Iberostar Waves Paraiso Beach - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9665 reviews

• 

  Nice staff. Not 5*

  Good - Had a nice overall family holiday! The wildlife around the hotel was fantastic, even if the Coati constantly scavaging for food was a little annoying at times (but to be fair its thier home!) The waiters, cleaners and bar staff were some of the friendliest hotel staff I've come across (albeit two meals the drink service was non existent but partly down to running out of beer (at an all inclusive!!) The entertainment was good (although were directed to the Lindo next door as the hotels own entertainment building was being repaired, not sure the Pariso would be so good) The pool was nice along with the towel service (only gripe was limited poolbar waiting and the pool entertainment was constant, very tacky and far too loud, one day the aqua aerobics had one guest taking part but they still had the music volume double what it needed to be!) The OK - the al a carte resturants (mexican / bbq / Japanese) were nice, especially the Japenese, but booking was too hard such that we could not book the other (Brazilian / Italian / US grill) during our 12 night stay which was disapointing! Especially give the mixed quality of the buffet, definitely not 5*, more 3.5* (I'll get on to the illness after eating in the buffet under "the bad". Another ok though was the broth and plain rice concierge arranged to send to my room when I got unwell, I was greatful considering they do not do room service in the pariso beach, this is only available to those who pay a substantial upgrade to the Lindo (the actual 5*) The bad - a number of things I was disappointed about the quality, the hotel had the potential and ability to be 5* but unfortunately its all about an up sell! I was told by Thomas Cook I had booked a 5* which i always acknowledge is not going to be perfect it's all inclusive, repeating what I've seen a lot of customers say, you are pretty much told straight away you are in the budget hotel of the complex and being put in the budget rooms but everything can be upgraded. They hard sell the tour of the Lindo, the actual 5* so they can show your family what they could have had if you hadn't gone budget on £9.5k!!! You are then told you could pay for a better location by the pool in exactly the same type of room for another £1k, I didn't even ask what the Lindo upgrade would be! The room was mixed, the bed was one of the most comfortable I've slept in on holiday, the bedroom was ok if a little tired but the bathroom was terrible, the shower had been broken and maintenence had made a budget repair but it mean the shower head would not fit in the holder, in the end I had to use some gorilla tape to tape it onto the holder (I keep it in my case since a previous holiday suitcase disaster!), quite frankly if you have to bodge repair the shower after the hotels own bodged repairs which would have only cost them £2-3 to repair properly, then you are most definitely not in a 5* hotel, more like a 3*. The buffet, whilst we had a couple of nice meals and good service there were a number less good, cold food, long waits for foods to be replenished, two meals we received no drink service, one meal they ran out of beer (and wasnt as if there were large groups guzzling it) kids selection was one of the most limited I've seen in an all-inclusive, then there was one meal I clearly picked up a stomach bug shortly after having lunch at the buffet, I spent three days suffering before going to the medical centre. To be fair when my wife first went to the reception asking about the medical centre they said they could get some chicken broth sent to me, when I called for this I was first told this is a room service which is not on offer to the Pariao Beach, but they did arrange this for me twice. My disappointment here, again if it was truly a 5*, I received no follow up call to check on me, even after they were aware I went to the medical centre on day three of my sickness! Overall, the 9 days of holiday i had, I enjoyed due to the company of my family, but I would not recommend the pariao beach unless they sold it accordingly as a 4* and up their quality with less upsetting. And if they are struggling to fill then Lindo, then maybe its time to redevelop the Pariso beach and focus on the Lindo offering.

