Aventura Mexicana

My wife and I have stayed in hotels all of the world and this hotel was a nightmare. I read all the mostly great reviews about this hotel so I decided to book it instead of a resort. My wife and I arrived there around 2pm. Our room wasn't ready yet. The hotel had wifi so I took out my wife's new HP laptop to use in the lobby since I noticed everyone was using their laptops. When I say everyone I mean not just the guest but the lady at the front desk, the workers in the restaurant. It seemed like every worker had a mini netbook that they were using during work hours. We walked to the pool area trying to get the internet connected. It was clear that the lady at the front desk knew that we had a laptop cause she gave me the passcode and helped us get me connected and alot of the women workers were outside walking around and saw us holding the laptop. We checked into our room and then later went to dinner around 7pm. Upon leaving the room she noticed a person in the last room in the corner sitting outside with their hat low on their head . She thought it was a guest because many guests were sitting outside the room.The lights outside the rooms were dim. I locked the door and check 3 times to make sure it was locked. We came back at 8:30pm and the door was still locked. After entering the room I noticed the laptop missing with the charger. I told my wife, she thought I was joking.I checked around the room for 20 minutes. We immediately went downstairs and told the guy at the front desk to call the police. The police came and my wife spoke to them since she speaks spanish. We told them what happened and wanted them to check with the workers. They did nothing and told us that we needed to go to the station to fill out a report and talk about it. They did not care a bit and shook hands with all the workers and left. The guy at the front desk said we had to wait until the manager came the next morning to do anything. I asked him how many keys there were and who has them.He told me 3. I asked him for the other 2. He found 1 But the cleaning lady's key was missing the room key. That is the proof that someone saw us with the laptop, stole the key and gave it their friend to sneak into the room when we left to take the laptop. I asked if they had video of the outside of the room. He said yes and I asked if we could look at it to find out what happened. He said he had to wait until the manager came in the morning at 9am. We went down the next morning and were told the manager is busy and will be in around 10am or so.I guess this wasn't important enough for her to come in on time. When the manager came, she said that they would have to investigate this and talked with everyone cause this never happened before and the workers have been there many years even though we saw many ladies that don't look a day over 18 yrs and she wanted us to go to the police station and spend our vacation there. I knew we wouldn't get our laptop back so I was not gonna go spend my last 2 days talking to the police and I told her at least just refund us the cost of the room.They made it seem like we were lying and were trying to stay there for free.The laptop did cost 2x what we paid for our stay there. She said she will have an answer for us later. When we returned she said that its impossible that someone stole our laptop and that no one went into the room and that it could of been a guest or we could be making it up. That is the biggest BS I have ever heard and that they would only refund 1 night. I asked her to check the video and she said it doesn't work. I asked her why was the key missing and she said cause the original broke and they had to give me the maids key. They made up excuses for everything to protect themselves and made us look like we made this up to get a refund for the room.Later on that night my wife also noticed that her new Ralph Lauren Romance perfume had been stolen also. Do not take anything valuable with you and let anyone see it caus...

The staff was nice but the hotel was average. We had to look at several different rooms before we found one to be suitable (several smelled musty or the A/C didn't work). The bathrooms were outdated. The pool was good enough (not luxury but nice) and the restaurant was good and accomodating to special requests. The ocean view is really a view of a cruise liner.

We stayed here for three nights. The positive is the location is great - a few steps from 5th Ave with all the shops and restaurants, and a few minutes walk to the beach. But before you book, you need to be aware that paying more money doesn't necessarily give you better rooms. When I made the reservation, I chose to pay more for a Deluxe Garden View One Bedroom with Balcony - 1 king bed. After we checked in and got to our room, #2207 (on the "family" side) which is right by the stairway on the second floor, had neither garden view nor balcony. Its window faces the street looking at another building. We immediately returned to the front desk and asked for what happened to what we paid for - a deluxe room with garden view and balcony. The reply was that there was no other deluxe room available, and he asked when we booked the room. I booked the room over a month before our arrival through Orbiz! The only room that would be available was a superior room on the first floor also facing the street. At night, we could hear the noise from the street including people talking, laughing, and people from the next room talking and showering. Early in the morning, we were woken by children running and laughing in the hallway and stairs. In the morning we talked to a woman who is the corporate manager and she told the front desk to find a quieter room for us when we came back that afternoon. But when we came back that evening, the same front desk as the night before said there's no other room available except the other superior we looked at that was on the first floor also facing the street. The second night the noise was worse. We could hear a club or restaurant's music pounding base till late at night, and more people talking and laughing on the street. After two nights of very poor sleep, we were miserable. The next morning, we talked to another gentleman named Luis at the front desk. He looked on his chart, he had a superior room available on the "adult only" side. We went to look at it, and found it's on the third floor, with a sliding door facing the garden (thus garden view), and a window facing a quieter street. We decide to take it, even though it's a much smaller room and would have cost less. The third night, we slept much better. From other reviews, I was prepared for the open bathroom in these adult-side rooms, where the bathroom is not concealed at all and no door. Between no sleep and lack of privacy, we opted for the lack of privacy when using the bathroom. I asked for a refund from Orbi of the difference for the last night since we downgraded our room. Orbi was trying to contact the hotel but no one was responding. We shall see what happens.

