JOIA Paraiso by Iberostar - Adults Only All Inclusive Resort

Great entertainment team got me comfortable at trying super fun activities like paddle board yoga, dance lessons, water sports and fun games. Special kudos to Raymundo, Fernanda, and Cassandra, but all are fabulous. Great poolside drinks service from Lenin and others. My second time here and was so happy to see especially Aristedes. Also Raymundo, Fernanda and Lenin, some other beautifully fun and welcoming people. Thank you. Great food too with so many fresh choices and great shows.

So we just came back from JOIA PARAISO Iberostar Monday 1/12/26. On Friday 1/9/26 we agreed (me & my husband) to go next day to a Iberostar MEMBERSHIP Presentation. We said from the very beginning that we aren't committing to anything yet...because if this was going to be another Timeshare...we would run for the hills. MIRIAM @ Front Desk Concierge booked up for 8 am 1/10/26 and seemed to understand our one specific statement - we are not buying right now!!! In exchange for lending our time for this presentation, they promised 200$ Iberostar Cash and a FREE Massage, 2 in 1 (MIRIAM said)... We went to the presentation the next day...the 90 minutes that DAVID promised this will take, turned into 120+ minutes. At the end, we said the same thing we said to MIRIAM the previous day (by the way - DAVID was next to her when we booked)... NOT TODAY! Regardless, 3 people kept trying to "close us".... When we're finally done, they don't have the "Free" (wasn't free) Massage Certificate + The $200 Iberostar Cash. We wait and finally get it. Didn't think to look inside the envelope right then and there... When I go to the Hotel, I found $150 instead of 200 Iberostar Cash. Back to the Front Desk... Whomever what there didn't know anything about it...of course...Let me talk to this and that person...come back... Eventually I got it later that day. Around 7 PM I go by the SPA to schedule the "Free" Massage... My husband didn't want to go. I go and ask if I can just do the massage alone. "No, no, no ...you have to pay if no 2 people" someone said at the Front Desk of the Spa in a super broken english. At this point I am just irritated... Finally I go back to the Front Desk Concierge and find MIRIAM... I explain to her the issue and she gives me the $50 Iberostar Cash and then tell me that I can have a friend with me, instead of my husband. We book it for the next morning at the beach... The service was so-so, because when I asked for a little more pressure I was told that that is more $$. Fast forward to checkout... Surprise - surprise!!!...I had to pay for 1 of the massages in the end. But nobody explained ever the concept of "BUY ONE GET ONE FREE" that anyone understands in this world... Even simpler than that...nobody said "PAY FOR ONE GET ONE FREE".... Instead they kept saying "FREE' Massage and then they put both our names on the certificate. OK - let's say, I got it wrong the 1st time...but Saturday night when I spoke to MIRIAM the 2nd time...she could have explained it better...NOPE...that didn't happen... When we get to Checkout - FERNANDO, some manager gets involved...let me see...blah blah blah...and of course nothing got credited, nothing was solved as we had to leave and our ride was waiting. I think they do this on purpose, or it is a case of really bad Sales combined with bad English...In which case, they should not be allowed to interact with the public / resort guests for sales purposes! STAY AWAY FROM THEIR SALES ANYTHING...waste of time, pressure, incompetence, INABILITY TO EXPLAIN & the Front Desk staff not able to resolve anything! ROOM SERVICE IS TERRIBLE! We let a NOTE for the Cleaning lady - in Spanish, to please get us more coffee and restock the fridge. Of course the fridge was not restocked, and no coffee. We had some wine in the fridge, but no opener.... Towels were not replenished either. I had to call the Front Desk to specifically ask for everything... At some point we gave up...because the Coffee Machine Broke...then the AIR was not working... HOT TUBS - NOT HOT... The so called HOT Tubs in the main pool and the quiet pool are NOT HOT at all. The ones in the SPA are HOT sometimes...I guess it depends on the day... NOBODY HAS CHANGE....INSANE ATM FEES! The Front Desk cannot break bigger bills...so unless you want to pay $10 to get Cash from the ATM, bring smaller bills... NO RESERVATION SYSTEM - NOT GOOD... Why did they have to change their previous reservation system, when it was working...not sure. But the First Come First Serve is a DISASTER! You have to wait in line literally when they open, because later you have no chance to get in...while you see all these empty tables... So BUFFET it is for you once again! CREDIT TO THOSE THAT DESERVE IT: But I wanted to give CREDIT to those that deserve it: Bell Staff, Security Staff, Pool Bartenders - Rodrigo, Humberto, Gabriel, Aron // The Lobby Bar Bartenders Daniel, Dario & Gerardo // Rhapsody Bar - Luilly & Jonathan + most of the serving staff was great! I mean... this is IBEROSTAR JOIA....their so called "JEWEL"... But for the $$$$$ you pay to get to Iberostar...the Room / Cleaning Service / Concierge / Sales Team is REALLY BAD. We have been here TWICE before - and I feel that the service has very much degraded from our previous 2 stays. I am certainly NOT RETURNING to this particular IBEROSTAR... Not worth the $$$$$ they charge. Although there are plenty of good workers that are great and some amenities that are still good, this latest BAD experience outweighs the GOOD and previous experience. This is not a "JEWEL" anymore...sadly.