  Aug 30, 2026
• 

  Disappointed

  Where do I start... the grounds are immaculate, well kept, the various animals (peacocks, capibara-like animals, Coati) are all around on the grounds.. kids loved this. Themed restaurants but really difficult to book. They recommend through the app but you almost have to be on it at exactly 6pm to have a chance.. and even then I suspect the concierge are pulling from the availability. We were able to book the Italian restaurant and I highly recommend this restaurant! Great food. The employees were amicable.. but there were some hits and misses with some of the personnel and their attitudes. "Vacation Club"/timeshare thingy was not bad.. I have had much worse experience (Grand Mayan anyone). I was actually close to buying their "3-year trial" but the couldn't/wouldn't include moving/upgrading us to a "selection" part of the property even though there was availability.. which leads me to the biggest gripe.. NO ROOM SERVICE. I have 3 young children.. and after a full day of breakfast buffet, pool, playing, Star Club for the kids, beach... they would be just super exhausted to have to then go and take showers, get dressed again and take a VERY INFREQUENT shuttle cart back to one of the dinner restaurants. Would have been very convenient to just order in.. or have the kids sleep late and just order breakfast room service. But nope.. and frankly no one told me that this option wasn't available for our hotel. Would have been easy to just explain it during check-in and let me know I could upgrade (for a cost) to be able to have this option. If you have little kids you know this can be a very important resource. Additionally, they don't allow you takeaway after a dinner. We had dinner at the Mexicana and both the younger kids (2 and 4) fell asleep waiting on being seated. I asked if we could order fries and chicken strips to take with us for the kids to eat when they woke up.. but nope. NOT ALLOWED.... If I was told all of this initially at check-in I would have understand and willingly paid for an upgrade to the "selection" hotels. I booked our stay via the IHG website. Lastly, because of the little ones, we found ourselves (wife and I) having to carry them when they fell asleep and the main "train" carts were every 10 min.. there were sporadic/infrequent carts but were for the "upgraded hotel" and we often told "No, sorry not for you" while carrying our sleeping kids. After all of this..I would overall give a 5/6 rating (out of 10) for this hotel. Food quality/quantity I would give a 8/9. Customer Services probably a 6.5. Convenience would be a 3.5. With so many good choices/options available in the Cancun/Riviera Maya areas I would suggest looking for a different hotel or at a minimum go for the Lindo/Mayan sections. Avoid this one if you have little kids.

  Aug 28, 2026
• 

  If you are a cigar smoker do your research

  The hotel and staff were amazing, The lack of information concerning smoking and lack of cigar lounge the website when booking was disappointing. Aside from the vacation, one of the main reason our group chose this location was a cigar lounge that had been turned into a wine cellar. Had this been know at the time the group likely would have chosen a entirely different location.

  Aug 24, 2026
• 

  Would have given zero rating if possible

  We visited the hotel three years ago and had an amazing time, so decided to come back to celebrate two big family birthdays, but unfortunately it is now a completely different hotel with shockingly bad service, tired rooms and awful food. Even though we paid for three rooms in a five star hotel and paid around £9000 for the hotel alone, it would appear from what we were told by management several times that the Iberostar Waves range of hotels are now their budget hotels, so do not expect five star it is a three star at best and the service you will receive will match this and not the price you pay to stay there. Housekeeping was good, but this is the only positive element throughout our stay. Restaurants Hot food is cold or tepid at best and we sent it back in several restaurants to ensure our food was hot Meat in restaurants was incredibly tough and could not even cut meat in a number of the restaurants, making it inedible Service in restaurants is shockingly poor, where the waiters are having to be asked to actually take a drinks order. They are so keen to get you out of the restaurant that the food arrives before you receive a drink in most restaurants we visited Brought a bottle of champagne to celebrate my nieces birthday and waiter opened it and poured some into the glass, but did not return at any point to top up our glasses, I had to do that which I would not expect after spending £140.00 for the bottle Trying to book restaurants was a nightmare throughout our stay and prior to arriving, as tried to book restaurants and birthday packages before arriving and when we first got there, resulting in lots of unnecessary communication and wasted time Star American Diner restaurant was closed throughout the duration of our stay. Rooms Major refurbishment work throughout the complex, which we were not informed off before arriving. Show theatre closed along with a buffet restaurant due to refurbishment, which we not informed of and meant we had to use another one of their hotels facilities, which were packed and often did not have space to sit. Continued smell of sewage every time we showered in two of the rooms Door to cupboard in room was broken, which was only fixed six days into our holiday No sunlight in the two adjoining family rooms, making them incredibly damp and smelly, which transferred to our cases and clothes. Rooms very dated and in need of refurbishment Lack of buses to move around resort, so long walks required for breakfast and dinner every day We complained several times during our stay to make the hotel aware of the issues and on two occasions they simply ignored the issues and offered no resolve other than to send us to a presentation at their premium hotel to sell us a timeshare, reflecting the lack of care they have for their guests experiences and the importance they place on resolving issues We paid over £9000 to have three rooms here for 10 days, including £750 upgrade to family rooms and believed that we were coming to a five star resort, to find that Iberostar have chosen their own tiering system and we actually paid to come to a budget hotel and were made to feel like second class citizens at all times, disgraceful and disgusting and has ensured we will never visit an Iberostar hotel again

  Aug 23, 2026
• 

  Most disappointing stay… it is not the 5* experience promised.

