AVA Resort Cancun — Hotel in Quintana Roo

One star hotel charging 5 star prices:||||Hotel Review||Overall Experience: 2.5/5||My stay at this hotel was a mixed bag, with some standout features overshadowed by significant drawbacks. While there were enjoyable moments, the overall quality and service issues made it difficult to fully recommend.||Pros:|| • The cocktail bar, nestled between the steakhouse and Italian restaurant, was a highlight. The drinks were well-crafted, and live music on some nights added a lively vibe.|| • The ice cream shop on the south side was a treat, offering a wide variety of flavors and freshly made waffle cones that were a hit.|| • The hotel’s proximity to the airport was convenient for travel, though this came with a downside (see cons).|| • The room amenities were a strong point: a good selection of toiletries, a well-functioning fridge stocked with non-alcoholic drinks (water, sodas, Gatorade, chocolate milk) and beer, a Nespresso machine, snacks, and a steamer for clothes.|| • Plenty of self-serve non-alcoholic drinks were available at the buffet and taco place, with mocktails offered at the bars and restaurants.|| • The lunch restaurant by the bay pool stood out for its good service and tasty dishes, particularly the skirt steak and fish tacos.|| • A special shoutout to Angel, our bellboy, who was friendly and helpful during our arrival.||Cons:|| • Check-in Process: The check-in was frustratingly long and disorganized. The reception required our passports but still made us re-enter information on an iPad. No hotel map was provided, and the staff only vaguely explained the layout (north and south sides with restaurants). We were then passed to a rep who gave a brief hotel overview and pushed a “breakfast” that was actually a sales pitch for a membership. The bellboy provided more info, but it conflicted with the rep’s details, leaving us confused.|| • Pushy Sales Tactics: The promised 30-minute breakfast turned into a 90-minute ordeal (30 minutes of food, 60 minutes of sales pitch). Others reported being stuck for 2.5 hours. After declining the initial pitch, we were handed off to three more people, which felt aggressive and exhausting.|| • Room Quality: The room was disappointing and felt unclean. We found crumbs on the floor, a dirty shower with brown stains and weak water pressure, dried blood on the floor that remained for days, white grout smeared on the bathroom floor, and dirty sheets. The bed and pillows were overly soft, making for an uncomfortable sleep. Housekeeping skipped our room one day despite us leaving before 10:30 AM.|| • Hotel Quality: The hotel’s overall condition was poor. The signature scent was unpleasant, and a stale sewer smell wafted in from outside every time the doors opened. Baseboards were detaching in some areas, a metal piece in the lobby floor was separating (nearly causing my husband to trip), and the tile carpet on the 6th floor was lifting up.|| • Other Issues: There was no AC by the Kronos and coffee bar in the south wing, making those areas uncomfortable. The coffee bar in the north side lobby served an eclair with sour-tasting cream.||Food:|| • Breakfast: The hotel has buffets at both ends (south side is larger). Drink service was slow (10-15 minutes for mimosas, which were overly sweet, and watered-down juices). Bacon and sausage had to be ordered through the waiter, and there were no pre-made scrambled eggs, leading to long lines. The French toast was a standout, though.|| • Lunch: Options included a buffet at the north side and outdoor dining by the pool (no fans, which was uncomfortable). The adult pool dining was a letdown—ordered the same taco dish but received two different, poor-quality versions (dry or fatty).|| • Dinner Reservations: Reservations required calling a number or coordinating with the Day 1 rep, which was inconvenient.|| ◦ Chez Moi (French, 4.5/5): The onion soup was off, but the lobster bisque was delicious. Entrees were excellent, and desserts were great. Service was rushed the first visit but stellar the second.|| ◦ Kita (Teppanyaki, 3/5): A 5-course meal (fried dumpling, spicy edamame, miso soup, sushi, fried rice, protein with veggies). It was decent but not memorable.|| ◦ Bao (Asian, 3/5): Offered a variety of Asian dishes and sushi. The eel sushi was exceptional (5/5), but the rest was average.|| ◦ The steakhouse was consistently booked out at least four days in advance, making it inaccessible during our stay.||Additional Notes:|| • The proximity to the airport, while convenient, meant frequent plane noise that disrupted relaxation at the pool.|| • The lack of clear communication from staff about the hotel’s layout and amenities, combined with the pushy sales tactics, left a sour impression.||Final Thoughts: While the hotel had some redeeming qualities like the cocktail bar, ice cream shop, and certain room amenities, the poor room and hotel quality, disorganized check-in, and aggressive sales tactics detracted significantly from the experience. The food was hit-or-miss, with a few highlights but inconsistent quality. I’d hesitate to return unless significant improvements are made to cleanliness, staff coordination, and transparency about...

My description. A 5 star resort nestled on an unusable and not swimmable beach.

You might ask, why did I stay here. Easy, I booked weeks earlier at the Hilton and they messed up my room, long story short, lost my room and booked here last second.

I have been eyeballing this resort for a while but I stayed at the Royalton down the road and assumed the beach was poor at best. I was right. This is nature and has nothing to do with these folks. The sargussum in the area is constantly building and stagnant to the point that the water is more green than blue and it smells horrible. This resort compensates by providing the best pool experience anywhere around.

The resort is very clean, extremely safe, and generally fantastic. The food is awesome and I love the open market in our area. Picture a restaurant with a large open convenience store where you can just grab anything you want, free, to take to your room. Pretty cool.

