HL Paradise Island

Avoid avoid avoid!! If you are going and it's too late to cancel you will just have to make it what you can with your own family which is what we did. Thank God our kids are too young to notice what a dump this hotel is!! So as far as they're concerned we had a great holiday, full of fun. However, this hotel is dirty, in disrepair and very poorly maintained!! The police were regularly at this hotel due to the middle of the night fights and thrashing of accommodations that was happening!! The security had batons and handcuffs so this says it all. The big pool area were filthy and was just full of people on the session for the day! Very intimidating!! The room was "cleaned" every day but clean is really pushing it. The towels were old and ripped and bleach stained! The food was actually very nice and tasty and the catering staff were fabulous. The children's disco was absolutely shocking!! The area that it was in was like an area where they just threw the "disco". The playground and kids areas were just horrendous and you couldn't even bring the kids to the playground after 6pm.

Booked through ‘On the Beach’. To you directly, you cannot have had any member of your staff visit this hotel and rated this as 4 star. If you have, you need to retrain that member of staff immediately. The hotel is falling to bits. It doesn’t look like it’s had a penny spent on the rooms in the last 30 years bar a lick of paint and a small flat screen TV. The patio door onto the balcony was falling to bits and it was a struggle to open it. The table and chairs on our balcony looked like they had been bought from an auction of a run down bar. The table was fit for the skip. Paint on the settee and balcony chairs for when they have run round with a brush and tub of white wash. The bathroom sink tap looks like it’s got growth on it. The whole hotel feels grubby everywhere you go. Cigarette butts in the flower beds outside the rooms, the same around the pool. Pool side area sun beds were filthy and falling apart. Pool side bar staff were good and worked extremely hard but are woefully understaffed for the amount of people here which lead to poor conditions at the bar. One highlight was the food and drink. I didn’t struggle choice and the chefs were doing an excellent job and made really tasty food. That along with the hotel booze is what is basically stopping a riot from starting. The dining area was like a cattle market and the noise in there was deafening at times. The cutlery was the cheapest stuff you can find and if you applied pressure, you could have severed a finger as the edges felt sharp. In its current state, you are hard pushed to give this a 3 start hotel rating and that would be incredibly generous. To back this up we were not the only people completely disappointed with the hotel as there was a constant stream of disgruntled holiday makers making their opinions known at the reception. It sounds as though we ended up with a half decent room compared to others. This is definitely NOT a value for money holiday. On the Beach should hang their heads in shame taking their customer hard earned cash from them and sending them to this hell hole!

It’s Not as Bad as Some People Make Out

We’ve just returned from 10 days at Paradise Island. While I wouldn’t rate it as the advertised 4-star hotel, it's probably closer to a 3-star we went with an open mind after reading some of the reviews and had a good holiday.

The rooms are spacious but definitely in need of some TLC. That said, the housekeeping staff work hard to keep them clean and tidy. There were eight of us travelling together, and I emailed the hotel beforehand to request that our three rooms be close together, upstairs, and in a quieter area. They accommodated this request, which we really appreciated. The beds are very firm, but if you ask at reception, they'll provide a mattress topper.

The food was perfectly acceptable. Even the fussiest eater in our group always found something to enjoy, and the drinks were fine too. The only downside was the reception bar, which usually have just one member of staff, so queues could be quite long.

The biggest issue for us was that the pools, amphitheatre, and entertainment areas simply aren't big enough for a hotel of this size. During busy periods, it felt overcrowded.

The staff work incredibly hard to keep the resort clean, but unfortunately some guests don't help by leaving litter behind. There are bins everywhere, so it's disappointing to see people not using them.

The Dino Park was a huge hit with the children. The lifeguards deserve a special mention—they were attentive, professional, and did a fantastic job looking after everyone's safety, both the little ones and the "big kids"!

Would I return? No. However, if you have children who love water slides and splash parks, I'd recommend Paradise Island as they'll have an amazing time.