AIBU to say this is not a spa and I want a partial refund?

My business means I know most hotels in our area well, and the majority that have a spa / gym allow local members. Some limit numbers to ensure a good experience for hotel guests… some don’t.

I used to belong to a gym/swimming pool and used it regularly. It was quite expensive,but it was worth it to be able to swim without the crowds at the Leisure Centre. The pool was small but adequate.Then the club started doing Day Spas,and every time I went,there were numerous women just standing around in the shallow end of the pool,just yakking,not swimming at all,so impossible for anyone to swim lengths etc. In the end,I resigned my membership and joined another club which did not have day spas and was bigger.So I would keep away from hotel spas or anywhere likely to be crowded.You get what you pay for.

Once i booked a “spa” day via group on - there was no pool or sauna, just a hot tub. When I asked the reception where was the spa she said they had water beds I could relax on for 15min. And some indoor sun beds. Ridiculous! Rebooked the treatments earlier and went home after that. People call themselves spas when they provide treatments and have a hot tub!

I'm a gym and spa member at a hotel.

I also get discounted hotel stays, it's a good deal.

I don’t know about ‘most’, but some certainly do.

Unless they lied in the advertising I don't think you have much chance of more money back. Give them an honest review on trip advisor. I agree it sounds dire.

Most hotels don't allow people to sign up to their gym, it's for guests

There was something other than the gym and pool, there was the tiny sauna you mentioned.

Have you priced up the treatments alone? It at be that they’ve thrown in the lunch and/or afternoon tea so not sure you can expect more unless they specifically advertised it.

It wasn’t what you hoped for, fine, don’t go back and choose somewhere else next time.Two meals, three treatments and pool access sounds good for £250. Personally I’d go back but on a non-school holiday time.

If there wasn’t a bed then it’s pretty wank regardless of how it was advertised! I don’t think £250 is cheap either! Are you all minted? I bet they were the 30 minute treatments that are usually about £30. Food can’t be more than £30 a meal surely? £100 to use a pool and a sauna - no thanks. Keep pushing for a refund OP.

That is disappointing and is a lot of money to waste. A lot of hotel spas are like this but you can also find similar at “proper spas”. If you look at a decent spa you would not get three treatments for £250 let alone the food and use of facilities. I have been to spas that are lovely one time and terrible another due to noisy guests. I would always look at the photographs first, for me a decent length pool, choice of steam rooms, saunas, jacuzzi and outside pool are my minimum.
Were your treatments at the end of the day? If they were not I wonder why you did not have a treatment and then see if the vibe changed. Often in hotels it can quickly empty. Or maybe you could have had a walk and come back for treatments and lunch. There would not have been a lot of time for lounging round the pool between treatments lunch and afternoon tea.

Review them factually
. They will lose out more than you have.
I got more for the £70 I paid many moons ago.

Lots of these pool side add ons at hotels call themselves spas.

it is misleading.

A proper spa day, think Eden or Ragdale Hall would cost you the price you paid without any treatments unfortunately.

I would price up th treatments you had from the hotel menu and any food you ate and ask them to refund the rest ie. The ‘spa’ element

Ask for a full refund, and expect a partial one.

I've been to somewhere like this. If it has a swimming pool, sauna, treatment rooms and lounge beds then it's a spa...maybe not a great one, but still a spa. There are nice spas and not so nice ones.
I stayed in a hotel a few months ago that advertised as a spa hotel....only had treatment rooms and they were fully booked during our stay!! Luckily we didn't go there for the spa, just the hotel.

£250 for 3 treatments and food sounds to good to be true!

It's really not, I think if you've paid £250 for a day at a spa, you expect it to be relaxing at the very least. Which this was not.

I live near a hotel with spa, they charge £190 for all day access, 3 treatments, robe hire, afternoon tea and a glass of prosecco. It is attached to a hotel, but only certain rooms have access, no children under 16. Locals can come in if they are members, but they limit the number of these.

There's a heated pool, large hot tub, plenty of loungers, a separate area with experience showers, sauna, steam room, salt room, heated stone loungers, ice bowl. There's also a restaurant/bar area, and an outdoor patio garden with tables and loungers. It's really lovely, and definitely a relaxing spa experience.

If I'd paid £250 to visit the equivalent of local leisure centre, I'd feel really ripped off. No matter how much food or treatments were included. If the hotel don't provide an atmosphere that allows you to come away feeling rested, then they shouldn't be advertising it as a quiet, tranquil place to relax and unwind. I think you've been mis sold.

Exactly this - most hotels with pools will have just one pool, rather than a “private” pool for the spa clients.

It depends on exactly what was advertised. If they say it’s adults only and promise all kinds of rooms and services that weren’t there then yes she was ripped off. But without seeing the actual advert then it’s hard to say.

If it’s part of a hotel, I would expect the pool to be open to hotel guests including children. Children are normally allowed in at set times.

Yeah that's disappointing but exactly what you would get at the hotel near me. I'm a member, use the gym, pool, hot tub and sauna regularly and have monthly treatments but I wouldn't class it as a spa for a spa day. Many do though, it's packed full of dressing gowns at weekend.

The OP's 'spa day' sounds very much like the ones offered at the gym I'm a member of (well-known chain of gyms and hotels).

I feel quite sorry for the spa guests there, as it is very much NOT what I would want from a spa experience. But on the other hand, I do think (as others have said) that the term 'spa' means very little in itself, and is perfectly compatible with there just being a pool and a basic sauna.

So I think the OP is right to feel really disappointed, but also that she has no right to a refund unless her provider promised specific facilities that weren't actually there.

I really wish my gym DIDN'T also provide spa days. It just means that the pool and sauna are overcrowded with people who don't really know their way around and aren't really happy. They do things like hopping briefly into the sauna without closing the door properly, realising they don't like it after two minutes, then hopping out again without closing the door properly. There have also been occasions of spa guests being drunk. All very different from what you would want/expect in what is essentially a basic, utilitarian sports facility.

Places like this are trying to be too many things at once, and as a result they please no one.

I think £250 was very expensive for a day at a hotel spa. Mostly if there is a pool, gym and spa facilities at a hotel, I would expect that the pool would be being used by any hotel guests, plus people who have a monthly pass for the facilities, plus people who have booked a one off day. I would expect specific times to be put aside for pool use with/without children, and would expect these to be published on the website. Generally I would expect facilities to be quieter on a weekday outside of school holidays.

I'm astonished at what calls itself a spa these days. A room with some three sun loungers, a potted plant and a couple of massage therapists behind a curtain was my latest experience. No swimming pool or hot tub even.

If the facilities were correctly described on the website you probably don't have any right to a refund, but you could go back and have your missing treatments if it's worth the journey.

What are you on about? 😂

£250 for three spa treatments, a full days' use of the pool, gym and sauna, plus lunch and afternoon tea sounds very reasonable to me.

If OP wanted a spa with a full range of facilities and no children, that's what she should have booked.