Iberostar Grand Paraiso

This is our second visit to this Iberostar complex but our first time at the Grand Paradiso. Firstly, the drive up and walk-in was great but the check-in was a disorganized, which made for a rather disappointing start. However the facilities just make you relax by their design. The walk to your room is in an AC environment, which makes you feel relaxed right away. The ceilings are tall and the hallways wide and well-lit at all times of the day. Great atmosphere. The room was equally great. The rooms had a great selection of snacks and drinks. The cleaning services were great for the duration of our stay. Please be sure to tip them with their name and a thank you letter! I did have an issue with switch placement in the room, their brightly lit alarm/radio clock, and the lack of plugs by the nightstand but good beds and they don't turn off the AC in your room. Leave the room cool, to a cool hallway, and come back to where it was.... just a huge relief after a "tough" day at the pool. The pools were great, very clean and peaceful. In fact my wife and I went to go see where we were staying before... and It was like going down 3 stars in our minds. The most important part of the stay was the food and the alcohol. The restaurants were decent and the Surf & Turf buffet was amazing; you can either get off the menu or go to the buffet table. Please be aware, their water at the restaurants taste different because its filtered not bottled. This facility has real alcohol! This makes a huge difference the next day after relaxing day.... basically tastes better, digests better, and doesn't annoy you for the rest of the trip. At the other hotel in this facility we visited in our last stay, we stopped drinking because it didn't feel good. We felt relaxed the whole time, just wonderful! Pool time is 7am to 7pm. FYI the coupons they offer as incentive to book this are useless, see attached photos.

Upon checking in we where led to our room. Once the door was open, a terrible musty, moldy odour greeted us. I asked the host if we could be moved to another room. They declined requesting to clean the room while we waited after a long day of travel. About 90 minutes later they said the room was ready. The smell was still evident along with cleaning solutions. We again requested a move and again it was denied. With no other choice, we decided to stay the evening in the room in hopes of speaking with a manager the next morning. No luck. The second day the bath tub had only cold water and the drain had plugged. We where asked to stay out of the room the entire afternoon while they took the taps apart and replaced them along with the drain plug. The odour was still high. Next morning the electricity quit to the room. Called the front desk and several hours later a repair person showed up. He opened the panel in the closet, gave it a good bang with everything coming back on. The air conditioner would only go down to 22c and we cooked with the high humidity. Was told it was computer controlled. On the third day, I approached the manager at the main counter and asked if we could be moved. This gentleman was not in a pleasant mood as I was third in line with other guests requesting a move. By the time he got to me, his mood had deteriorated that I left. I later found out that the occupancy rate the week of Jan 15-22nd 2016 was just over 50% and felt they could have accommodated our request to move. This was not an inexpensive resort. After considering our experience, this resort is over-priced for an average experience. Noted I did not mention the quality of the food. It too was average considering our experience at other upscale resorts. The beach area is excellent as is the pool area, hot tubs and indoor pool area. The servers have a wonderful attitude when bringing meals to your table. Management was the surprise in the little attention to guests needs. Regards, Ken