I rearly write reviews unless I think people have just been awkward or just grumpy about where they have stayed.
We as a couple travel lots, RIU are normally our hotels of choice if they are available however this was a real shock to the system.
She that must be obeyed had a serious problem with either food poisoning or the so called "virus" that is in Lanarote, we made umpteen visits to the on site Dr, who I will say was quite good until we said we had contacted our insurer and they were going to pay for the treatment, all he'll broke loose, I did however stand my ground and payment will be made from the UK.
We were moved from our first room for various reasons, insect bites have been mentioned by other reviewers, i work in the pest control industry and know exactly what a bed bug bite looks like, we were moved, the second room had a very strong smell of organophosphate which is an insectide basically that is just about banned in the UK.
We were actually moved to another hotel after one night in the new room, the move occurred after a minor disagreement with one of the hotel managers, I am not saying insects are a problem in this hotel but there i rest my case.
Thomsons were fantastic with their help over the problems we had during the 6 days we stayed prior to being moved.
We have never had cause to complain at any hotel in the past so this was a new experience for us, fair play, all the Thomson rep was interested in was us having a good holiday.
The dinning experience at the Paraiso was very similar to a works canteen where you have a maximum of one hour to get fed and back to work, not relaxing at all, the general day to day stuff at the hotel was a bloody awlful experience.
I must say those that have given the Paraiso a good rating can have never actually stayed in a good hotel, for us, never again!
I would suggest if you are definately set on going to Lanarote and want to stay in a RIU hotel use the Olivina it's much more relaxed and well laid out, slightly off the beaten track and without one or two of the so called extras you get at the Piraiso.

We were at the Riu Paraiso Hotel from the 5th to the 12th February ('12) and found very little to complain about. First, reception at check-in.. very friendly and happy to answer any questions, even phoning our room a couple of days later to make sure we were happy with everything.
The room (215) was spotless, the maid was very polite and friendly, even making a ship out of my own (Scotland) towell with the word "Scotland" purposely placed along the length of the boat which made us laugh when we came back one day. Our room over-looked the pool and sea. The complex is HUGE! The other pool, which was a good few minutes walk was always a little quieter and had a swim-up bar in it, the sun-terrace here was also a little quieter. The grounds are nice to walk through, you can also go through the walkway which links both parts (the other hotel) of the complex.
The food here is absolutely terrific, breakfast from 8:30 -10:30, Continental breakfast from 10:30-12pm, snack bar open all day with salads, pizza, hot dogs, burgers, cakes etc, lunch from 1pm - 3-30, dinner from 6pm - 9:30 and also you can book at reception for the chinese, mexican and canarian restaurants, you wouldn't starve here!! The main buffet restaurant is usually very busy so it was nice to book the other three for different nights we were there. The Yaiza restaurant is mexican for the first part of the week then canarian for the second, the chinese is another restaurant next to the main entertainment stage. There is no bar inside the entertainment stage but there is a large bar outside the doors that also serves the massive sun-terrace, you also help yourself to beer, wine, juice, tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc which stops queues from forming at the bar although cocktails and spirits are served by the barstaff.
There are heater-lamps within the terracing seated areas both inside and out (for smokers) for chilly nights.
The All-Inclusive stops at midnight but the "Vulcano" disco inside the complex is open 'til 2am.
The entertainment staff are absolutely terrific, always talking away with the guests, their own stage productions are typical Riu-style affairs, they mime to backing tracks but don't let that put you off.. they work extremely hard at their dance and act routines, they really are a credit to the Riu company (used the Riu Waikiki in Gran Canaria 3 years ago and they were the same) and the outside acts they brought in were good, especially "African Footprints" a juggling/balancing act that thrilled the audience. The entertainment team were very mixed, 3 (i think) from Bulgaria, Alex (one of the Bulgarians) was loved by the kids, Pepe from Italy... you'll never see a camper guy and one night was in drag, he was loved by the audience, they all were.
I really can't fault this hotel from all staff and their general care of their guests, 15 min walk outside left to Matagorda and about the same to the right into Puerto del Carmen itself. Loved it and would go back without hesitation.

We were looking for a last minute holiday in the sun, so having consulted trip advisor - we paid a lot more than we had initially anticipated because this hotel looked so great and got amazing reviews. We have been sooooo disappointed. Over 300 people gave it an excellent experience. Now that we have experienced this hotel I can only imagine that these are people who are used to the whole all inclusive experience at a pretty low level and haven't experienced much quality prior to this experience in their holidaying!

