Ocean Riviera Paradise El Beso

Just returned from the Ocean Riviera Paradise where we all had a lovely time . Room was clean and bed made everyday , plenty of choice of restaurants ( Blue Moon was a particular favourite of ours for breakfast and dinner ). Staff very friendly and attentive. Special mention to Nelly and Amairani who would serve us drinks around the pool area. Always cheerful and smiling making our stay more enjoyable. Thank you both

I’ll start this off by saying this is DEFINITELY not a 5 star resort. It is more on par with other 3.5 to 4 star hotels we’ve been in around the Cancun area. That being said, the hotel is not all that bad, just do not come here expecting a 5 star experience.

Summary to my long review: This hotel has a lot of potential, but some management decisions and sales tactics tainted our experience— that, combined with the quality of the food, service, and facilities being more similar to other lower rated resorts, made this a disappointing stay.

Now, my fellow travelers, the good, the bad, and the neutral

The bad:

• the facilities are a bit outdated, with the occasional rotting wood, chipping paint, grime and stains, and on our last day, roaches roaming the restaurant’s floors
• Front desk service is slow during check in and check out— it took us around an hour and a half to check in and almost missed our airport transportation due to check out.
• Our room ( alongside with another’s in our family) suffered from a horrible sewage smell. We asked them to bring a plumber after previous maintenance attempts hadn’t done much— this was eventually resolved
• TIMESHARE — timeshares sales are AGGRESSIVE. My family ended up circling around the buffet area in the morning to avoid getting into another sales pitch. This was due to a bizarre experience with a timeshare employee who insulted us and unrelentingly followed us to ask us where we were from (only to insult us more after our response). We had politely declined the complimentary massage and trip to playa del Carmen ( that’s where they get you) that came with a timeshare meeting. Although we understand this is their job and sales isn’t an easy feat, a bit more professionalism would have not soured our morning — our other experiences with timeshare employees were not as bad as the first, yet still unpleasant.
• Lots of up-charges and empty promises— for an all inclusive, this hotel will try to get you to spend money at every corner and they are frustrating about it. They are constantly pushing you for upgrades, extra amenities, activities, and excursions. Sometimes, they will tell you things are free but come at the price of, once again, a timeshare meeting or inconveniences — for example, a horribly inconvenient ride to Playa del Carmen which takes you two a 1.5 hour detour to a single shop in Cancun—
• I would not come here if you are a bigger family ( upwards of 10) as you will not get to sit together during dinners
• You can only go to the fine dining restaurants ( Italian, steakhouse, and teppanyaki) once a week, and to reserve them, you must wake up at 8:30 AM and either go to the app, or for the teppanyaki, form a line in person.
• The service quality between privilege and basic level guests was more pronounced than other resorts we have been to
• Very strict with rules that were not consistent— we had a series of experiences where family members were told different things or scolded for random reasons— some examples include; one of our 18 year olds was told he was not adult enough to be in the gym. A family member was told he couldn’t take the shuttle to the lobby because he was going to the beach, even after he agreed he was okay with waiting by the lobby for it to loop back around. They would refuse to let our group sit in nearby tables even if the restaurant had a lot of empty space. The chef at the morning omelette told us he couldn’t prepare three eggs. This may be nit-picky, but they would not make an exception to the once a week reservation rule even for a birthday— I only say this because I’ve been to lower ranked hotels that would go out of their way for little things like this that really shape the experience.
• The sea during the summer months is full of sargassum and the beach is eroded— although the hotel does their very best to handle the insane amounts of sargassum, which I applaud them for

The neutrals

• food was a hit or miss, we had some incredible plates and some disappointing ones throughout all the restaurants. I will say the steak and salmon were pretty good across the board. The buffet during dinner is disappointing, but pez vela during lunch and blue moon for dinner were great. If you want to eat Mexican food, it is ironically lacking — with no real options to enjoy local cuisine ( just a lot of burgers, fries, fried food) outside of the lackluster Mexican dinner restaurant and some sad meals at the buffet.
• Size of the hotel— you need to do a lot of walking, although they do offer a shuttle that takes you around, though it is sometimes faster just to walk. If you like wildlife, the way to the beach is full of cute critters and an impressive mangrove forest — however, because of the size, service can be slow with some areas sometimes left unattended and restaurants feeling understaffed
• Keep in mind you’ll have to pay an eco-tax, which is standard for the Cancun area due to local regulations

Positives

• Apart from a few one off cases, the staff was great and helpful
• Mike’s coffee ( coffee shop in the hotel) was great — great variety of drinks of desserts
• The entertainment team was also incredible— the activities were more engaging than other resorts we have been to and the staff did a great job setting the mood
• Lots of variety in amenities— such as the sports courts, gym, bowling, pools — which is where I assume the 5 stars come from
• We enjoyed the beach pool a lot, this was a great way to get the beach experience without having to go into the ocean
• The room we got was large, had a nice layout, and was clean — however, I will say that for the daisy family rooms, there is a random chance you’ll get one king bed and a sofa bed instead of two queens and a sofa bed and the mattress on the sofa is uncomfortable
• Our package had free transportation to the airport
• the grounds are stunning and we loved seeing the biodiversity, there is a broad selection of restaurants, lots of amenities, and dedicated staff.

Overall, this hotel was on par with other hotels at its price point, though various issues and a series of inconveniences retract from it being a 5 star experience. We had high expectations for this resort considering the great reviews, the rankings, and the trip advisor rewards, so it was quite the letdown.