Stay Report: Paradisus Cancun by Melia (Cancun, Mexico - January 2023

Stay Report: Paradisus Cancun by Melia - Cancun, Mexico
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I was traveling to Cancun to celebrate a friend’s birthday so we were looking for an all-inclusive hotel that would have good service, good access to the beach and the pool, and overall provide a nice time during our short stay.  We had originally wanted to stay at a different hotel but that was sold out so decided to try the Paradisus Cancun by Melia.  I have stayed at Melia properties both in New York as well as an all-inclusive in Punta Cana and both properties were decent – the all-inclusive was a large property with average food, decent rooms and sub-par service.  This was the expectation I had going into Paradisus, and because of both this expectation as well as we were going for a celebration, I decided to try out the Reserve by Paradisus which is supposed to provide an upgraded service.

I booked the room through the Melia app as through the app there was a discount in addition to the discounted rates given to MeliaRewards members.  Booking the hotel and selecting the room type was very easy to do through the app so that was very convenient.  Once I booked the room, I contacted the hotel regarding accommodations for the celebrations as well as for transportation.  In other all-inclusive which I have stayed out, transportation has been included but in both Cancun and Punta Cana it was not included.   The hotel recommended a service to use, and I generally go through those recommendations as if there is a delay or something happens, I can contact the hotel with any issue.  During the communication with the hotel, I was also asked to fill out pre-arrival information including special requests.  I filled out the form, connected to the transportation and booked that, and was all set to enjoy my experience in Cancun.

The issue started from when I landed as there was no transportation at the designated spot.  I called thetransportation company and they said ‘oh they are on their way’ – it took another 10 minutes for a guy to show-up, one who couldn’t have been least bothered about the lack of service nor information, and then it took another 1 hour for the bus to arrive; it was the worst arrival experience and when I later complained the hotel – the same hotel that recommended the Otium Transport and the one that has a desk in their hotel – they said it’s a separate organization so nothing they can do.  The service was so bad that I had booked a roundtrip but I cancelled my return and just booked a taxi.

The lack of service continued during the check-in process.  The Paradisus is a large property comprised of many pyramids across a wide land size.  You enter the property through the main pyramid which has a small check-in and check-out section to the left-hand side.  We went in there to check-in and were instructed that because we were reserve, we would check-in at a different pyramid and thus were walked to the Reserve pyramid.  The attendant who walked us through was nice but could not answer any questions and kept repeating “your Reserve agent will answer all the questions”.  The pyramids are designed in a similar fashion with an open layout in the middle, stores, restaurants, or hotel facilities on the ground floor in the middle and guest rooms on the top floors surrounding the open atrium.  The Reserve pyramid is also designed this way with the check-in desks as well as a lounge on the ground floor and guest rooms on the top floor.  The check-in attendant was busy helping someone else when we arrived so they asked us to wait in lounge.  On the ground floor in the open atrium, the Reserve has a lounge which serves complimentary drinks, coffee, tea, as well as heavy snacks.  The lounge was open in morning until mid-evening so you could stop here for breakfast, a late snack, a lite lunch, drinks and snacks or a lite dinner.  There were many tables surrounding the lounge and sitting in the open atrium was very nice and peaceful.  After a little while, the hotel attendant came in and said they were ready to check us in. 

The check-in attendant had zero customer service, was quite rude towards the end, and only wanted to go through their speech and not answer any questions or provide any additional information.  It was not a welcoming nor pleasant process and at the end, we were told that in fact our rooms were not ready and that we would have to wait in the lounge until our concierge came to get us.  I was not aware of this prior but booking with the Reserve comes with a Concierge who is supposed to help and provide tailored assistance through your stay – to this day I am still not sure what their purpose is besides making reservations as many of the questions or requests we made were responded with “you need to contact this person”.

The Concierge led us to our room which was a standard room with 2 beds – we had originally booked a ‘lagoon view’ but the definition of this was a room facing the busy street with a lagoon way behind it – it was not calming nor soothing so we requested to upgrade to an ocean view.  This upgrade came at a costs, even though the booking had included discounted upgrades and spa credits.  The upgraded room had a large balcony facing the resort and ocean view and it was much better in terms of noise and view.  Both rooms were laid out in the similar fashion and, ironically, both had issues with the room.   As you entered the room, on the left were the closets which contained a safe, places to hang your clothes, slippers, robe, as well as other items.  On the right was the bathroom which contained a sink in the middle and a separate toilet area to the right and a shower to the left – there is supposed to be a sliding door on the bathroom to ensure privacy. 

