Paradise Beach Resort

The food was a letdown: limited choice, and the flavors were always quite flat, which I didn’t expect in Italy. The red wine tasted like water and sugar, and you couldn’t order a different bottle in the restaurant. There were tons of plastic cups too. Even when six of us just wanted water in the heat, they wouldn’t give us a jug at the bar and kept handing out tiny cups. The building looked poorly maintained from the outside, and there was a strong sewer smell throughout, including in the rooms. We had no WiFi in our room. Our shower didn’t work properly on the first day, so we couldn’t take a proper shower until the following morning. The toilet water always had a strange color that made it seem dirty. Without a balcony in your room, the only place to hang swimsuits and towels was on old, rusty shared hangers on the corridor balconies. The lifts were unreliable. There were only three for six floors, and one was noisy and got stuck more than once. Some bar staff were extremely rude. When we asked for extra ice, one said, “I’m here to do this and it’s enough already.” Another said, “I’m just a humble worker, you’re a customer so between us two I think you are the one whom have an advantage.” That made no sense to me. I’m paying for a service, not asking for anything extraordinary, just some kindness so I can enjoy the holiday I worked for. The one person who was always very kind and helpful was the woman cleaning our rooms on the sixth floor. I think her name was Maria. We did quite enjoy the restaurant closer to the beach. Its food seemed much nicer than the main restaurant’s, but it was only open for lunch, and you had to book in advance. With all these issues, the hotel left us quite disappointed.

The beach is beautiful, but there’s a city runoff that flows into the ocean near the hotel, so the water isn’t always safe and has a funky smell. The beds were comfortable, and the kitchen staff and entertainers were wonderful. The entertainers kept the kids busy, and meals were buffet-style three times a day. Dinner is late, so grab a snack from the store if you don’t want to go hungry between 3 pm and 8 pm. A few things made the stay tough. We were told by both the booking agency and the hotel that there was AC, but there wasn’t. In the hottest months, be ready to sleep with the balcony door open since there are no windows, and deal with mosquitoes biting all night. The staff don’t speak English, though some entertainers do. The rooms weren’t thoroughly clean, with dirt and dust bunnies on the floor, and I wouldn’t look under the beds. The whole building, including the rooms, had a strong sewer smell. The installations are definitely old. Pool walls weren’t clean, with dirty residue visible at the waterline, and the shower drains were clogged, so water collected while showering.

That May 2021 heat made our stay uncomfortable enough to really affect my rating. We live in Marinai, and the room AC was switched off even though it was very hot. My friends asked to change rooms and were offered one floor lower, on the theory it might stay cooler away from the sun. The food and amenities were very good, but I’d call ahead to check whether the AC is running before booking. Personally, I wouldn’t go if it isn’t.

We were there on an all-inclusive stay, and the room AC wasn’t on because of energy-use rules. With the windows open, though, the heat was bearable.