Iberostar Selection Paraiso Lindo

AnickE wrote a review August 2025

Problem with check in and booking.com

Booked holiday through Booking.com for 2 adults one child 15 years old, he is charged as an adult. Paid $3,222 USD directly to Groupon Iberostar in Feb 2025. When we checked in a mistake was made and they had kid as a baby and are charging me an extra $980USD. Booking.com has told them an error has been made, I show them what I paid them and I got reception to quote me as if I just walked in and it’s the same price I paid yet they insist we owe them the money. Iberostar reception says they can do nothing it must go through central booking but there is no way to contact them as Booking.com has tried several times. Not sure where to from here.

Date of Stay: August 2025

sdani6602 wrote a review August 2025
New York

Unsafe and unsanitary

This resort is serviceable and average, but no review states that the resort has wild coati's all over the premises, particularly on the beach. The coati's will eat your food and lick your water bottles creating unsanitary conditions. My son was in the kids camp and they took them to the beach for ice cream. A coati came up from behind my son, jumped on him, scratched him and took his ice cream. We are now in the US headed to the ER for a rabies vaccine. At the same time another coati jumped on the head of another child. This place is unsafe. Stay away, particularly if you have young children or family members who are not comfortable with wild animals roaming around them.

Date of Stay: August 2025

717glenw wrote a review August 2025

Justo made our trip

Great hotel. We had Justo as our waiter and he was 10/10. Very knowledgeable and showed us the best of what Mexico had to offer regarding food and drink could not recommend him more!

Date of Stay: August 2025

Ibogd wrote a review August 2025
Toronto, Ontario

Great food and family-friendly resort, but pushy sales tactics, safety issues, and poor service ruined our stay

We stayed at Iberostar Paraíso Lindo, and our experience was very mixed. There are many wonderful aspects, but also very frustrating and even unsafe situations that spoiled our vacation.

The Positives:
• Food & Drinks: The food was excellent — a huge variety every day, with fresh fruits (including exotic ones), vegetables, meats, fish, and seafood. The themed dinners at the main buffet had nice decorations and background music. We especially loved the Greek and Italian à la carte restaurants. The Mexican one wasn’t our favorite, but maybe we ordered the wrong dishes. One suggestion: add pictures to the menus for guests unfamiliar with the cuisine. The drinks were also very good — for the first time at an all-inclusive resort, the alcohol didn’t feel watered down.
• Family-friendly setup: The resort is flat and stroller-friendly, with plenty of shaded loungers by the pool (umbrellas and palm trees). We didn’t need to book restaurants in advance, which was very convenient. A crib was provided in our room, and blackout curtains made it much easier for our baby to sleep.
• Kids’ facilities: The baby club (0–3 years) had wonderful Montessori-style toys and a sand play area. Unfortunately, the room was extremely hot when we visited (no working A/C), so we couldn’t stay long. There’s also a toddler pool with slides and splash features, a bigger water park for older kids, and even an adult mini-aquapark with fun water slides.
• Pools & Lazy River: The Lazy River was enjoyable, although with some inconveniences (see below).

The Negatives:
• Noise at night: We specifically requested a quiet room since we were traveling with a baby. Instead, our room faced a pool where loud parties went on until 10:30pm (11:30pm for us, with the time difference). The music and shouting were so loud our child couldn’t sleep, and neither could we.
• Teppanyaki restaurant “Geisha”: Our evening there was completely ruined. We were seated at the hot grill where heavy smoke was pouring out. When we asked for ventilation, the staff just laughed. We had to stand aside until we were finally moved — but to seats behind the show, where we couldn’t see anything. Since it was teppanyaki, the chef normally serves hot dishes to everyone at the table, but after we moved, we were not included and were never offered any of the main dishes. We even filled out an official complaint form that night, but no one ever responded — as if our complaint simply disappeared. This was very disappointing.
• Sales pressure: From check-in onwards, our concierge, Rocía, pressured us multiple times to attend a presentation for the hotel’s club. She promised free massages, spa services, gifts, and more, insisting several times despite us saying we had limited time with our baby. Eventually, we agreed, because we were genuinely interested in the vacation club (we travel a lot and could be good candidates). But the salesman, Eddie, was extremely unprofessional. He wasted over an hour talking about himself instead of the actual offer, ignored our repeated requests to shorten the conversation, and got offended when we asked him to go straight to the details. In the end, he refused to share the proposal at all unless we stayed for the full 90 minutes. We left frustrated, with no information, no promised gifts, and a wasted hour that we could have spent with our family. It honestly felt like a scam.
• Safety incident: During one of the resort’s water activities, my husband fell and cut his forehead badly. He required stitches at the hospital. The hotel was unable to provide real assistance and took no financial responsibility. We had to cover all costs ourselves. This was very upsetting and made us feel unsafe.
• Lazy River tubes: The inflatables are only available at the far end of the pool, which is very inconvenient. There aren’t enough of them, and they are far too large — unless you’re XXL size, you sink inside and have to strain your body just to stay up.
• Flies in the buffet: The main buffet consistently had flies around the food. We understand this may be hard to fully prevent in a tropical climate, but it was unpleasant nonetheless.

