Paradise Village is a beautiful resort with excellent staff, mediocre food and an exceptional location. I was there for the first time several years ago and was so impressed I purchased points which allowed me to return to the resort every other year and to use those points to vacation elsewhere. As a former employee of a five-star resort and a person who has visited many beautiful locations this was a big move on my part. We returned this year to Paradise Village anticipating the usual excellence we have experienced before. There seems to have been a change in management or administrative change since we’ve been there. The regular staff – housekeeping, waiters, beach staff etc. continue to be wonderful, hard-working, super friendly people. Can’t say enough about them! however on multiple occasions I inquired about information and was told several different things by several different sources – guest services, member desk, concierge. This affected our activities several times and was just plain irritating. Check out was disorganized and people waited an hour or more to check out in the morning. Bills had to be adjusted and policies were not clearly posted. My experience was fine but I heard multiple people complaining about how this had never been so complicated, how things have changed etc. The food in some areas was very good and in others pretty bad. The concierge desk was especially lacking. We checked out on time but had a late flight that day. We were told we could still visit the beach and that there was a hospitality suite where people could shower and change their clothes before they went to the airport. Wonderful! When I went to the hospitality suite there weren’t any ttowels to use after a shower. I called the concierge desk, as was posted by the telephone in the room. They told me I need to go back to the beach and get a towel from the beach concession although I had had to turn in my beachtowels at check out. I told him that was impossible and I wanted to catch my plane on time. I had inquired earlier at the members desk and guest services about the hospitality suite and if there were going to be towels etc. for us to prepare to leave. I had been assured that everything I needed would be there. Concierge desk told me I had been given the wrong information and they were unable to help me. I asked if there was anybody who could bring some towels over to us as we were in a state of undress and ready to jump in the shower and they said no. Ended up using the paper towels you use after washing your hands, to dry off and get ready to go to the airport. Certainly not the end of the world, but indicative of the whole experience. One person said one thing, another said something else and then nobody assisted you in rectifying the situation. One of the events they have during the week is the members cocktail party. The last time I went it was really fun – they had some drinks, appetizers, there were raffles and prizes for spa treatments etc. They also had entertainment. This time it was lame. They had a drink, an appetizer , no raffles or prizes. We were approached several times to meet with a representative to upgrade our membership – meaning purchase more points and spend more money. It felt like they just had gotten all the people together who had previously spent money to hopefully spend some more money. That was a definite change from my previous experiences. As I said at the beginning of the review, Paradise Village is a beautiful resort. The regular staff are exceptional. I am hoping that they will resolve the issues they are having right now and that the new administration will take a look at their previous successes and make adjustments. One more thing I need to add. There has been a pretty big turnover in some of the staff areas. The new staff spoke almost no English and really struggled conversing with guests. Now that is not a big deal -we are in Mexico and visitors should attempt to speak in Spanish with staff. However I really felt badly for the new staff as it seems they had very little support or training and it made their job even harder…Mexico is a beautiful country- I have visited many, many times. I will continue to visit. I am hopeful that Paradise Village will take a good look at their customer service surveys and correct some of these issues.
