My family and another family we traveled with just returned from a week at the Paraiso Beach. Last summer we stayed at the Del Mar. We had a wonderful experience the first time around, this year our expectations fell short. My eleven year old son cut his foot on the rough pool steps and required stitches. The pool steps are dangerous and in serious need of repair. The staff did not seem concerned about his injury and were more interested in us returning four pool towels. The food is HORRIBLE. We knew we were NOT going for the food, but I guess we forgot how awful it truly was. I ended up buying a package of ritz crackers in the lobby shop and eating them all week. I couldn't tolerate the food or blended drinks. They tasted terrible and made me ill. The pool area was dirty. Straws, ice cream cups and cups all over the place. The staff can hardly communicate. Forget asking housekeeping for anything, they don't understand. This IS NOT a five star experience. Two years in a row was enough for us and we will not be returning. It's a shame because it is a beautiful resort, but the service and food are a big zero. Lastly, Hurricane Emily was approaching at the end of our stay. Luckily, we were scheduled to depart, but others we spoke with had no idea what do in terms of safety or evacuation. Noone at the resort gave any instructions or anything like that. Again, we knew what we were getting into with the horrid food, but the service and unsafe/dirty condition of the pool made our thoughts about this vacation and resort go way down.

We went to Playa del Carmen for our wedding on Oct 5 2005. We also had one of the worst experiences in our life!!! We stayed at the Iberostar Tucan which also is to be a 5 star hotel. When we arrived our rooms were not ready, which didn't bother us considering how beautiful the surroundings were. We came with two sets of in-law for the wedding. The hotel put our room (the bride and groom) in the middle of the in-laws, which took some of the romance out of it. Our room was next to the lobby (as far away from the beach as you could get). This made every morning an event...we had to wake up at 6AM to the staff yelling in spanish. We had 2 days of sun and 6 days of rain due to the tropical storm of Stan. All there was to do is drink and eat, but neither of which was good. They served the same food EVERY DAY.....and it was awful. We also bought some food from the gift shop...never thought $5.00 pringles would taste SOOO good. I have literally had better Mexican food at Taco Bell (not kidding). There was still some slight damage to the resort from hurricane Emily (which no one bothered to inform us of ). We could not use many of the walk ways for the beach and dinning. The "night club" was out of commision and everything was under construction. Talk about BAD service, that is if you can get any. Our room was not cleaned the first day we were there...when we saw maid service cleaning my parents room and asked when they were going to clean our room..they replied all done. When we brought them in to show them our room (bed not made, flowers on the floor ect..) he said we do tomorrow. The mini bar was HOT, never stocked, and had opened beverages from the previous guest. When we called about this they said they only stock on certain days and would do it then. I also cut my foot on the pool steps (the exact same way, and the exact same place). Luckily I'm a nurse because the "medic" couldn't understand a lick of english. After waiting for him to arrive (more than an hour of bleeding) I had to open his medical bag (which consisted of ace wraps and iodine) I had to dress my own bleeding foot. Another guest fell on the wet dinning room floor just after her arrival. Her and her husband were still waiting on their room to be ready when she fell, the hotel did nothing to help her. She had to obtain some pain medicine from the local pharmacia which she had to pay for on her own. When another guest called Apple to report the incident, we found out the hotel had claimed the accident happened on the beach (public property) and hence not responsible. The couple who called it in gave a report that the accident happened at the restaurant by the pool. Two other people fell at the resort due to the rain/construction. One of which broke his arm and the other elderly man may have had a concussion (plus a laceration on the nose). When the elderly man fell, the staff gave him an ice bag and told him to sit down. Nice Customer Service.
Disgruntled Iberostar Guest