We stayed 4 nights at the Avalon Baccara in late April 2008. First off, I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the Bacarra, its colorful charm, and the feeling like we had the hotel to ourselves. Having stayed at some of the chains and larger resorts, we liked not having to get up at 6:30 to save a chair or the general cookie cutter experience.

Having read many of the reviews of this hotel, I feel obligated to give my opinions and suggestions regarding the main complaints:

1. Too many stairs. Yes, if you are going to or coming from your room, the lobby, the restaurants, the pool, the beach, or the lobby bar, you will encounter somewhere between 4 and 50 stairs (depending on what floor your room is on). I'm in my early 30s, and am not exactly in the greatest shape, but I had no problems with the stairs. I can see where it might have been a different story for my parents or someone with mobility issues, but it was not for me. As a side note, after we left the Bacarra, we stayed the Omni and there are three times as many steps to get to the beach at the Omni as there are at the Bacarra.

2. No beach. All of the beaches we saw in Cancun are still recovering from the hurricane. Everywhere you go you can see where the sand level used to be and where it is not - usually about 4-8 feet lower. For many hotels, this means a) no beach access because the sand level is too far below the stairs (as was the case at the Avalon Grand), b) exposed rocks which are not safe to walk or swim around, or c) a perfectly fine beach, just a few feet lower than where it used to be. On our stay (late April 2008) we were pleasantly surprised to see a perfect swatch of beach. The beach is not very wide (as the hotel is not very big) nor is it incredibly deep (maybe 20 yards from the water line to the base of the hotel), but it got the job done. That may change because of the tides, but be advised that many of the hotel zone properties now have beach issues.

3. No restaurants. We were not all inclusive, but our stay included free breakfast. The Baccara's breakfast is down close to the street in a little sidewalk cafe. Our waiter tried to tell us they only had eggs one day. After a few skeptical looks, he brought out the menus and we had a good meal. However, we ate the remainder of our breakfasts at the Grand's buffet. We ate lunch twice at the pool bars - once at the Bacarra and once at teh Grand. It was nothing special, but we didn't want to leave the pool to go find a restaurant. At night, some of the big tourist chains (Pat O'Brien's, Margaritaville, Bubba Gump's, and Outback) are literally across the street. The chains are nice, but we would have liked some other options within walking distance. A tip: you can purchase all inclusive by the day at the hotel - I believe they were charging $60 pp. They also have an option for all inclusive drinks (alcohol, beer, water, and soda) for $20 pp. This was a great option for us as we were able to drink whatever we wanted (and have some water for the room) without feeling obligated to eat every meal at the hotel.

4. Room quality. I booked a basic room on Expedia and was pleasantly surprised to find what was essentially a nice sized one bedroom apartment - kitchen, living room, bedroom and a nice sized bathroom. We had a huge patio overlooking the boulevard with a small jacuzzi (which we never attempted to use). Everyone would prefer an ocean view, but we liked being able to catch some late afternoon sun on our patio and watch the sunset. The room and furnishings were nice, but were a little dated. If you expect hotels to be furnished like a Marriott, then stay at the Marriot. If you like the charm of a B&B, then you'll probably be just fine. The AC in our room didn't seem to be connected to the thermostat, so it was almost chilly the first day. But after redirecting the vent slats, it was quite comfortable. I've never slept on a mattress in Mexico that is as soft as what I have at home. If this matters to you, I'd suggest staying in the US, or paying for a more expensive resort.

5. Small pool. Considering the hotel only has 27 rooms, I thought the pool was appropriately sized. It's not huge, but there plenty of spaces to float and relax and enjoy a drink. There were a number of chairs set out, as well as two large beds to sprawl out on. We would have liked to see more shade options - there was a lone umbrella our first day, but it never reappeared. The Grand has a nice pool with lots of chairs.

6. Staff. We found the staff to be friendly and outgoing. I had a couple instances where I had to wait a few minutes for a bartender in the lobby bar, but didn't mind too much. The staff didn't fall over themselves trying to serve us, but when we needed them, they were quick and willing to help.

Tip: Save a day and take the ferry to Isla Mujeres, a small island close to Cancun. It was fun to check out the island (rent a golf cart and cruise at your leisure). Avalon has a sister hotel at the northern tip of the island and you can eat and drink there and use their beach and pool.

My girlfriend and I spent 6days/five nights at this hotel. We both thought it was great. If your looking for a quaint place to stay then this is it. Very peaceful and quiet. This is our third trip to Cancun, first at the Baccara.We chose the Avalon Baccara after finding a deal on the net and also checking Trip Advisor. I noticed on advisor that you either loved this place or didn't care for it. We LOVED IT.

Everything is life is a trade off, hotels are no different. If your looking for the cookie cutter type hotel then this is not it. It is an older mansion and is definately neat. Alot of the time it was like our own private resort. Most everyday for at least the first couple of hours we were the only ones at the pool. We usually got to the pool after breakfast around 10 or so.

Let me tell you that we go to Cancun to just rest and relax. To lay at the pool and enjoy the view and beautiful colors of the ocean. If you are going to Cancun for large beaches then you will be disappointed. When we were there Imeil, a supervisor at the hotel, told us that the beach was larger than he had seen it in 5 months. The tide at times came up to the base of the hotel and the distance from the hotel to the water during the time we were there was maybe 25 feet. This is true all up and down the hotel zone. We did watch it grow over the few days we were there.

