DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU'RE COLOURED! MOST RACIST SPA IN ONTARIO.
I've visited spas worldwide and all over Canada, but the experience at the Scandinave Spa was memorably the worst.
I have NEVER done anything different than i did today at all the spas I've been to, and has NEVER been subjected to this racist and horrible experience.
Here's my story:
We're a group of "coloured" execs "not children", that made a reservation to the Scandinave Spa to see what the hype was. Biggest mistake ever!
Note: this was NOT our first group spa experience, but its definitely our LAST at Scandinave Spa.
Our day started with massages, so far the experience was good.
Then, we went to our locker room to check messages and change into our swimsuits to head to the water therapy area.
Note: you're not allowed to use phones in the locker room unless you're using it for SMS reasons. That's understandably fine and makes sense.
However, a female employee that works upstairs in the check-in, made her way downstairs to our locker area with a vengence towards us. She DIDNT see us taking pictures, but YELLED at us to put our phones away because phones are NOT allowed anywhere in the spa facility. There's a way to speak to people, and she clearly needs to learn that talent, because the manner in which she handled us was rude, unprofessional and classless. We didn't say anything to her, and placed our phones in our lockers, but within a matter of about 2 minutes, this unprofessional employee made her way back to our area, yelling at us that she came back to ensure our phones were locked away. NOTE: we were the only people in the locker room that was subjected to this, but we did see others on their phones.
We made our way upstairs to get some food. First, the selection is very minimal, the only warm options are soup and coffee. The sandwiches are cold, tasteless, bland, and when we asked if there was a way we can get our sandwiches heated, we were told that they have no way of heating up the sandwiches. For a place that's supposed to be a luxury spa, the food selection is awful.
Yet, while upstairs eating, we couldn't help but notice how many "caucasian" people had their phones in their hands. Note: the unprofessional woman that yelled at us to put our phones away because no phones are allowed to be used in the facility, was less than 10 feet away of all these people that were using theirs phones. We felt bad upon seeing this, but still stayed quiet and didnt say anything to anyone.
Note: there are countless posts/pictures on Instagram that are tagged to the Scandanive Spa in Blue Mountain. These pictures are of "non-coloured" people in the pools and all over the "no phones allowed" facility. Some are as recent as 2 days prior to our visit.
It gets worse....we headed to the water therapy area, and we are aware that we're supposed to use "spa voices", but there are NO signs that say it's a NO TALKING facility. As we already knew, our "coloured" group was being watched. The staff there didn't want us there and did everything to coerce us into leaving.
Every area we went to, we were NOT the only ones talking using "spa voices", but we were the ONLY ones that were "coloured" and kept being cautioned. We were followed around the entire facility and it just got worse and worse. We confirmed we were being targeted when we went into soundproof rooms where it was ONLY us inside and the staff still came in to "caution" us.
NO guest complained against us, the staff didnt want "coloured" ppl there and made every effort to get us to leave, even telling us on several occasions that we are free to leave.
Then, we heard them ourselves on their walkie talkies telling each other where we were situated and taking turns as to who will come over to "caution" us.
It's quite HYPOCRITICAL that a place that's trying to enforce NO TALKING to this group of "coloured" girls; the staff are seen talking, and are loud on their walkie talkies.
I would NOT recommend any person of colour visit this facility, there are countless spas out there that have the same experience that you can go to and will NOT have to be worried about being subjected to such racist acts. read more