The food: food was great and no issues at all. Free roomservice gives you awesome breakfast selections that you can eat up before that morning shower. Ala cart meals were easy to book and we never actually hit a buffet for dinner, which is a good thing. The buffet is great, we did visit, just didn't bother with meals at night. We were in the northernmost tower and had a nice tub on the balcony, f&F rooms. Ate most of my breakfasts out there.

Room: Room was spacious and ours had a small guest room in the front. Lackluster bed in there but a great "man" cave to order room service and catch up on some sports and whatnot while the family hits the tub on the balcony.

Pools: fantastic, just that. Only issue, day 2 I grabbed a bed and sat there with the family all day and ordered drinks and food. Next day, wife went out ahead of me and they charged her $60 to have one for the day. Not sure which is correct but we didn't return.

Beach: nope nope nope nope. Even cleaning the grass out of the way, you will dye your whites with algecide, you will smell, and i am not even sure how this isn't a health thing. There are plenty of beaches to visit without dealing with this.

Uber. Yea, I want to point this out. We ordered an Uber more than once and they have a contract with the taxi service and would not let them pick us up at the lobby. More than once, i bribed someone to drive a mile or so to the front entrance so we could take our ride. I don't mind taxis but the prices are insane and if you don't book ahead, you might wait for some time.

Time shares: yep, as with all mexico resorts they are gunning to get you to attend a session. This place probably has 100+ employees just for this and dozens of lounges and bars dedicated to sell you. YmMV, it was not pressured and I skipped all of this.

Drinks: plentiful but worth noting, if you want a bottle for the room, it is near impossible but even in the stores on site there is only beer and tequila for personal room use. **hint, tip room service big and ask, they will bring you anything you want. Aka Vodka. You can also bring a large cup to a bar and ask for a full vodka with a "squirt" of soda. 40oz tumblers work great. This is against the rules but not everyone wants tequila for their room beverages.

Overall this place is a great discount to be honest. They know their beach issues and that is where the price comes into play. We took a few trips to beaches outside the resort for the afternoon and cam back to our lux pool. Our room would easily be around 5-6 hundres usd a night if they had the right beach. They don't, so take advantage of a stellar 5 star resort for 3 star prices. Nature may change and you might not be able to afford this type of luxury for long.

Return?? This is a tricky question. I loved this property, it's people, the awesome service, but being a beach bum, it might leave one dissapointed of you don't know. I do, you do now, and yep, for a good price again, I would return and just pretend that I am on a jungle resort with beaches just a ride away. Not a bad deal depending what your goal is.

Hope this helps, check...

My wife and I visited Ava from February 26th through March 2nd, 2025. We did not select Ava; it was the site of a national meeting for my work. However, I am really glad this resort was selected – it was fantastic! It also didn’t hurt that my birthday was while we were at the resort. This was only the second all-inclusive we visited (the other was Secrets Maroma Beach, which we also loved), although we have been on a number of cruises.

We had reserved a cabana for the first day since that day was my birthday. We had requested to be in the adult section of the pools as it was just my wife and me, no kids. We were at the far end of the pools (be prepared to walk at Ava – the place is huge!) but our cabana was amazing. Two lounge chairs, a sofa, a TV and table and a full bathroom. We were treated amazingly by the staff (Jose and Jose, who were our cabana stewards were great). Of course, my wife again mentioned my birthday so not only did our steward bring us a slice of cheesecake, but the pool managers found out about it and came over with another dessert (this is now three different “Happy Birthdays” in about 12 hours!). The pool is not heated but we found that once we were in the temperature was very comfortable. While in our cabana, Sergio, who is one of the pool managers, initiated an enjoyable conversation with us. He was fantastic! He has traveled the world with different cruise lines and has lived all over. When I mentioned that my wife would be at the pool by herself for the next two days as I had to go to meetings for the conference, he told us he would be there the next day at the same pool and my wife should look for him. When she found him the next day, he made sure he found her the perfect spot for her, brought over a specific steward and introduced them and took the time to check on her multiple times. At the end of that day my wife mentioned to him that she was going to try a different pool the following day. Sergio, again, told her where he was going to be the next day and insisted that she come find him. When she did, he again helped her find a quiet area where she was comfortable, made introductions and made sure she was well cared for. You could really tell that he was personally invested in making sure that our stay was pleasant, that we had anything we needed and that he took tremendous pride in his staff. What an amazing manager! He helped make us “raving fans” of Ava and he should be commended.

The same goes for Andrea in the concierge department. She was the one who helped us get set in our cabana and she reached out numerous times during our stay (they use ‘WhatsApp’ to communicate, download it before you go) to make sure we had everything we needed. She, too, was fantastic.

A lot of people have written about a lot of airplanes overhead. Yes, there were frequent planes when we were in the pool. However, they were there and gone quickly, we didn’t feel they were very loud, and we liked watching them. When we were in the cabana resting, we barely noticed them, so we did not find them disturbing. When we were in the pool chatting, we were aware of them but liked watching them fly overhead. Again, the pool temperature was a bit cool at first, but we never felt cold once we were in. We enjoyed the jacuzzi pool in the adult south section (buttons on the pool deck to turn jets on for both your back and feet) although this pool is not heated, either. There is still construction going on, but it looks like many attractions are open or near open. There was no nightly entertainment save a singer/band in one of the bars, but we understand that it is opening soon. Since we had some entertainment with our conference this was not an issue for us.

All in all, we loved Ava! It was so close to the airport that transportation was quick (definitely arrange transportation ahead of time and ignore everyone trying to sell you a taxi or van when leaving the airport). The staff was great, and the food was really, really good. We would like to...