My husband and I spent 3 nights here to celebrate my 40th birthday. We returned yesterday. After reading all the reviews and hesitating to book our trip here, I feel obligated to share my experience.
We booked directy through Aventura's website. We booked an oceanview concierge room. After reading reviews, my concerns were about poor service at the front desk and not being able to book spa services (or taking hours to book the services) to use our $500 credit since we were only there for 3 days.
I did some research and was able to make spa reservations in advance via email.
We used a private shuttle service (Cancun Shuttle which was reasonably priced and excellent service.) We arrived at a very busy time on a Saturday afternoon. It was chaotic and there was a bit of a wait at the front dsk, but nothing unreasonable. My husband generously tipped the front desk man and requested a nice room be on the second or third floor. That was a waste of effort since the rooms are assigned in advance and apparantly they cannot/will not change anything. It did not stop him from accepting the tip though. We were escorted to our room and were quite disapponted in the view. It was supposed to be an ocean view concierge room. We did receive the concierge "amenities", but it was a big stretch to call it an ocean view room. You could not see the ocean out the patio door. You could see a very small amount of blue if you stood in the very corner of the patio. Ugh. I had booked concierge only because I read these had the best ocean views. Absolutely not. Almost anywhere else on property would have had a better view. We complained to the man escoring us and got on the phone right away to the front desk. The employee suggested we leave our luggage in the room and walk back to the desk to complain. He was nice about it and obviously knew that we would get nowhere. This must be a common occurance!
The front desk was absolutely no help. The first man asked where on our receipt it said oceanview. It did not, but that was the description on the website. He said it was because we booked it through a travel site and it was their fault. We booked it directly with ASP. He said he would have someone check the website and fix it. There were many excuses...all a waste of time. We supposedly spoke to a supervisor who also could not/ would not help but added us to a "waiting list" to change rooms tomorrow. We could see the room next to us complained as well. He said he would really make our case to the person who assigns rooms since we were staying such a short time for such a special occasion. We returned to the desk the next morning at 8am and it was as if they had no idea we even asked to change rooms. They said they could put is on the waitlist again. It was a big run around. All we could do was put it out of our minds and enjoy our trip.
While I'm still complaining, let me mention that the clock/ipod dock did not work, the safe did not work, the hammock was hung way too high to use, and half of the blackout shade was missing. We reported these things the morning we realized we were stuck with that room. They fixed 2 of the things immediately. It took another call to get a rope extension for the hammock to be hung lower and the blackout shade was never taken care of. No big deal with any of these things. Overall they were pretty responsive.
Still slightly complaining... the concierge amenities aren't worth it and in some cases just seem like an illusion. I would not recommend booking concierge! (The only reason we did was for a good view...and that was certainly bad advice.) Their was upgraded liquor in the room (we don't drink though.) There was aromatherapy which helped the mustly smell that cannot be avoided in such a humid climate. There were petite fours delivered nightly (2 one inch squares of dry cake or a piece of chocolate)...fine. The "pillow menu" was placed in our room the second day but they had nothing available. Nothing. There was a concierge room service menu with a choice or two from each of the restuarants for dinner. The choices were limited. We did not have a regular room service menu and have no idea if one even exists. We used room service for breakfast the first day and it was fine. The buffet was better. There is a breakfast slip for room service to hang on your door at night. I'm sure this is for any room, not just concierge. The beachbag was okay. Very cheap, but fine. The shampoo ect. did not appear to be an upgrade either. The worst scam is the "candlelight dinner." We called to book ours for the night of my birthday thinking this would be something special. They offered us the choice of the mexican style restaurant either on the spa side or the cove side. I had read the cove restaurant was better and we booked there. They said there would be a special menu. There was absolutely nothing different about this dinner. Nothing. We asked the waiter what was supposed to be special/different and he said we could order lobster if we wanted. No thanks. They wouldn't even have mentioned it if we hadn't asked. They really shouldn't advertise this...or they should actually do something to make it special. The only real advantage to concierge for us were the (2) 25 minute massages. Again, I wouldn't book concierge! You can certainly pay for a massage with the money saved or just use your credits for the spa anyway.
Their is no concierge lounge or desk. You simply dial "0" to talk to someone to book your dinner or whatever. I don't think they really understand what concierge usually means.
Sorry for all the complaining, but I wanted to give as much detail as possible. I know it would have helped me know what to expect and make my decisions.
Now for the good stuff...
The resort is beautiful! The room actually looks better in person than it does in the pictures. The pools are nice. The lagoons although they don't look like much for snorkeling are actually pretty good. You can see quite a variety of fish especially near the ocean inlets. The lagoon in front of the cove side is the largest and probably has the best snorkeling.
The service is very good (other than at the front desk.) I was impressed with the quality of the food overall. I haven't been to any other all inclusive resorts but I travel a lot and it was better than any cruise I have been on. The buffet food quality in particualr was better than I have had from any buffet other than at a very high end restaurant.
The service at the pool and "beach" was also pretty good. Sometimes slow, but more frequent than I expected. Nobody I encountered ever expected an additional tip (I say additional because it is my understanding that all-inclusive means tips are included.) We did often give additional tips but it was nice that it was not expected.
The spa really is the shining gem of this place. The services were excellent. I had the 25 minute concierge massage which was truly excellent! And a deep tissue massage that was very good, combined with a sensitive facial which was good but I've had better. I also had an aromatherpy massage which as very good. I didn't make use of the hydrotherapy area, but I did observe it for a while and noticed an attendant expertly manage the clients through the area and get them to their spa service on time.
We only went to one show...Michael Jackson tribute because I read good things about it. I was surprised that the room had wooden folding chairs. The dancers were good. The lip synching was terrible and it's all I heard anyone talking about. Also, the main costumes looked cheap. I'm really not a show snob, but for some reason these things bothered me. We didn't stay the whole show and decided not to give the circus show a try either.
Considering I paid about half of what I would have paid at a similar all-inclusive resort, I would say I enjoyed our stay. In addition to paying half...the $500 spa credit really made it awesome! I would have loved this place if not for the deceptive practices of the front desk (maybe it's all the fault of the way they advertise the rooms, but it is obviously so common that at this point there seems to be deceptive practices.) If you're looking for a bargain all-inclusive then this is your place. Hopefully they will get themselves more together as the ownership change is completed.
Just considering the facilities and services (excluding the front desk) I would say this is a 4 (out of 5) star resort.

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