In the first room the bathroom door was off its hinges so wasn’t working properly and in the secondroom there was no bathroom at all.  When we requested a door to be installed but were told that this room did not come with a bathroom door (what??) and instead a mini-shower curtain was resembled the mini-curtains seen in Japanese restaurants that only covered half of the doorway.

The bathroom contained refillable bottles with toiletries including hand wash and lotion near the sink and shampoo, body wash, and conditioner in the shower – the shower contained both a handheld and rain shower and while the water pressure was good, the water went everywhere.  The oddest thing about the bathroom was that the shower faced the room and instead of a wall it was a glass partition with a thin sheet covering it – this meant that the person inside the room could see directly into the shower.  I have seen this design in other properties and I am not sure whether this was a design aspect to let light it, but it provides no privacy and is very uncomfortable – we asked that the curtain be doubled to ensure some privacy between the room and the bathroom.  Despite this design flaw, the bathroom was a decent size and had enough amenities and toiletries.

The room itself was also a decent size and contained the following – along the left side was a bench to either site or to store luggage and next to this was a long desk on top and below were drawers as well as a cabinet which contained water, soft drinks, water, and some food items.  Since this is an all-inclusive, most of the contents in the mini-bar were complimentary and should be refilled each day and refilled based on the preference of the client – ours were refilled only upon request and even though it took a couple of calls.  Above the desk was a TV mounted on the wall and finally along the left side was a table with two chairs.  On the right side of the room were the two double beds with a nightstand in the middle – the beds were comfortable and provided a decent night sleep.  There were outlets on the desk and on the nightstand but not next to the beds.  The room size was comfortable for 2 people plus their stuff to comfortable walk around and not be crowded.  The best part about the room was the balcony, which was very large in size, contained two lounge chairs plus a table, and looked out onto both the resort as well as the ocean.  My friend who wanted to layout and hear the ocean got up early and spent the rest of their mornings on the balcony since it was large, peaceful and convenient.

The Paradisus is an all-inclusive which means everything is included and no additional payments or fees are needed – expect for add-ons.  Add-ons included spa services, certain restaurants had additional items which were not included in the all-inclusive, as well as tours and activities needed to be paid for.  There were plenty of restaurants that were included in the all-inclusive including Italian, Latin, Mediterranean, buffets, as well as fast food.   In addition to food, beverages including alcoholic beverages were included in the all-inclusive.  Both my friend and I have dietary restrictions and neither of us had an issue finding something to eat – in fact, this was something we were concerned about but in the end there was a plethora of choices for us.  Most of the information for the restaurants and other activities are included in the app – so you have to download the app to access most of the information; we were not aware of this until the second day so it would’ve been helpful to know this information when we arrived.  Also through the app you can request housekeeping, additional items for the mini-bar, etc so it is extremely important to download the app since this is mainly the way to communicate with staff.

The Paradisus was also a large property so there were plenty of spaces, chairs, and beds available next to the pool and beach.  The Reserve pool is a separate area where it is adults-only and it is supposed to be more exclusive – it was quieter than the regular pool but towards the end of our stay which coincided with the weekend, there were plenty of kids who joined the pool as the staff did not regulate who would come in.  For the Reserve pool, there are beds surrounding the pool which need to be reserved a day in advance and once reserved it is yours for the entire day until you give it up – so you can wander away but if you leave something of yours there or let the staff know that you will be coming back, then they will not give it to anyone.  While this is nice on one side, it does limit the amount of guests who have access to the limited beds.  Also, we were not informed upon arrival that the beds needed to be reserved a day in advance, we only found this out on our second day – again, information that would’ve been helpful in advance.  The large property provided plenty of opportunity and space to enjoy both the pool and beach, as well as walk along the beach and stay within the property boundaries. 

Other amenities on the property include complimentary wi-fi, which was a decent speed and allowed for email and Whatsapp but was slower for YouTube and streaming.   There is also a gym on property but it is a bit further away so we did not access it.  Overall, the Paradisus was a mixed bag.  The positives are the large resort space, the plethora of choices for restaurants, the Reserve lounge, and since the resort was so large it provided quiet areas so the noise wasn’t concentrated into one area.  The negatives are the lack of customer service, the somewhat outdated rooms, lack of a map or clear instructions/details as to what is available and when, as well as communication with the hotel regarding airport access.  Final note, I went for a couple of days and it was at the beginning of the week and left right as the weekend was getting started – there was definitely a different crowd, different vibe, and increase in noise level from when we arrived to when we departed.