We found the staff to be very friendly and they took care of our every need. Raphael (the hardest working young man in Mexico)and Juan at the bars keep the margaritas coming as well as engaging in some good conversation. They answered all of our questions and helped us with our Spanish. We called Raphael that because on our arrival, he took our bags to our room, waited on us at the bar, waited on us at Avaini', and even cooked our meal. He was funny too. Imeil was in the bar/pool area alot and he waited on us and was very pleasant and we enjoyed our conversations with him. Juan Carlos brought us our coffee (room service) every morning with a smile even having to walk up four flights of stairs. He also waited on us in the restaurant for breakfast. We had a small maintenace concern (electrical breaker tripped, 2 times) and maintenace was there within 5 minutes. They quickly found the problem and repaired it. All in all the staff tand service is great.

I can tell you that you must like to walk stairs because everywhere you go you go up or down them. The restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch is in front of the hotel on the small side street that runs idirectly front of the hotel. You have to walk downstairs or the steep driveway. Back upstairs to the hotel. The down them to Avaini', the restaurant that serves dinner. It is off the bar area of the lobby. If you go like you are going to the pool area then this restaurant is only 4-5 steps down. Down to the pool is farther on down the stairs. We got our work out in everyday.

Our room was 405B, you guessed it, 4 flights up. The room was nice. We had a standard room. Again you have to remember that this is an older hotel, but all in all the room was very adequate. The bed was firm by my standards, but I can tell you we never had a problem going to sleep. In the main room the only thing lacking is a chair to sit in. The bathroom was large and all tile. We always had plenty of hot water. Off the bathroom was our own private jacuzzi. This was a plus we were not expecting. It over looked the lagoon side of Cancun and was very pretty at night. As I said before we had a standard room and upon arrival I inquired about a room with an ocean view and when told the cost I declined and decided just to keep our room. When we got to the room and opened the curtains, we had a beautiful view of down the beach and the ajoining hotels Another plus that we didn't expect.

In both restaurants the menus were limited but the food was very good. Again like a private resort at times when we ate we were the only ones there and we were well taken care of. You can also order at the pool and room-service, they were both good. Try both retaurants and if your looking for a buffet and other choices you can visit their sister hotel, The Avalon Grand. They have three good restaurants.

On the down side, like stated before a chair in the room would have been nice. The windows were a little hazy, due to the sea salt blowing in daily and needed a good cleaning but we could still see out well. A good rain would have helped but it didn't rain a drop while we were there and that was good. We experienced some noise from the a/c unit but it usually didn't last but a few minutes. On your first night they give you coffee for the in-room coffee maker and want you to pay for it after that. Just do as we did and order room service, we had an all-inclusive deal so it was included.

Get an all-inclusive deal if you can, this is the only way to travel, I feel like they lost money on us.

Overall we enjoyed our stay. I will certainly consider it when we go back in a year or so.

We thought we did our research, we read reviews, looked at pictures, compared location and price but....we picked the WRONG one! Some will say it's quaint, has charm, is romantic but we didn't experience any of that. Our room was in the back facing the driveway with a balcony that had a view of the same, it smelled of fresh varnish, the bed was rock hard, the air conditioner had two settings - on or off and only controlled by maintenance somewhere outside the room! We tried to change, we begged, but nothing was available, it was Spring Break and all the other hotels in our close vicinity were also booked. The pool area is colorful but tiny. Due to the recent storm there is no longer a beach to walk on. The staff was friendly enough, offered us tequila to help ease the pain, but of course nothing is free. The sister hotel a couple doors away was much nicer and the buffet breakfast there was included in our room. We were only there three nights or would have made more effort to move. It's part of the adventure and a good story now, but unless you are sure you'll get a room with a balcony - then don't stay here!

We booked two adjoining suites for us and our children. We ended up in one ROOM (instead of the suite we paid for) 2 stories higher than our children suite. We tried to change it and were told after many tries that Expedia was the one who promised us those rooms and they didn't have to honor it. The people at the check in counter were arrogant and they do not care if you have a problem.
The air conditioning vents were right under our windows, and the noise was unbearable: a little like a trash truck standing under your window.
Coffee and water are supposedly provided in the room: we had ONE coffee and one bottle of water per stay per room (the second day, the maid put back the empty package neatly, so we thought we had cofee).
Among other problems: the unbearable smell of sewage that came and went, the dirty towels folded back and put on the rack in lieu of clean ones, the water in the shower always cold in the morning and at night, it would be hit or miss. We put $2 in the bed everyday, it didn't make any difference.
There is NO beach at this hotel: do not be fooled by the pictures: at the bottom, you have a boarded opening to the sea, no sand.
The tiny swimming pool is in the shade in the afternoon, which is a good thing because there are only two umbrellas for 20 lounge chairs, and you cannot stay in the sun in the morning.
The hotel is old and smell damp. We luckily went to the other hotel next door for breakfast. We didn't spend that much time per say in the hotel, since we went all over around Cancun. It would have been terrible to stay there during the day.
Do not waste your vacation in going in this hotel.