Overall:
This resort has excellent food, good drinks, and a family-friendly layout, but the aggressive sales tactics, poor handling of complaints, unsafe experiences, and noise issues spoiled what could have been a great vacation. Unless management takes serious steps to improve, we cannot recommend it.

Date of Stay: August 2025

virginiamU2305PA wrote a review August 2025

Fantastic

It was fantastic! Yoania was very friendly as we had come from Colorado US to celebrate our friend's 70th birthday..
The servers that was taking care of our tables were also very welcoming.

Date of Stay: August 2025

Travelovich wrote a review September 2025

Iberostar…the best!

I visited Iberostar Lindo for the second time, and just like my first visit the experience was excellent! What truly makes this resort special is its staff. Every single person I interacted with was kind, attentive and genuinely helpful which makes the whole stay even more enjoyable.

If you are looking for a resort for your next vacation, this is definitely the place to be.

1. Check-in
The check-in process was smooth and fast. The reception staff was very professional and welcoming. A special mention to Elizabeth at the front desk—always kind and ready to answer all my questions. My check-in was quick because I arrived at a calm time, but if you arrive during peak hours, it might take a bit longer, which is normal.

2. Room
I stayed in a Premium Tropical View room. It was very spacious with two double beds and plenty of room for all belongings. The balcony was large with a table where you can enjoy your morning coffee or breakfast outdoors (there is room service). The room included a safe, hair dryer and a minibar stocked daily with sodas and a couple of beers. Housekeeping service was good and met expectations.

3. Pools
The pools are huge and the water temperature was just perfect. Pool hours are roughly from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. There’s also a water park with slides and a relaxing lazy river where you can grab floaties right next to the towel station. On some days the staff organizes themed food events near the pool area which are a nice surprise.

4. Restaurants
Restaurants open at 6 p.m. and I recommend going at that time to avoid crowds. The food was excellent overall and I especially enjoyed the Steak House. There are plenty of options for different diets and preferences so you’ll always find something you like. Only the Steak House and the Asian restaurant require reservations. A special thanks to Jonny and Jonnathan at the Steak House for their outstanding service.

5. Bars
The drinks are of good quality and beer served is usually Dos Equis although there are other canned options you need to ask if they have them at the bar. Huge thanks to the bartenders at the pool bar Alejandro, Alejandro Nava, Santiago, Alexis, Christopher and Aldever for their great service and friendliness.

6. Entertainment
There are activities happening throughout the day though some are located in different areas of the resort. For example: air rifle shooting (18+ only) takes place near the Star Camp. In the evenings there are shows at the theater and sometimes they are held at the beach or pool area. In the lobbies you’ll also find activities like bingo or trivia games around 7 p.m.

For families: the Star Camp (kids club) is fantastic. It’s available for children and teens ages 6 to 17, divided into age-appropriate groups. Kids can stay from 9 a.m. to 5–6 p.m. but parents must remain on the resort grounds since it’s not a babysitting service. Nearby is the gym which is spacious well-equipped and offers classes like yoga, spinning and boxing on top of plenty of cardio and weight machines.
Big thank you to Perla, Jaime, Omar, Scott, Mirian, Miranda, Gisel, Liz, Estrella and Ana.

