I would love to be writing a glowing review of our trip this past fall, but instead I am writing greatly disappointed with the customer service, or lack of customer service, I've received from the booking staff.

After our second stay at Aventura Spa my fiancé and I decided to become members, and returned home with glowing reviews to our friends, family and coworkers. A coworker of mine as a result was interested in going for a week based on our experience and my recommendation, I offered to gift her a week so they could experience the resort as members.

In the beginning of January she visited the website and saw a rate available that she was happy with and asked me to verify the rate and set the week for her. My fiancé called that evening for me to verify the price and was quoted a higher price over the phone, a difference of $400. My fiancé was unaware of the online offer so he let me know. Confused I asked my coworker to verify the price again and gave her the phone number and my member number to call and talk to someone.

She verified the price online again and called herself, she was then quoted two different prices by two different people, one gentleman being quite rude about it informing her that members receive extra but was not able to explain to her the items she would be receiving that made the cost increase understandable. These prices were $400-600 more than the price available on the website to non-members.

Confused I emailed Rosy Ricalde, on January 8th, whose email is listed on the Legendary website to inquire about the price difference figuring it was a simple mistake. I would have called but I've had severe bronchitis for most of January so I had issues speaking and figured and email would be easier.

I received no response.

6 days later, on January 14th I emailed Mariana Ponce, who I had emailed with after our vacation in September to provide my feedback.

It is now January 18th and I've yet to receive a single response from either Rosy or Mariana. Not even an automatic email to let me know my email was received or to notify me if they were unavailable.

As a result my coworker has decided to book elsewhere and I have lost out on a chance to earn a celebrity week I was planning to gift to my mother. I am also left with egg on my face after speaking so highly of the resort and its staff.

So I advise highly for others to avoid dealing with Aventura until they manage to finish sorting out the split with Legendary. I know I am personally starting to regret my membership and wondering if I have been ripped off as this is not the service I came to expect from Palace staff.

Perhaps if I deny payment on our credit card someone might finally contact me.

This is definitely disappointing considering how wonderful the hotel is and the hotel staffs are generally incredibly accommodating. We had a great time on our trip and were happily looking forward to returning this year with family. We heard many great things about the switch to Hard Rock and now I and left feeling that it was a lot of smoke and mirrors.

One positive thing I can say, if you stay and happen to go to the Hacienda restaurant, personally my favorite, ask for Javier. He was an amazing waiter and we came back a second night and asked for him specifically. He really went out of his way to ensure we had a wonderful dinner. My one star below for service is definitely not a reflection of the staff working at the hotel itself.

after being booked for two months we got to the hotel only to be told there was no reservation. we wasted 7 hours while the front desk tried to downgrade our booking. the person at the front desk was rude and not very helpful at all. finally after speaking with the manager we got our rooms and after the terrible first day the rest of the week was great. the staff were wonderful and always there to assist. there is plenty to do while you are there and the food was great. i hope they take a good hard look at some of their reservation people and get rid of the bad apples. other than that a great trip.

Like others, we read bad reviews and were concerned with the "transition" from Palace to Hard Rock and what our stay at Aventura would be like. We had previously stayed at Cancun Palace and are Palace members. Our entire time at Aventura was excellent. The room was clean and well-maintained; all pools were sparkling clean; restaurants had good service and tasty food. Only had one less-than-perfect experience at the Mexican restaurant at The Cove. It took a very long time to get our food and the shrimp we ordered was overcooked. The employees are eager to help, always greet guests and work hard to communicate. As for timeshare presentations, we were offered gifts for attending one, but there was no pressure to do so. Even the presentation was not high-pressure. We have gone to more than 50 timeshare presentations so we know high-pressure when we see it and it just did not happen here! Fitness center and spa were excellent facilities. Hydrotherapy area was superb. One downside - and it doesn't have anything to do with the facility or staff - the distance from anything outside of the resort. Previously we had stayed at Cancun Palace and could easily catch public transportation to go to restaurants and shopping. Best option for that if you are staying at Aventura is Playa del Carmen. We had to take taxis and it took about 20 minutes each way. It was interesting to see Playa, but everything we needed was right at the resort. It is true that there is no beach but this really wasn't problematic to me. I could see the beautiful Caribbean from just about every spot on the property and previous experience with a beautiful beach in Cancun was that most people just don't swim in the ocean anyway - they prefer pools. We are looking forward to another trip there before 2014 and there will be no concerns the next time.

We were pleasantly surprised by the level of service and the friendliness of the staff. We went for a week 1/9-1/16 and wish it was longer. We opted to use our resort credits for the spa....lots of massages.

Spa - Amazing - definitely go early and use the sauna, steam, whirlpools, cold showers, foot bath

Food - We enjoyed Mundaca and Mo Mo No Hana the best as we are not fans of seafood. Breakfast was consistent every morning and lunch was always delicious as well.

Service - Staff was amazing! Everyone went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. Daily pool entertainment was much fun as was the nightly shows.

Hotel - We were a little upset with having two full size beds in lieu of a King. Beds were really small for two people. The hotel definitely made up for it by putting the beds together. Turned the bed into a larger than king size bed that was much more comfortable. Some facilities are a little dated but it did not affect our stay. Really good bang for your buck.

Overall great trip. People seem to complain but don't realize if they want to be treated like VIP, they will pay for it. You definitely get what you pay for and then some.

Advice - Visit Cozumel. A taxi to Playa Del Carmen will cost $20 each way. The ferry is $12 each way per person. You can rent a Scooter on the island for $25 for the day. My wife and I drove all the way around the island and stopped at bars/restaurants along the way. Beautiful coastlines and friendly residents.

Also - Definitely check out the Monkey Tour at the hotel. The spider monkeys in their natural environment put on a show for us and we were walking through. This was a fun and free tour!

Note - There is no real beach at this resort. They have inlets with man made beaches. Unless you plan on surfing, this is a far better set up. You can snorkel, kayak and swim in very calm ocean waters. The break wall also creates some great sounds of waves crashing all day long.