We went on vacation with my sister and her husband. We were treated like royalty from the moment we arrived at the airport. We prearranged transfers to and from the condo prior to leaving our home near Seattle. When we got their we were taken to our condo and by the time we were finished checking in we were already enjoying our vacation with a drink from the lobby bar. (we opted for the all-inclusive on this trip). Our room was a beautiful two-bedroom unit with a huge lanai. The lanai overlooked the infinity pool onto the beautiful carribean. The room was very spacious with 3 bathrooms and a kitchenette with a refridgerator, microwave, hotplate and coffeemaker. My sister and her husband were very impressed. The hotel is not a big fancy one with a lot of steel, concrete and glass, but is very quaint with a feel of Mexico that we were expecting when we booked.
The food was excellent! I could see how some people could get tired of the same old thing at an all-inclusive, but that is only if you are not willing to step out of your comfort zone and try a few things that are not familiar. We ate there three times a day for a week and the only reason we ate one menu item more than once was because it was something that we wanted. There is really quite a selection.
If you do choose the all-inclusive, you can also go two condos north to the avalon Bacarra and enjoy one of their fine restaurants.
The staff was fully attentive and the service was impeccable. We felt like we were the only ones there and all of the staff was there just for the sole purpose of making us happy.
The stay at Avalon Grand was really a blessing to my wife and I It made it so easy to reaquaint ourselves with family and have a quality family experience.
Jim and Ruth, Puyallup, WA

We reviewed this hotel and had a lot of mixed reviews prior to going. I must say my wife and I were pleasantly please with the staff and accommodations. Everyone was always attentive and helpful. We originally got a two bed room and asked for a king and they were very gracious and changed us right away. The staff seems to want to please you and will go out of there way to be helpful.
Our only draw back was a lack of beach, but this in not only this hotel but most of the hotels on this part of the strip. It seems that the last few hurricanes have washed away a good portion of the beach, but we still had access and were able to go swimming in the ocean. There pool is very nice and you sit right by the ocean and can have drinks and take in the views like your sitting on the beach.
I would not opt to get the all inclusive since there are so many great restaurants in Cancun that are so good and cheap. We did have breakfast included and I must say it is a very nice spread and if you can have this included in your package for free I would do it.
Its location on the strip is very good just in the middle of the strip allowing easy access to either end with a small bus fare.
Once again for the price it is above norms and a very nice place to stay.
We would stay here again and would recommend it to our friends.

This hotel could be so much more. It is marketed as a '4.5 Star All-Inclusive' but is really a 2.5 Star semi-inclusive. They would be much better off taking away the all inclusive option (note: if you book here you can choose the non-all inclusive option do so!). This could be a lovely boutique hotel offering large clean rooms to couples. They have one decent buffet restaurant and another Mexican themed buffet which is open a couple of days a week. It gets pretty tired after a couple of days and one really wants to escape and enjoy other dining options in the area. The sunsets (due to a tower next door) on the pool area at 3:30 in the afternoon. The bar closes at 11:00 pm. They do have a basic room service 24 hours but no booze. No entertainment and here's the big downer - it sits right on the beautiful Cancun Beach but they have access! It's boarded off because the beach washed way (in 2005) so you can't get to the beach! If Cancun wasn't such a tourist trap I would love to go back to this hotel with my wife and have a nice romantic holiday. However, I would certainly not take the all-inclusive. The cheap watered down drinks and limited food is not worth it. That said the staff try really hard, they just have to deal with a poorly manged hotel and the rooms, hotel itself are very clean. Unfortunately, I have to say, save your money and go to Florida - Cancun is an over priced tourist trap and this hotel was a big disappointment!

We visited Cancun the last week in January. This is an excellent time to go if you want to relax, but still want to go out in the evening to a few of the bars without them being wall to wall and filled with drunk college students.
I was very nervous about going to the Avalon Grand because of some of the reviews I read. I was put at easy as soon as we got there. The check in was very quick. Our bags were taken up to the room for us and we had a quck meeting with the concierge who helped us out tremedously. She gave gave us some maps and reviewed them with us. It gave us many ideas of stuff to do and what not to do. It was definatly worth the 10 minutes it took. Ask as many questions as you want.
The room had one king size bed and was large and clean. The view was beautiful despite the fact we were on the lagoon side. The view was of the lagoon and the shopping mall that was across the street. There is a save in the room which is locked with a key you carry around so that nothing gets stolen. Just like in the USA, don't leave money or jewerley around in your room. Of course it will get stollen. We had no issues with our belongings being stolen.
We did have an issue with the air condition in our room. It was TOO COLD!!! I contaced the front desk and within 5 minutes someone was in our room to fix it. Well we though to fix it. The next morning it was below 60 in our room. So we called the from desk and he came up again to fix it. That afternoon it was over 80 in our room, and it wouldn't get colder. I went to the front desk and they immediatly without any questions said that I needed a new room, and that someone would be up to my room to take our bags to a SUIET with no extra charge. We had no issues at all after that.
The food was average. Nothing spetacular like lobster and scallops, but if that is what you wanted, then this was not the hotel for you. The food was good. You had 3 different hotels that you could go and eat at which was included in the all-inclusive price. Buffet style for breakfast and dinner. Order off the menu for lunch. You could always order room service or from the pool bar, kelly's bar, or the mexican restraunt in the hotel. Or you could go to the other hotels and have a different variety of food to choose from.
Everyone was very friendly and did what ever they could to help you. Seemed like they were there to serve you. The pool area was clean and wonderful. Beautiful view!! The beach was very small, but go down about 50 feet to the other hotel, and there was pleanty of room. Or you could go to any other public beach and swim. I was really looking forward to swimming in the ocean, but I enjoyed the pool much more. The ocean was very rough and you never knew how deep you were out in the water with all of the sand bars. The whole island is like this, not just this hotel.
We would definatly go back and stay at this hotel again! The excellent location was a big plus. All most right in the middle of everything on the strip. Take the bus anywhere, it is cheap. Less than 50 cents a person to take you just about anyplace. Just make sure you look at the signs on the bus to take you to the correct place. I would always pay in pesos, not american money. You get everything cheaper that way. Market 28 was not anything special. Not any cheaper!! If you want cheaper stuff go deep into town where there are not many tourists. Boy are there many good deals to be had!!
If you want to see a bullfight. They are every Wednesday. Buy your tickets at the arena. They are much cheaper, especially if you bargen with them. Otherwise they are 500 pesos a ticket which is much more then you can get them for at the door.