  Very disappointing second stay, definitely not the luxury experience we expected I have just returned home from a 10-day stay at Iberostar Waves Paraiso Beach with my family, five adults and one 12-year-old. Unfortunately, what should have been a special holiday celebrating my sister’s 40th and my boyfriend’s 35th turned into a very disappointing experience. This was our second stay at the hotel. We first visited in 2023 and absolutely loved it, so returning for two milestone birthdays seemed like the perfect choice. Sadly, the hotel we returned to was completely different. Our disappointment actually began before we had even arrived. Knowing we had two birthdays during our stay, we contacted the hotel well in advance to arrange birthday surprises and reservations at the à la carte restaurants. We were even prepared to pay over $100 for a birthday package. Despite contacting the hotel repeatedly, communication was extremely poor, responses were vague and we were never given any real assistance. On arrival, we were told by the manager that only 3 of the 9 restaurants would be open each day, unlike our previous stay when the restaurants were much more readily available. We also discovered that large parts of the hotel and its partner hotel were closed, meaning facilities were shared and evening entertainment had been moved to the Lindo theatre. It quickly became apparent that there was a very clear distinction between guests staying at the “budget” Paraiso Beach and those staying elsewhere within the complex. Despite spending over £15,000 for our family holiday, we were repeatedly reminded that we were staying at the “budget hotel”. We were told this when questioning the quality of the food, when asking about the lack of fizzy drinks at the pool bars, when trying to use transportation around the resort and even when trying to get drinks during the evening entertainment. On one occasion, we were told drinks could not be served to us at the theatre and that we would need to walk approximately 500m back to the lobby. For a hotel charging what we paid, this was incredibly disappointing. Unfortunately, the food was another major let-down. Both the buffet and à la carte restaurants were well below the standard we experienced during our 2023 visit. Meat in several restaurants was so tough that it was extremely difficult to cut, and dishes often did not resemble what was described on the menu. The service was also inconsistent. On my sister’s birthday, we purchased an expensive bottle of champagne, only to end up having to serve it ourselves. At weekends, when local guests arrived, we noticed further changes to the buffet, including reductions in certain breakfast options such as hash browns. We also experienced what appeared to be watered-down juices at breakfast. When we raised concerns about the quality of the food and explained that it simply wasn’t comparable to our previous experience or what we would expect from a luxury resort, we were essentially told that it was down to personal preference. Another significant issue was the smell throughout the hotel. There was a strong sewage smell, particularly when the watering system was operating. Unfortunately, this wasn’t limited to the public areas. Our rooms frequently smelt through the shower and had a constant damp feeling. Our beds felt damp on a daily basis, and our clothes became increasingly musty and unpleasant-smelling as the holiday went on. This was particularly uncomfortable and certainly not what we expected from a premium-priced resort. Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects was trying to get anything resolved. Whenever we approached the hotel with concerns, we were repeatedly met with responses such as: “We will get back to you.” “I will speak to the staff.” “This is the budget hotel.” “What would you like us to do?” Very little was actually resolved. We genuinely wanted to love this hotel again. We returned because of how much we enjoyed our first stay in 2023 and because we wanted somewhere special to celebrate two important birthdays. Instead, we left feeling extremely undervalued as paying guests. If you are looking for a genuinely luxurious Mexico holiday and expect a premium experience for a premium price, I would strongly recommend considering other resorts. There are plenty of hotels where you can spend your money and actually feel like a valued guest. Sadly, based on our experience this time, we would not return to Iberostar Waves Paraiso Beach and cannot recommend it. What makes this particularly disappointing is that we know how good this hotel used to be and that is why the decline has been so noticeable.

  Aug 19, 2026