7. Spa
The spa has a wide range of treatments from pedicures and facials to massages for adults and even fun “massages” for kids which are more like playful experiences such as applying chocolate, etc. There’s also an indoor pool you can use before or after your treatment. The staff is incredibly kind and attentive.

The spa is located within a small shopping center inside the resort where you’ll also find souvenir shops, clothing, footwear, a free ice cream shop and even a carousel for kids. There’s a charming kiosk designed like a Mexican plaza that adds a nice touch.

8. Beach
When I visited in August 2025 the beach was in great condition: soft white sand and very little seaweed. Every morning the staff cleans up what arrives overnight so it stays nice and pleasant. Depending on the weather there might be more or less seaweed. There are lots pictures online showing lots of seaweed in Playa del Carmen those pictures are usually taken on public beaches where resorts are not responsible for cleaning them it falls under the government’s responsibility to clean the seaweed. Of course nature can be unpredictable and you might be unlucky and encounter a lot of seaweed during your stay but that’s something the hotel can not control.

A few tips:

* If you’d like to visit Playa del Carmen there’s a shared taxi service that leaves daily from Paraíso Beach lobby and Maya lobby. It costs around 200 MXN per person round trip (children pay the same) and leaves at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. giving you about three hours in town. A private taxi for four people costs about 800–850 MXN one way so you can decide which option works best for you. You just have to get there 30 minutes before to get your tickets.

* When walking from your room to the lobby avoid taking the small train path as it’s longer. It’s faster to walk through the buildings it only takes about 5 minutes or less.

Definitely highly recommended.
Happy traveling.

A feedback to improve:

1. The pools are great overall they just might need a little extra maintenance especially around the pool bar area where the seating stools are.

2. The members' pool is starting to feel a bit small and also it would be super helpful to have more clear signage showing that it's a members-only area. Sometimes it creates awkward situations for the staff, members and non-members when this has to be explained on the spot.

3. I totally get that emotional support pets are becoming more common but it might be a good idea to have a few basic guidelines. A couple of times during lunch I noticed that someone in a group had a pet inside the restaurant which might not be ideal for everyone especially since the pet was almost on top of the table.

4. To do something about the garbage bins so the coatis don’t eat the fast food since it’s not healthy for them it’s sad to see them eating the food at the beach. One afternoon I saw a couple of them on the floor because they had too many fries.

I still give you 5 ⭐️ I hope Iberostar will take some actions on these suggestions.

Date of Stay: August 2025

Pathfinder634347 wrote a review September 2025

Excellent family destination. Outstanding service to accomodate food allergies (gluten free).

We are checking out as I write this review. I just don't want to miss the feelings of gratitude our family experienced during our 7-day visit. We came to Paraiso Lindo as a birthday trip for my daughter and I, and we are so happy we came here! The reviews I read before choosing this hotel were very useful. The best asset of the resort is the staff, hands down. Always welcoming and friendly, and some really go above and beyond, like Yoania, who was super professional and took care of our comments regarding our birthday expectations and celiac food needs for my daughter right away! She ensured my daughter's favorite cookies were always available and coordinated a birthday cake that day at dinner time! She is an asset to the management of the hotel and Iberostar. Gracias, Yoania and we hope our cross road again! We also appreciated the service of the restaurant staff, especially Itzel, who made my daughter's daily dinner/lunch times extra special, guaranteeing GF needs like rice, meat, fish and fries were prepared separately and nothing was cross-contaminated. Itzel your smiles resignate with us and we hope to see you again! Genaro, the waiter was also fantastic. He has the most humble smile and welcomed us like family every time we were in his section. The entertainment was lovely, we just wished there were more dance lessons! They host great quality shows and my favorite was Corazon Rumbero. This is a pro company and a great addition to the variety they offer. As for other highlights, the celebration of Independence Day was the best... and we have experienced quite a few accross Mexican resorts. One suggestion to mgt is to add some extra touches for guests celebrating birthdays. I was told we had to pay extra and was surprised as in Riu resorts or other chains they make this a big deal and make you feel really special by decorating the room differently, adding a simple card, or leaving a small tequila bottle as a show of appreciation for choosing their hotel over so many others. Overall, we had a great experince and we will definitely come back!

