We just got back from a week at Aventura Spa Palace. We had never been to Mexico before, but friends invited us to go to Aventura with them. I was very nervous about going, after reading so many bad reviews in Tripadvisor, but was so happy we went. The people there, from the front desk, restaurants, spa, pool, maid service to the groundskeepers were amazing. I never passed one person that didn't great me with a pleasant Hola! Everyone that works there goes out of their way to do whatever you need. Sometimes the communication, because of my lack of Spanish was difficult, but everyone tried very hard to understand what our needs were. The facility is beautiful, and it was everything I wanted and imagined that it would be. My only complaints are that the music in the lobby, and at the shows, is way too loud, and that you can't get change anywhere in the hotel for cabs, etc. Take many small bills and $20's. $100 bills don't work very well, because many places give pesos for change.

As the title says, mostly good overall, but several minor issues. I wasn't expecting perfection and the issues were fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. The value is pretty solid.

Some have mentioned a transition to Hard Rock Management being obvious, but I saw nothing.

We arrived fairly late, were welcomed with a drink and a quick 10 minute check in. Everything was clearly spelled out several times about the $1500 credit and the 11% taxes. I asked if they were full as I was going to ask for an upgrade, but they said the resort was completely booked. I never found anything that busy on the resort though, so I question that a bit. No big deal though.

Also, never once approached about timeshares or membership.

The room is pretty much as pictured. It was clean, simple and we had a bottle of wine waiting for us. There is some signs of things being a touch dated, but overall the only thing we noticed (and I've read in other reviews) are that the linens are well worn. The doors do a poor job of blocking noise though, so late night partiers and early morning staffers are pretty loud in the room. Just the cleaning staff carts make quite the noise on the tile floors.

The grounds of the hotel are well kept and maintained. The pool is clean. Chairs are tough to come by around the pool of course, but fairly easy around the beach area. The beach was a hard packed coarse white sand. I was hoping it would be more natural, but it's still a pretty nice area. The cove was calm and there were always fish around. It was fairly shallow (maybe 4' deep at most) and you can do some basic snorkeling and light kayaking in the cove. You do miss nice fine sand and some waves, but it was alright.

Smokers - please use the ashtrays. It's disgusting to see butts on the beach or even in the water when they provide ashtrays to everyone.

We used our $1500 credits for two deep tissue massages, a couples massage, wine tasting, steak and lobster dinner on the beach and two bottles of upgraded wine. You can argue that this isn't worth $1500, but for $165 - that's a bargain. On day two, we walked in, waited about 5 minutes before we saw someone and booked everything in about 30 minutes with no issue.

The men's massage experience seemed better than the women's. If you go an hour early, there is a host who runs your through the hydrotherapy routine and is very attentive to you. Several women I spoke with had no such host/hostess on their side. The massages were nice, nothing ground breaking, but they do a pretty good job.

The food was simply OK. I don't travel to all inclusives for amazing food, but this was a bit bland for me. The quality and service were good, just bland tasting. The mexican restaurant on the Spa side was more of a Mexican theme than decent Mexican food. On the Cove side, it was a little better. The Asian restaurant was the only one we enjoyed the most. The Italian was decent as well. Wine/water glasses were never empty.

Overall, we never had to wait longer than a couple minutes at any restaurant and we typically went between 7:30 and 8:30PM.

We also ordered room service 3 times. Always right on time, quick and polite. I will also add that we barely ever had to wait at the bars either.

The nightlife...is pretty dead. They have a show per night, but it's always on the Cove side (WHY?) and it's typically a bit too kid friendly. Magic Show, Circus, Breakdancing...I missed the Fire show which I'd imagine would be pretty good though. But after the show on the Cove side, they tell people to continue in the night club. The night club is the one part of the resort that appeared really dumpy. It was also dead because 70% of the place is on the Spa/Adult side, so not many people want to come to the Cove/Family Lobby to party. Walking around the resort after 10PM, there isn't much going on anywhere.

The minor issues we had were mostly related to housekeeping. Sometimes we were left without a hand towel, face clothes or were left out of soap. I always asked for extra water and left a tip - about half the time I got the extra water.

I also asked for the sheets to be changed (hanging the designated sign on the door) and they ignored it several times. I had a bit of the flu, so I had some night sweats. I also skinned my knee playing volleyball and some blood leaked past the band aid. I was hoping for clean sheets after that, but 3 days later, not changed.

