I was extremely disappointed in our stay. We went for a birthday and anniversary trip this past week and spent a lot of money on this vacation. We had done a lot of research about AI resorts, and decided that Iberostar Paraiso Beach would be great! Upon arrival, things already started to go wrong. We paid an extra $350USD for an upgraded room and that's where things went downhill.
First, our key card kept malfunctioning throughout the week. It didn't even work the first time we tried to get in with the bellman. I needed to message and call the staff multiple times throughout the week to help get us into the room. The key cards are extremely sensitive and if you put them near any device, they demagnetize. Even when the cards didn't touch devices, it still wouldn't work. The front desk told me they were getting new key cards on wristbands next week so hopefully this isn't an issue for future guests.
Secondly, our phone in our room never worked. We needed to get staff to fix it twice, but even then it just wouldn't ring most times. There is an Iberostar app where you can live chat, so that's good in theory, except they take long to respond. Especially when it's an emergency.. I needed my meds and the key card had demagnetized for the 3rd time that day, so we asked for immediate support. No one came for another 20 minutes. Then, our safe malfunctioned and we weren't able to reach my medication even after the door fiasco. On another note, our AC sometimes wouldn't work. This is frustrating especially since our room is one of the only places you can get a break from the hot air.
Third, the excursions are poorly communicated with the staff. From my understanding, there is a third party group that organizes excursions for guests so it's not just the staff's fault. We had an excursion early morning and were told to meet in the Paraiso Beach lobby. We got there, and no one was there to pick us up. I needed to BEG the employee to help us at least find out where the car was. That was when we found out that they were in the other lobby (Del Mar) and, as the employee impatiently told me, "you need to get there or they're going to leave you in a minute". This happened on the second excursion we went on where instead of meeting us at Del Mar (we double-checked with the staff again so we wouldn't miss this bus either), they were at the Beach lobby! Both lobbies are not that far apart, but it's still frustrating when you're told the wrong information. Needless to say, the communication between the excursion company, staff and guests needs to be greatly improved.
Fourth, everything at this resort is EXPENSIVE. If you plan on buying gifts/souvenirs or even snacks, prepare to spend a lot. A pair of flip flops was $70USD, a bag of chips was $15USD, a small can of peanuts was $20USD, souvenirs ranged from $20-40USD.. the prices are insane and they know they can charge this amount because it's the only store that's close and "convenient". The staff also told us that the lobby gift shop was open 24/7. They are in fact not, so more miscommunication.
It's also extremely hot there. Mexico is currently experiencing a heat wave, so bring lots of sunscreen, water spray, and fans.
Another con of this resort is that the pool/pool bar closes pretty early (the pool closes at 7pm and the bar closes at 6:30). I was disappointed about this because I wanted some more pool time. The beach is full of sargassum right now so beware of that.. it's just seaweed, but it can be frustrating swimming/walking in that especially if you weren't warned of it.
There are also these beach beds you can rent per day by the pool. I believe they're around $40-50USD per day to reserve, which is a bit pricy but that's just my opinion. The issue here is that the unreserved beds can also be used by guests. This just defeats the purpose of buying one because you can get them for free.. you just need to look around the area before plopping your stuff down.
Lastly, there is a train that runs from the rooms through to the lobbies. Our line was the blue line. It randomly stopped working for a day or two and we needed to walk everywhere. Walking isn't the issue here, although it is annoying to have to walk 10+ minutes under the scorching sun to get to one destination, the issue is that when it stopped running completely, none of the employees could tell us why. My guess is that they simply just didn't want to run it that day, or they didn't have anyone to run it. The train also closes at 11pm, so if you want to go to the burger spot or the disco, you'd have to walk back after! Bring bug spray for this reason.. I was eaten alive.
After all of my issues, management decided to move us into another room next door and we were finally given our king bed. The king bed was the only reason we did the room upgrade to begin with, so it's annoying that we paid for it for the week but only got it 4 days into our 7 day trip. Because of all the mishaps, the manager gave us a beach bed for 2 days, free of charge. We were happy with that but then later we realized that you could just get them for free anyway.
The food was alright. There were different varieties of food, and the quality was okay. My favourite part of this entire trip were the animals at the resort.