Iberostar Waves Paraiso Beach - All Inclusive

Guest Reviews from Our Customers

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9670 reviews

• 

  The poor relation …

  Waves is definitely the poor relation when it comes to the hotels on the site. Although we have stayed here before it has dramatically gone down downhill in three years. It seems all other nations know that Waves is the Butlins of all the hotels on The property expect us Brits 🇬🇧! The speciality restaurants are anything but special ! Plus it’s a nightmare to actually book one now ! They are not open all the time ( cut backs seems to be theme at waves ). The drink quality is shocking all cocktails taste the same and it’s very normal for them to run out of fizzy drinks at the pool bar.. Dodge the butter in the buffet at breakfast it’s basically lard , in fact dodge the buffet full stop! Best food was at the beach bar ! ( eat quick the Coati will snatch unattended food) . Watch out they will drink from your glasses to around the pool ! If you like to get off resort a private taxi to the local town is going to cost you at least 100 dollars ! Don’t bother complaining they don’t listen and will try and make you upgrade to the other hotels. They love a up-sale here! The last time we visited, we went to the American diner in the adjoining hotel, that’s now shut for a refurb! They lied and said it would be open during our second week. The entertainment area is shut in waves, but you can use the other one in Lindo but you can’t actually eat in Lindo’s restaurant. How does that make sense? The new taco place is rank , the shops are empty of people because the pricing is nuts ! Take your own crisps ( twenty dollars in the on site shop ) . Dodge this iberostar it’s pants 🩲

  Sep 02, 2026
• 

  Took away foam parties

  Iberostar removed the foam parties at Beach resort. This is a popular attraction. After 18 years there will be finding a new resort that provides foam parties.

  Sep 02, 2026
• 

  Nice hotel, would come back

  We travelled here as a couple, knowing it was a big resort. It was a really nice hotel and we would definitely stay here again. The food is really good, considering that they are serving a very large amount of people. There was always a decent choice in the main buffet (and mostly always Tacos) We enjoyed most of the à la carte restaurants on site. The Mexican restaurant was great, as was the French restaurant. We went to the smokehouse only once and it was ok. The Japanese was also lovely and such a fun experience by the chefs! I would definitely recommend. Rooms were always clean, as were the common areas. We continuously saw staff cleaning and ensuring areas are tidy, which is great to see. They were even in the pools in the morning clearing any debris, or scrubbing the tiles to keep things as nice for guests as possible. My partner saw one scrubbing the outside of a bin just to make sure it was clean. Quality of room were good too. We were happy with a premium room and were only about 10 mins walk from the area pf the pool we liked. The walk doesn’t feel long because you’re always surrounded by the nature there. They do have shuttles otherwise which are great for other guests if they have kids or extra mobility needs. Entertainment at the pool was always fun and upbeat. The team made a real effort every day to make things fun. If it’s not your thing, there are other pool areas you can sit at instead so it’s away from the noise (only for an hour or so) We went to a “foam party” at one of the pools and it was so fun. The evening entertainment wasn’t for us all the time. Can be very “all inclusivey” YMCA vibes but I know some people love that. Just not for us. We went to the fire shows which were great too. Location is good as when we wanted to go to the cenotes, we could just walk to the highway and get on a collectivo bus. It’s a bit cheaper than the resort planned activities but that’s personal preference. The beach was unfortunately not as good as I’ve seen it before. Sargassum season did spoil the sea for us but we still used the beach/beach bar/food. I think I got in the sea once in 2 weeks but it’s not the fault of the hotel, it just happens. The hotel put out nets into the sea to block large amounts of sargassum which is great, but unfortunately the small bits manage to get through and cause dirty water. The shore itself was clear, so you could still walk. Cons: - upon arrival we were encouraged heavily to book onto a “breakfast” in the sister hotel. If we went on the breakfast, we would get a free excursion/boat trip or something else. Definitely a marketing thing and not super genuine as we saw some poor people being trapsed around the resort with a staff member explaining about premium membership to the hotel groups. I don’t think they realised what they signed up for as the hotel were quite pushy about it. For a holiday, I didn’t really want to spend time listening to someone market to me. But again, their choice. 2nd There was definitely a tier/class system. We booked as all inclusive guests, but there were guests on some sort of premium tier that were definitely treated better. They were from the sister hotel but used all of our facilities. Fire shows- they all get their own proper seating/drinks/waiter service right at the front. Everyone else had to sit behind. In the buffet for breakfast, we were led by staff to a table for 2. As we were putting our belongings down, another waiter told us that this was a premium only table and that we can’t sit there, despite someone else giving us this table. “Premium”guests also got their own shuttles that we were not allowed on.

  Sep 02, 2026
• 

  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