly German who liked to stare and were rude at times e.g. in queues for food and

Stayed at the Riu from 21 - 29 March, party of 5 (4 adults and 1 child age 10). We were allocated two big rooms in the Annexe with bedroom upstairs. Check in was quick and reception team very helpful.

The food was excellent, plenty of choice with show cooking on some evenings to add some variety. The restaurant in the Annexe seemed to be quieter & the food definitely up to Riu standards.

The location is quite spectacular - on a massive white sand beach which stretches for miles. Corralejo, however is a bit of a dump but ideal if you want to get the Fred Olsen Express to Lanzarote which is great.

Sadly the Hotel itself suffers from two main issues :
1. Its too big > 800 rooms
2. Its looking old, tired and tatty.

I can imagine in peak season this hotel to be chaotic with the shear number of guests many of which are German so get your towels on a sunbed quick!

I do agree with previous reviews that this hotel is in need of some upgrading / a revamp and is not up to 4* or indeed Riu standards. Having stayed at the 4* Sandos Papagayo Arena in Lanzarote the previous week, this hotel falls way short of what we experienced there in this respect.

The rooms were kept clean (could use a lick of paint) but its more the outside areas that need some desperate attention and were disappointing. The Annexe is particularly bad - the walkway between the buildings to our room was like walking through a dirty, dingy subway - the same litter and rubbish that was blowing around when we arrived was still there when we left! The steps and tiles were in a state of disrepair, metal steps to other floors were rusty and didn't look too safe - unfortunately it would appear routine maintenance has not been kept up to and thus its the general appearance is what lets this hotel down.

Pools were good, snack bar food great, beer fine, & entertainment as you would expect. Animation team worked hard and offered plenty to do for everyone.

Had a good time, but wouldn't go back or recommend . Needs a thorough refurb.

We have just returned from a week at this hotel (Mar 2008)
I must say the hotel is very impressive.
I have never known cleanliness like it.
It is all inclusive and the food was cooked to perfection and such a choice changed daily.
There are 2 main restaurants which you just turn up too or you could book the 2 special restaurants in advance, one was asian and the other canarian.
Lunch was good too as you could eat snacks by the pool, pizza etc or visit the main restaurant for the full works.
I can not knock the hotel, the service the food the 2 pools or the location on the beach, however we must of chosen a bad week as it was like sitting in a wind tunnel all week and you literally had to hold on to your sunbed to avoid being blown away. I did not know this but fuerteventura translates as "strong wind" so i would not visit this island again which is a shame .
The only bad points to this hotel are below.
1. The hotel is mainly German, and the entertainment was poor and aimed at the european taste. very euro very camp.
2. The hotel is situated some 8km from corralejo and any civilisation, so there is not a lot to do outside the hotel so it is good that you are all inclusive. a taxi into the centre costs around 6 euro or a bus is 1.2 euro each.
3. as mentioned the wind, be prepared for a windy holiday, it was a weird feeling as the sky was blue and the sun was out but you would sit there shivering, maybe a bad week but everyone i have spoken to about this island have said that their holdiday was windy too.
4. Because of the wind we were not allowed to go into the sea all week because of the big waves. Outside the hotel the beach is monitored and the red flags were flying all week which means no entry to the water. If you entered the lifeguards would come past whistling and tell you to get out. This was a downer as we only go on holiday to swim in the sea.