Firstly, we never write reviews, but I would not want people to experience what we have just, especially given that we ignored the bad comments and put it down to the "odd few you can't please!" These people were actually right! Secondly, we are not package holiday people really, so maybe we just don't know a lot about these things! We are used to booking our own holidays and hotels. The only all inclusive we have had before was our honeymoon in the Caribbean and the quality compared to this was incredible. It was sheer 5 * luxury with amazing food and accomodation. This was a just a complete let down.

Bad points -

We all had bad tummies. My husband the worst and we ended up paying over 200 euros for the Dr. We will get this back from the insurance, but lost days of our holiday as he was very ill. We are not sure if it was food poisioning or an infection. The Dr (on site) never suggested food poisoining interestingly, but the symptoms would have been the same and the medications too. We do believe that it was largely down to the food set up in some way or another. There was no-where for antibac or handwashing and hundreds of people are accessing the buffet, so it is likely no wonder that people get sick, as not everyone is hygienic. I attended dinner alone with my daughter for 2 nights and other people said they had been sick too. Put us off the food even more for the duration of the holiday!

The food was really disappointing, especially in the main restaurant. Breakfast was ok. We enjoyed the omlettes and pancakes and the selection of yogurts and fruits, but the cooked breakfast was disgusting and we never touched it. Lunch and dinner was VERY repetitive and the quality was poor really. Always disappointing eating somewhere where you know you could have made better at home yourself and this was the case here. It was very basic. The salads were lovely, but how hard is it to put out a nice salad selection. The meats were good quality, but were simply fried and there was no skill involved in the cooking. It did feel like a school canteen of sorts.

The asian restaurant was good, but you could only eat there once. The food was a much higher standard in here and we really enjoyed it. The mexican/canary restaurant was ok. Pretty much the same as the main restaurant buffet, but with a few more themed nights and a waiter would bring water and wine!

There are a few cats wandering around and people were feeding them. I suppose they don't have the same standard of environmental health in Spain, but this really disgusted me given that it is a 4 star hotel! People can have allergies to animals and toximosplosis is extremely dangerous to pregnant women - I was surprised that nothing had been done about them wandering about on site.

I got bitten a lot - not sure what by, but it happened at night and I killed a few small flies that were in the room. I was convinced there may have been bed bugs, but we have no proof of this.

Good points - There are loads of facilities onsite such as table tennis, tennis, shooting etc and the animation team do a good job of trying to get people enthused. They seem to work day and night!

The drinks were fine. Local produce, but good enough. Cocktails and sparkling wine particularly nice. Don't expect good quality fine wine though!

The pool area was nice with many pools, although they were cold. It was clean, tidy and the pool porter did a good job.

The staff were generally friendly and helpful. We got extra pillows and hired a kettle and nothing seemed like too much trouble.

The place was clean and the rooms well equipped really. Cleaners did a great job. Beds were comfortable - we like hard beds, but no double which would have been nice.

We had a lovely sea view. Beautiful to wake up to in the morning.

I think if we had got this holiday for a bargain price we wouldn't really be complaining, but we paid a lot of money for a mediocre holiday. We have said never again to Lanzerote and never again to package holidays!

We have just returned from a 2 week stay at the RIU Paraiso,and enjoyed every minute of our stay.
The Hotel is as described in the brochures (First Choice/Thomas Cook),being 2 main buildings with a numer of of 2 storey type family accomadtion set within the well kept gardens.I was informed that the swimming pools are heated in winter from 21c to 26c. (Pool attendent). This is the first hotel that we have stayed in during the winter months that has the swimup bar Open.
The location is situated on the main Promanade between the large resort of Puerto Del Carmen,and the small resort of Los Pocillos. If you leave the hotel via the back gate,onto the road between the 2 resorts,with a large sandy beach opposite,turn right and about 200 yards along you will find a well stocked Spar Supermarket,and a further 200 yards along you come into Los Pocillos, with a small selection of shops and Resturants. There is also a regular bus service running along the road, with busses about every 20 minutes, heading in all directions,fare to the harbour in Puerto about e1.20,and into Arrecife at e1.50 each one way.
The Good bits.......The room was of a good size with 2 single beds,with nice firm beds,well equiped bathroom,and we had a balcony looking towards the sea.(limited views due to the number of trees in the gardens). There was a FREE safe and mini fridge (unstocked). Bottle water(1litre) was available free,from Reception when ever you needed it.All the Resturants(4)
were excellent,and the quaility of the food very good,with a good selection at every meal time
Beer/wine/softdrinks/coffee and tea are self service in the Resturants and the bars. Spirits and cocktails available from the main bars. The pools as described above,with plenty of sun lounges around all the pools,with free pool towels provided,and you could change whenever you wanted (9.30am-12.30pm).
The bad bits.......Well we could not find any.