Date of Stay: September 2025

neojav123 wrote a review September 2025

Great hotel for the family

Absolutely a great experience! We loved the entire hotel, food, drinks, animation, everything.

First of all I can say the booking experience to the restaurants is much easier than any hotel I've been before. You got an app, and you can book there without wasting time. I loved that. We staed there for 9 days and we could visit 9 different restaurants for dinner. Quality of food is just great. Our favorite was the asian show in "La geisha", it was a very nice experience thanks to Luis. Snacks in the beach were unique. I ate a lot of shrimps which you dont see very often in a snack. Also, every day there was a grill even near the pool, and the food was very delicious. I enjoyed a lot the "paella".

The hotel is very clean in every corner. Pools are very clean also, nothing to complain. Also, it is surrounded by nature and I loved that. Lots of animals to see, your children will love that.

Drink quality was great also. We got very nice attention from all the staff, and I repeat, every one had a great attention to us. Special thanks to Santos from the pool bar Roca, he made most of my days confortable.

Thanks to all the animation staff, great shows in the night! Also, one of my daughters enojoyed staying in the kids club (Star Camp) as the attention from all the girls was 10 of 10. Thanks to Daniela, and Adrian, our Star friends. We also enjoyed the water park, it is a very cool add on to the experience since you dont see them very common in other hotels, we had so much fun.

Please avoid falling into the very well known breakfast with the sales guys. We got a very bad experience with a big german guy called Fred. Fortunately, one of the marketting managers called Christian saw everything snf helped us from the bad experience and gave us some presents, million thanks!

I really reccomend this hotel. We have travelled to 10 different hotels in the last 10 years in the "Riviera Maya" and we can say this is one of our favorites all time :)

Date of Stay: August 2025

C1039NZkevins wrote a review October 2025
Chicago, Illinois

I guess if there's nowhere else to go

Mid
Boring food decor rooms
Junior suite bed and couch lol
"Selection" level joke can't imagine how bad their lower levels are
Upsells everywhere sad people thinking they can scam people
Really weird associated with IHG
Platinum no free upgrade but offered to sell me an upgrade

Date of Stay: October 2025

BenH407 wrote a review October 2025

Great 5 days

We did a family trip to Lindo, early October. Overall, things were pretty good. Checkin was simple and smooth (we did the online checkin ahead of time). Our room wasn't ready yet, so we just used the resort until 3 when they provided the room number. The lindo section does not have elevators, and most of the buildings are 3 storey. The Maya section had elevators, in case you require that.

Our room was on the 3rd floor of building 53 (about mid resort). The buildings connect on the ground and 3rd floors if you want to walk in a sheltered area. Room was good, clean and function. AC worked good. There are 2 glass water containers that you can refill yourself, with refill stations located near the stairs on every floor of the building.

The resort wasn't too busy, probably just the time of the year, but it made it nice to and easy to find chairs anywhere. And line ups at the bar and buffet were minimal. The staff were very attentive as well. No issues getting things or assistance as needed.

The water park was fun. an assortment of slides. There are life guards there to keep everything working smoothly. Again, no line ups or wait to access the slides. The lazy river is really lazy. Wave pool was good for the kids. It isn't too deep. The waves run for 20 minutes at the beginning of every hour. The bar by the wave pool isn't very busy either. The main pool has lots of entertainment, games and things going on. Most days they put on some sort of food by the pool. There were a couple bands that came and played too. Foam party was interesting. Word to the wise, the foam gets pretty deep/thick!

The beach is well maintained. The sargassum wasn't too bad, however the jelly fish were there everyday. we heard of people getting stung each day we were there. The resort flys the flags to give you warning, so just use your judgment. Lots of chairs to be found at the beach. Police presence around too, so security is really good. Typical vendors walking around but they were all pleasant. The beach also has the snack bar. Simple food like burgers and fries, and chicken nuggets and wings. Also a drink dispenser for water and pop. The wildlife is mainly by the snack bar. The coati will get close but typically won't bother you directly. however, if you leave anything unattended for a moment, they will snatch it up. This goes for any food items you have by the pool too. Some coati venture in around the pool, just dont have food left around and they won't bother your stuff.