Celebrated New Years at our favourite place with my husband, our daughter, son-in-law and my 93 year-old father in-law. This was a very special and memorable trip for our family indeed! From our arrival and initial welcome back greetings from Arturo, until our departure and farewell handshake/hug with Ricardo, we were treated like family. Thank you Arturo for all the rides from the lobby back to our room, making sure "DeeDee" was well taken care of. For anyone with reduced mobility, don't let the resort's size deter you as a golf cart ride is usually not far away. There are also elevators so you don't need to worry about climbing stairs to/from the restaurants or rooms. The only area needing an elevator is the main spa in the commercial mall which is not accessible for those unable to do stairs. It was nice to see many familiar faces once again on this trip from Daniel, Dario and Estrella at the lobby bar to Adalid in Star Prestige lounge, Manuel at the Star Prestige Beach area, and Mirna/Mauro/Ruben/Adrian/Gabriel/Karolina, the lovely butlers (thank you for everything you did for us and the special attention you gave to DeeDee). Thanks as well to Chef Jadhir and Milylane for being very attentive to my daughter's lactose allergy and making sure she always had choices for every meal including crepes/french toast for breakfast and a nice dessert after her meals. Thank you to Josue, Leonardo, Cecilia, Guadeloupe and Christian who always made sure we were well taken care of at breakfast and lunch. One of the main reasons we keep coming back is the amazing staff and seeing the same people on every visit which you don't often find. Over the years, we have built friendships with many of the staff and have shared stories of our families and our lives. On this trip we did not engage as much as we usually do with the Star Friends but we did do a few activities. The activity on the beach with Mala (star friends) was fun. We made bracelets for our family and enjoyed all of the star friend activities. Thank you so much Mala. The pools were a bit cool so we spent most of our time at the beach this trip. We did venture to the quiet pool one afternoon and were happy to see Adriana. This is our normal end of the day retreat so I really missed our daily walk to the quiet pool, which is a great way to finish off a hot day in the sun. We visited all the a la carte restaurants and enjoyed every meal. We had the pleasure of being served by Cesar at the New Years Gala and on our evenings at L'Attelier. The Gala was amazing with food for every taste and the dessert table was almost too beautiful to touch. Staff went above and beyond preparing for this event and all the guests we spoke to were amazed with the presentation and quality of our meal. A daily visit after breakfast to the Star Cafe was a must, where we had many latte's, cappuccino's and other treats. This was a great addition in 2025! The golf course was in pristine condition with the added bonus of monkey sightings on most rounds. The spa was equally enjoyable - thank you to Juliana and Alesandra for releasing any stress I may have had. We've started off 2026 on a very positive note and look forward our next vacation. We truly enjoyed our stay and all of the hard working staff throughout the resort. We will be back soon.