One reason I chose the hotel is because it offered a continental breakfast; it was pretty bland - just toast and jam with coffee - but it did get us through mornings when we had to be up early for tours and did not have time to go find breakfast. The grounds of the hotel were beautiful and well maintained. The pools were lovely looking, but it was too cold to go swimming on the days we were there. The bathroom area (shower, toilet and sink) had no door and the side wall blocking it off from the bed did not go all the way to the ceiling. Also, the entrance to the hotel was a sliding glass door, from which you could see directly into the bathroom. I'm not sure if all of the rooms are like this or not. One great benefit is that the hotel had an in-room safe. We also got towel cards that could be exchanged for beach towels, which was nice. The staff of the hotel was quite friendly and avaliable most times we needed them. The location of the hotel to 5th St. (the main drag) and the beach was good, although from the online descriptions we read, we did think it would be closer to the beach. I would recommend the hotel based on location and cleanliness, but if privacy is an issue for you, don't go there.

This was my first time to Mexico and my fiance had been to 4 other cities in Mexico, but never to Playa. The concierage in the hotel was very friendly, but you are better off going out on your own to find excursions because everything is negotiable on the streets. The cleaning people do not speak a lick of english which is ok because they can walkie talkie someone who does. The location was close to 5th Avenue (the pedestrian walking street) and close enough to the beach, for us :-) Be prepared to do a lot of walking anyway because driving was much different from what I'm used to, which made it rather stressing, but managable. Most of the entertainment in the town is within walking distance and taxis are cheap. Great, great food just about at any restaurant on 5th and you can find great drink specials. We were really limited on cash so we took advantage of going to the gas stations and loading up a backpack full of $1.00 XX Equis and walking around the streets... Our key didnt work a couple of times, once housekeeping had to let us in and the other the maintenence guy was able to "break In" to the room rather easily through the sliding glass door when our key got stuck in the lock. The floors weren't mopped but everything else was fairly clean. The safe is awesome because you can set your own passwords, but would not be large enough to hold a laptop. We didn't come with super high expectations and we certainly aren't accustomed to luxuries. So we didn't let anything bring us down. It was a great trip and probably wouldnt stay anywhere else but Aventura Mexicana next time we come.

We arrived at the Bus Station the 1st week of June 2010. We walked 14 blocks and picked up our rental car that night. Taxis are available, but we wanted to walk and check out the stores and restaurants. The hotel staff was friendly. Unfortunately, we were given a lower floor room which was pretty noisy since it was close to the pool. We heard screaming kids in the pool late at night and constant traffic from other guests. The room was clean, liked the mini fridge and good AC. The hotel has limited parking, like 4 spots, and if u get there late, u have to park on the street. Breakfast was good, fresh breads, juice and coffee. We saw no security guard on grounds, but several security cameras. The main street-5th ave is 1 block away, plenty of restaurants to choose from. Beach access was 4 blocks away.Overall it was an ok experience for travellers on a budget.

Attractive and charming hotel just off the main tourist shopping and dining street. Quiet and comfortable with attentive and helpful staff. While it is a couple of blocks from the beach, its a pleasant walk. Many of the nearby restaurants are good. The only thing lacking was good coffee for breakfast.

MY HUSBAND AND I WHEN FOR A WEEKEND GETAWAY AND WILL GO BACK AGAIN SOON

Aventura Mexicana is central to the Playa del Carmen shopping district, but still retains a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Convenient for those who enjoy strolling along 5th Avenue to do a little shopping on a breezy evening or have a tasty meal. No need for a car, taxis are available at almost every corner and the local buses depot is within walking distance. There were some air conditioning issues with our room but immediately remedied when management was made aware of the problem. We would definitely book with Aventura Mexicana again.

We did not spend much time at the hotel, one reason is that it was very small and not many people using the pool and dining facility. A bigger pool area would have made staying at the hotel more enjoyable, and if the hotel would have been located closer to the center of Avenida 5 it would have been nicer. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. Everything there was to expensive!!!!