Paradisus Playa del Carmen - Riviera Maya

Michael Khbeis

Overall, we were very pleased with Melia properties in Spain and tried the Paradisus for 9 nights/10 days. First and foremost, I will get a FAQ out of the way: Is the Family Concierge worth the upgrade? In my humble opinion, YES it was worth the upgrade. Our concierge, Eduardo Gamboa, takes care of your dining and experience reservations and is available via WhatsApp. Furthermore, they go out of their way to make the trip memorable for the kids with gifts and in room scavenger hunts, etc. This upgrade comes with a local cenote tour that would typically run $120+ per person and a dinner for the adults at the steakhouse that typically would be al la carte. Finally, the Family Concierge level gives access to a heated family pool with its own swim up bar and the Lunchbox Cafe - an al la carte restaurant that was of the highest quality for breakfast and lunch. So my recommendation is to splurge on the concierge level. Now about the rest of the property and amenities: PROS: The property is HUGE and mostly well maintained. The kids club is very clean with an attentive staff and low ratios. So low, that there is a first come first served queue for evening drop off with only 8 slots in the under 5 years old category. The resort is very family friendly with a lot of shows and activities. For the most part, the food is really good and higher quality than most regional all inclusive resorts (except for Spain where Meliá really impressed us). Highly recommend the taqueria and the Lunchbox (reserved for family concierge) restaurants. The Italian restaurant was great with wood fired pizzas and pasta, but saw some day-to-day inconsistency. The property also hosted a lot of pop up food booths and a big fiesta on the weekly basis (but not on the same day). The local wildlife, consisting of coati, turtles, koi, and cats, was an added bonus in entertaining us. Our concierge was exceptional and most of the staff was very friendly and polite. We got a full suite that was spacious and nicely decorated. The spa facility, located in the adults only “La Perla” side was very nice. The decor, art, and common spaces were well aligned with a 5-star resort rating. CONS: One of the big cons is the resort is set back from the ocean, meaning NONE of the rooms have an ocean view. The restaurant service staff was mixed in their attitudes and kindness and the quality of the food varied from day to day. The coffee is all based on Nespresso pods, which should assure patrons of some consistency; however, oddly this was not the case with some drinks being good but others not. Also, the show schedules sent by the concierge and shown in the app regularly differed from actual locations which was a reoccurring challenge and resulted in us being late or missing some of the shows. This is a gap that should be remedied. Finally, our room suffered intermittent power outages, mainly during the afternoon during peak air conditioning loads and also had a reoccurring scent of sewer gas. Maintenance came to address but did nothing to resolve it - likely a case of core infrastructure deficiency in venting or pee-traps to prevent it from coming in. These were small, but not insignificant things that make us rate it 4 out of 5 stars overall.

Dee Legall

This hotel would have received a better star rating had it not been for the non existent customer service . Starting with the positive, food was excellent , kids enjoyed the pool and water park. Staff were amazing except front desk. In response to complaints or concerns there is no resolution or response. We booked for a wedding and the price we were quoted and confirmed visa email was not honored when we arrived We attempted to speak to the person who quoted us the price and showed our detailed emails but front desk staff always stated he was not on duty. We were also not placed in a suite as promised. We basically ended up in the same room type as our friends but paying more. Basically , 3 adults 1 kid squashed in a double occupancy room. In the end we paid much more than quoted as we were already in Mexico with no other immediate options. Additionally on the last day of our stay our room began to leak. Reported to front desk who stated" yes man we are aware ". The leak could be seen even upon exiting the room with water running down the halls and into the passageway. As up to checkout no one came to resolve the issue. Documents and pics available .

Chris Marino

Nice hotel with friendly staff. Family concierge was worth the extra spend and ours, Adrian, was great at his job and very nice start to finish. Didn't enjoy the dinner reservation games. Upon arrival there was no availability. Our family concierge worked his magic and arranged for reservations at respectable times for a family with young kids. EVERY night at dinner the restaurant was ~40% full. Some of this im sure is due to no shows but I think it was a way to direct more people to the buffet. Many people were angry day after day about the lack of dinner reservation ability yet these restaurants were mostly empty. The rooms and facilities were ok but not great. Service and food on the adult side was night and day better than the family side. The beach was nice but we didn't enjoy the chairs being packed in so close to each other. Overall, this resort was a bit cheaper than some others and with that it represented decent value.

Tracy Delorme

The resort was lovely and staff fantastic. We very much enjoyed the food (with the possible exception of room service). My only complaint was the way they had us book our dinner reservations. After spending thousands of dollars to bring our family of 11 from Canada, we were unable to make any reservations until the morning after we arrived and then we had to stand in a line at a desk to try to work something out. We ended up getting one reservation for 9pm (totally unsuitable for the 2 year old) and one for 7:30 which we made work but wasn't ideal. Surely in this techie world, those things could be sorted out well ahead of time or at the very least, online from the comfort of our room.

Lukas Iafrates

Beautiful time here. We enjoyed the beach, the buffet, the excellent à la carte restos, coffee bars and lounge areas. All the staff were nice and professional. A special thank you for the excellent service from the following individuals as well. Adal at Blue Agave Francisco at Lemon Fish Marcos and Victor at Cappella Shaira, Carlos and David from the Hadar Resturante. Irving (sp?) at Flora Rodrigo at the front desk