An exceptional stay at the hotel! 🎉 The atmosphere is fantastic from morning to night thanks to an amazing entertainment team, always smiling and full of energy! The entertainers are truly top-notch: they know how to make everyone feel comfortable, create fun and unforgettable moments, and they always have new ideas to keep guests entertained! A huge shout-out to Fabian. He is wonderful: attentive, dynamic, and always ready to bring happiness to everyone.

Awesome place, would highly recommend to everyone! The ocean front rooms, food variety, swimming pools,entertainment!

Antonio Arguello truly made our stay unforgettable. From the very first moment, he treated us not just as guests, but as people he genuinely cared about. His kindness, attention to every detail, and constant willingness to help went far beyond our expectations. No request was ever too much for him — everything was handled with professionalism, warmth, and a big smile. Thanks to Antonio, our vacation felt special, comfortable, and truly perfect. He is an exceptional person and without a doubt the best manager at this hotel. We will remember his care and hospitality for a long time. Thank you, Antonio, from the bottom of our hearts!

Food is great. Server is very attentive and kind. Everything I ordered was on point. I’m very picky with the sushi especially the rice. This placed has fresh fish and perfect rice. The sushi as better than most restaurants I have dined at.

Excellent

Nothing

Elisio provides outstanding towel service! Always friendly, attentive, and professional. He goes above and beyond to make guests feel comfortable. A wonderful person and a pleasure to see every day.

I mistakenly booked this resort for Dec 27, 2025-Jan 1, 2026. Turns out Iberostar renamed it since my last visit in Dec 2022. It is the former Grand Paraiso where I was sick for several days; nausea, chills, and couldn't eat. I suspected it was the in-house filtered water at the time and requested water not bottled on property. Fast forward three years later and I got food poisoning three days into my trip. I was in so much pain I almost called reception and asked to be taken to a hospital. Upon check in I requested bottled water, not filtered on the resort, and drank that for the duration of my stay. My food poisoning might have been from the shrimp ceviche. I only ate the food at JOIA Paraiso. Temperature controls appear to be an issue at JOIA. The cappuccino I requested at the buffet was lukewarm and the chicken that appeared be sitting in a wok-style cooking pan was cold. All of the hot tubs on the property are lukewarm, except for one of the two hot tubs at the spa. The tiny gym is blazing hot with only one of the two overhead ac units working. It also stinks. When I got a massage, even the massage bed felt like an ice bath. The beautiful main pool is rarely swam in because it is also ice cold. During my stay of 6 days I saw a total of 4 people swim in it. People were mostly gathered around the poolside bar and sitting in the lukewarm hot tubs. Iberostar/JOIA also didn't honor the 'up to $600 USD' in resort credits promised by booking directly with Iberostar. Once I checked in I was told by concierge that I could only use $25/per transaction and it must be over $100. That was nowhere in the fine print when I booked. I was then told by concierge that if I attended one of their resort sales meetings, where they want you to book more stays with Iberostar, that they could pay for both of my spa visits. I only booked these spa visits before arriving at the resort, because of the 'up to $600' stated in my reservation confirmation. I emailed the Iberostar Call Center the evening I checked in requesting that my hotel credits be honored. The response I received two days later was simply a confirmation that they received my email and that a reference number was assigned to my case. The issue was never resolved. There are so many obvious fixes this resort could make to be at least a 4 star in my ratings book, but the short cuts at the risk to customers is glaringly obvious. I should also mention that the manual lock to my room door was not working when I checked in and I had to ask for maintenance to come by to fix it. Most of the staff are super friendly and helpful, the Italian restaurant was delicious, but every cup of coffee I received tasted like mud and most of the food and drinks was just OK. The beach was rocky, but a good walk up the beach you'll find a small area with no rocks. The area after that is inundated with sea gulls. The red flag was up for my entire stay so great ocean waves for surfers. I will never stay at another Iberostar hotel/resort ever again.