We also asked for a 2 hour late check out. We were told it was not possible. I pleaded so I could spend a couple more hours on the beach before taking a shower, but I was told no and that I should get a hospitality room. I booked one, but when we went to use it, they told us none were available so we had to wait 30 minutes until they figured out a solution. They ended up giving us a key to another room on the Cove side (10 minute walk) so we had to rush over to shower and rush back. That was a bit annoying and all of it could have been avoided by giving us 1-2 more hours in our room.

That's my review. Overall, it was a pretty good deal and the resort credits were very nice. Only some minor issues/complaints. We tried not to let any of it bother us.

Transfer to hotel was unorganized we have been going to the moon palace since 1999 and never had a problem with transfers this is only the second time we stayed at a different resort since they had the 1/2 off why not try anther resort we finally arrived at the aventura spa check in was fast and our room was ready went to room very smooth
We went down and signed up for all our spa treatments witch was outstanding the food was very good the steakhouse was wonderful Alfonso our waiter was so wonderful we asked for him again very friendly the 2nd time we had Alfonso and manual Alfonso should be a trainer he is that good
The pool is beautiful but couldn't believe that people were getting away with saving chairs they would put towels on a few chairs and not show up for hours the management needs to watch that maybe if no one shows up pull the towel or perhaps put a sign up no saving chairs it's not right chairs with towels and 3 or4 hours go by with no one in the chairs
It was overbooked the service was good but not upstanding like the moon palace is
The entertainment in the lobby 2 guys and a gal she could win American idol she played brass and sing she is very talented
The monkeys were everywhere in trees out where you come and go in cars that was so fun to watch we would go out for a walk every morning after breakfast just to see them what a treat all in all it was a great vacation

This is a 3/4 property that is completely ruined by the management (or I should say lack of management). The general experience here is that if things are going well, then its great, but if things aren't going well they CANNOT be fixed (unless you're willing to spend the entire day on it)...more details on this below.

My family visited this property the last two weeks of December. My parents had been before, but this was my first time. I was disappointed, and my parents felt that the quality of the property had gone down substantially since the last time they had been (about a year ago). (I blame the fact that my parents raved about it for my not checking the reviews beforehand...)

The good:
- The weather was great when we were there.
- The resort is large and has a very pleasant style. There's also a lot of places to explore on the resort. (Examples include the fitness trail, the rocks on the edge of the ocean, and the monkey walk).
- There is a lot to do around the area: scuba diving, dolphin swims, ziplines, cenote caves, etc.
- The spa is huge and has great facilities: On the women's side, there was a sauna, a cinnamon sauna, a steam room, 3 water pools (hot, warm, and cold) and a foot pool. Additionally, there is at least one person working just in the hydrotherapy part of the spa helping you go from one step to the next, etc. On the whole, the spa therapies (and the spa therapists) are also very good.
- The staff that are the "doers" are, on the whole, great. I want to particularly call out: Luis, who serves breakfast and lunch outside at El Greco, Paloma who serves dinner at the Italian restaurant, Daniel at the Asian restaurant, and Theresa, Coral, and Magdelena in the spa. However, as much as the staff tries, there are not enough people working - my parents mentioned that there was a sharp reduction in staff from the last time they were here. (For example, there used to be bellboys to clear the tables, etc. Now the waiters are expected to do everything - set the table, serve, and clear.) As a side note, I will say that we, on the whole, felt really bad for the working staff - these guys were running around like crazy but people were very rarely tipping - I think generally because people were frustrated with a number of issues and "taking it out" on the staff by not tipping.
- The $1500 resort credit + $165 tax buys ~7-8 activities. (The things for resort credit are over-priced - everything costs $200 in resort credit - but I still think that this is a great deal/perk.)
- If you are staying at a Palace resorts, you can go to (most) other Palace resorts. For example, we took a day trip to Cozumel and were able to use the Cozumel Palace. Additionally, the Palace resorts have a golf club in Playcar, which is quite good (though overpriced if you're not using resort credit).
- The alcohol is plentiful and, for an all-inclusive, of decent quality. (The food is also plentiful...but of less quality...more on this below.)

The mildly annoying:
- There is no beach on the resort. You can still swim in the ocean because they have a little cove, but there is no actual sand. (In addition to swimming, the resort also provides kayaks, but you can only use them in the cove. You can't take them into the ocean.)
- Things get delayed. (For example, I had multiple treatments at the spa start 30min+ late.)
- The timing of housekeeping can be sporadic.

