Definitely NOT a Ritz-Carlton experience. Allow me to explain…read more
1. Made an appointment over a week in advance for a massage, and I don't know how many times they asked me to confirm, once I had already confirmed. Annoying and unnecessary; if I confirm, it's confirmed, stop calling and texting.
2. Was told to arrive 30 minutes early (which is the norm at any spa) so I called back right after making a 10 am appt (since they open at 10) to ask about arriving half an hour early. She confirmed that they open their doors at 9:30 am, so that was fine.
3. Arrived at 9:32 am, asked the concierge if she could direct me to the spa. She told me to do down the hallway to the elevators and take it down to the ballroom level. I did. I exited the elevator and looked for signs to the spa: there were none. I walked to the left and saw a door to the outside, leading to the pool, so I went the other direction, and started walking down the other hall, but saw nothing. Still no spa signs. I went back to the elevator and waited to see if anyone would come by, and finally a lady came out of a door (possibly an employee?) so I asked her if she knew where the spa was. She pointed to the first place I went and said "towards the outside." I said, "Oh, I already went there, thank you." She left and I proceeded toward the outside. NOTHING. I finally went OUTSIDE and lo and behold, there was an entrance to the gym and spa near the pool. Who knew? This was actually OUTSIDE, not toward the outside, ugh.
4. After wandering around for all this time, it was now 9:37 am, the lights were out and no one was at the desk and the glass doors to the spa were closed. I stood there waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I finally decided to call the front desk of the Ritz and ask if anyone was coming to the spa, when the lady who told me to go "towards the outside" arrived from inside the spa and opened the doors. Why she didn't tell me that no one was there, or she would be with me soon when she knew I was going to the spa, is beyond me. I told her that I was told the spa opened at 9:30 and she said that it does, but the opener didn't come in (no apology for the wait or confusion.)
5. She had me sit in a little room to fill out the ipad questions, and I was shocked to see a pile of boxes like it was a storage room (see pic.) Honestly, this did not feel like a 5 star experience, it was a disaster.
6. Same woman took me to the tiny locker room and quickly showed me how to use the locker and where the toilets and showers were and was gone. Luckily, I showered at home before arriving or I would not have had time to shower due to not being able to get into the spa on time. I was really surprised at the size of the facilities. I've never seen one so small in a (supposed) 5 star hotel.
7. Thankfully, my massage was good and Sarah was very pleasant.
8. I used the shower (the water was coming out of the wall more than the showerhead, which I had to report to the front desk when I checked out.) Looked for a sauna, but only saw a steam room (what 5 star spa doesn't have a dry sauna?)
9. The pool area was beautiful, but there were plastic cups, a menu and another item (which probably blew onto the ground) when I first arrived, but I figured staff would come by and pick them up. While I saw staff walking back and forth a lot, when I went to leave over an hour later, everything was still on the ground. I picked it all up. (Note: while we were on the lounge chairs, no one ever asked me, or a lady next to me, if we needed anything or to check on us.)
10. When I was ready to leave, I looked for a swimsuit spinner and plastic bags, but couldn't find any. Had to walk out of the locker room carrying a wet swimsuit! They said they didn't have a spinner, but gave me a plastic bag. It's like their first day running a spa, I did not have a relaxing experience, tbh.
11. NOTE: when I was in the locker room, two other ladies were discussing the sauna, so I said, "Oh you found it?" so one lady took me to the steam room and said, "Here it is." I explained that I was looking for a dry sauna, but took the opportunity to ask them if they found the spa easily (it was their first time, too.) They both exclaimed, "No!" and said how they wandered around for a long time trying to find it! When I checked out, I asked at the front desk about signs and the lady said, "Oh it's the digital display when you come out of the elevator, you just have to wait for it to show." Seriously? Someone is going to come out of an elevator and watch a series of advertisements, waiting for directions to the spa? (see pic) NO ONE IS GOING TO KNOW TO DO THIS, how difficult is it to get one SIGN?!
12. Overall, I would NOT recommend this spa. The people need to be better trained, the facilities are bare bones (only two showers and I believe one hair dryer, no sauna, no suit spinner, bags, etc.) The best thing about my experience is that I went to UOVO afterwards for lunch and it was insanely good.