Ocean Riviera Paradise El Beso

We stayed here for 1 week to celebrate my 40th Birthday. Unfortunately, we were both left really disappointed and upset by some of the things here. Firstly, let me go through some of the positives- staff were all friendly and professional everywhere in the hotel and grounds. The place is kept very clean and neat and tidy. Our two main highlights were the coffee shop (get there early there was nearly always a MASSIVE queue) and the animals by the forest where the crocodile was (you don’t see if often, and not anywhere where it’d be any danger). We loved feeding the animals each day, and it was such a spectacle having the spider monkeys come down each day. The drinks from the pool bar were not too bad at all, and people in the adult-only pool were friendly. You could choose from a number of pools, and they offered a variety of choice. The gym was pretty good, and was well-used. I can’t comment on the spa, we went for a beach massage next door, which was better value and had the novelty of being on the beach, which was really special.

Our room was big, so was the bed, and the room had a good sized bathroom, and balcony. Unfortunately during the rain the ceiling started leaking. We called reception and they said that they’d send someone. An hour later two guys arrived, looked at the bin (we’d put it there) and went, without saying anything to us. They didn’t return and the ceiling was dripping all night (we had called again but there wasn’t anyone available at the time). The cleaner, thank goodness, managed to help out, got someone in to sort it, but it was a night without sleep. The food was…mediocre at best. A good variety but the quality didn’t seem great, for the price we’d paid for a week. I’d booked this hotel as my partner LOVES steak and there was a steak restaurant on site…we both walked out as the steak was so bad. Other Speciality restaurants were ok (we didn’t try the diner to be fair), especially for breakfast. We ended up getting a (expensive) cab to the town for 4/7 nights because the drink and nightlife were totally NOT for us. We found the alcohol outside of the pool bar undrinkable. It was awful, really awful…and I tried different things. The soft drinks were horrid, we went to the hotel next door for a proper Coca Cola during the day as the one at the hotel was gross. The ‘club’ was not geared up for us. It felt like a kids’ disco with some people around sitting very awkwardly. There was also a very weird smell in the lobby, I found it difficult to breath in there it was really off-putting. I’ve visited Mexico before, and didn’t stay all-inclusive…and this made me realise why. Maybe we just aren’t the right clientele. It seemed geared up reasonably well for families, but not for couples. We left significantly out of pocket having had to take taxis ($35usd one way) 4/7 nights to get palatable drinks, dinner and some ok nightlife, and really disappointed. We wouldn’t return, but we loved the monkeys.

Excellent experience! Especially appreciated Lily’s aid throughout the week from the butler staff, and Armando’s good vibes running the bowling alley. Will be back!