The bad:
- The wifi is sporadic, at best. It never worked in our room, and it would go in and out in the main areas.
- The linens and towels are incredibly warn (as in you can see the threads fraying) and are not changed often. For example, our sheets were not changed for 10 days (and were only changed after we complained). How did I know that our sheets weren't changed for 10 days...because they had some lovely distinctive black markings on them. Additionally, we were often only given one towel when the towels were changed.
- There are not enough towels, beach chairs, or umbrellas. If you want a beach chair, you must get up before 7am. Also, if you leave your chair for long, it may be taken. This is particularly annoying because there are actually a lot of unused, open areas of the resort where you could put more chairs and umbrellas but there are just no chairs or umbrellas there.
- While the food is plentiful, it is incredibly repetitive. The buffet has basically the same things every single day and the restaurants don't change their menus. (For example, the only fish on offer every single day was grouper.) Of the restaurants for dinner, my opinion was that the Italian, the Asian, and Mexican on the Cove side were the best.
- It is a 1-1.5hr wait to have dinner at any restaurant (and they don't take reservations).
- Access to Playacar (the resort in Playa del Carmen) was restricted indefinitely. This meant that we had no access to an actual beach. Additionally, this meant that there was only one day that the resort was providing transportation to Playa del Carmen. So, if you want to go to Playa del Carmen, you will need to pay the $40+ round-trip. (Note that, in this part of Mexico, prices are set so there are no negotiations around this.)
- Booking your services takes a really long time: for us, it was 1.5hr+ of waiting for someone to help us + 2hrs getting booked. And don't even think of changing anything. It's just not worth the hassle.
- There are very few ocean rooms and we did not get one though it was promised.
- We were told we would be in the Spa side...but we were actually put in a part of the hotel between the resorts that was actually made into Cove the second week...and was filled to the brim with children.

The ugly:
- Getting anything done involves a process that would make Kafka proud. Let's say, for example, that you left your hat in the restaurant and wanted to see if anyone had found it. You would then pick up the phone and call guest services...that would tell you to go talk to public relations in-person to describe the hat. You would then walk to public relations where you would describe the hat in detail after which point the public relations person would search a database for some amount of time before calling someone else to go look for your hat in the lost-and-found. Total time not to find hat: 1.5 hrs. The process to mention that there's anything wrong is 3x as long so it's better not to bother.
- The management team (and they will tell you that anyone who is front desk, guest services, or "public relations" is management) does not want to solve your problems. Instead, they are doing everything possible to get you to give up. After all, your three hours calling/being sent back-and-forth between departments are actually valuable to you. Thus, the longer it takes you to address the problem, the more likely you are to give up. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will they actually go talk to the other department for you. That is your job. Even if they are putting you out, they will NOT help solve the problem. For example, we ended up sitting in the totally un-occupied section reserved for a special group...before it was reserved for the special group. Though there was not a single other person sitting in the 30+ chairs (because as the lady from that special group explained to me later in the spa, they actually wanted to sit by the pool), we were asked to leave by the staff member. When asked if she could help us find somewhere else to sit, she said no. We would have to go find someone else. For any problems, you will be sent back-and-forth (and back again) between the department and public relations. Also, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will you be given any contact information for anyone who is actually management (not the management of the public relations department and certainly not the GM). And the public relations department (all of which who will tell you, we are management) will tell you that they can't solve the problem or as one gentlemen did memorably to me with a talk-to-the-hand-because-I-don't-want-to-hear-it gesture, simply walk away and refuse to address the problem.
- The staff regularly lies. For example, go to the spa and and ask for a massage on the XX. The spa scheduler will ask, does Y time work. If you say, would it be possible to get something in the afternoon, the staff person will often say, no, its booked. Go over to another person...miraculously multiple times in the afternoon open up. Another example: my parents bus was supposed to take them to the airport at 9.20am. Starting at 9.30am, the bellman assured my parents that the bus was 5 minutes away for the next hour. The bus actually left at 10.40am. Things happened (especially on New Year's Day; that's understandable but, if you provide the actual information, people can actually make decisions - like whether they should take a cab instead.

One other note on management: What does it tell you that the same complaints are being made over-and-over again over the period of months and not addressed? (I know that I will get a response to this post that says that my notes have been sent to the proper departments...but how many times does the given department need to be told about the linens and beach chairs for those issues to be addressed?)

All-in-all, I can't tell you either to go or not go. I would say if you're the type of person who doesn't care if things go wrong and plans to spend a lot of time off the resort, then you could probably get a good deal here and utilize the location/the credits. If you're someone who wants a relaxing and seamless experience, this is probably not the place for you.