Food was better than expected. Lots of choice, food was hot. They had theme nights at the buffet. Mexican night was interesting as there was a server there making drinks and passing out shots of tequila. He was a very spirited fella! (its a good thing). We did the steak house and Italian restaurants. Service was excellent at both. We preferred the Italian over the steak, but it was still good.

Bar experience was good. The main pool and beach bar can get pretty busy at times but we didn't have to wait overly long to get served. If you have kids with you, just know that most of the tropical drinks can be made without alcohol, just as the bartenders and they will make kid friendly drinks.

The resort is about 25 minutes, direct, from the airport. You are there before you know it. The shows at night were pretty good. They had a Micheal Jackson show 1 night as well that wasn't originally scheduled. The star cafe is a nice place to get coffee and snacks, it is also 24hrs.

So, for things that arnt super and could have been better.
There is construction at the resort. I dont recall seeing anything posted to the website or our travel company about the lobby bar being closed for renovation. The lobby at Beach was also being renovated. You could still use the bar but had to listen to smashing of stone and tile. I understand Renos have to happen sometime, but in the future maybe not both beside each other. We did take the shuttle to Del Mar. Not a big deal, we were hoping to use El Aquaria (Linda lobby bar) each night.
We did use the Maya lobby 1 night and the didn't give us any trouble for being there, however the mosquitos were terrible there (Maya lobby is all air conditioned too!)
So, bring bug repellent. We, and so many others had so many mosquito bites - that's a location thing, not the resorts fault.
Also with Renos, the a la carte restaurants are not where they should be. both Italian and steakhouse were next to the pool, on the Maya side, close the beach end. We had to tour around a bit before we found El Rancho (suppose to be in Maya lobby but it is under renovation too). Small inconveniences, not a big deal, just for anyone traveling there soon to know about.
We did find the Iberostar app to be helpful, however we were unable to book restaurants. The Japanese, Italian, and steakhouse all need reservations. Our concierge in our building was more than helpful to get things booked. As for the restaurant, usually wasn't even half full - but that may be just how things operate for service levels.
We were only approached once about the timeshare stuff. We said no a couple times and that was the end of it. Down side, it was from one of the concierge staff, so we did feel we could not approach them without getting any pressure for it. Our concierge in our building however, was very helpful, and not pushing a sale.

Overall a good trip and we would definitely go again.

Date of Stay: October 2025

contacta106 wrote a review October 2025
Mississauga, Ontario

Lovely place with awesome staff

Travelled October 5-12, 2025, with my 13 yo son. This was our second visit, first one being 12 years ago. And we, once again, enjoyed every minute of it right from the minute we checked in. As repeat guests, we were offered a very nice room close to the beach with a large corner balcony. The best part of this resort is its' staff. So friendly, helpful and hardworking. Every detail of the resort is well thought through. The food was great everywhere but we especially enjoyed El Museo the Italian restaurant for its' special atmosphere. The resort is well kept , clean and beautiful. For us, the flora and fauna make this resort really special. We even saw a kit fox! Can't say enough about the Catamaran snorkelling trip off the resort's Dresell Divers - saw 2 turtles, a sting ray and a tonne of fish. Despite the weather not being perfect ( windy and rainy for a couple of days), we fully enjoyed out stay at Lindo once again! Highly recommended!

Date of Stay: October 2025

amandaaD1920TO wrote a review October 2025

Solid choice, really good overall

I spent 7 nights here with my 6 and 9 year olds and the whole family had a great time. The resort is huge and beautiful, we really loved all of the animals. At times the animals loved us too, my 6 year old got jumped on two separate occasions by a coati on the beach, who stole his ice cream, so watch out for that. We loved our room, the pools were gorgeous, and the beach was very nice (they constantly try to clear the seaweed). Food was overall good, we really loved the Mexican restaurant and the buffet theme nights were really fun. The seafood restaurant was awful though. The room service menu was small, and we got raw hamburgers one day. Drinks were pretty good, but they definitely need more bartenders and serving staff, they were working so hard but there just weren’t enough of them. The taco shop in the mall was really delicious, it’s worth the walk over there. We had a really good time and would definitely return.

Date of Stay: June 2025