Gary G.
Yelp
Hotel spas can be hit or miss. This particular spa is a combination of both hit and miss.
Misses (in no particular order):
1. Spa lobby is crammed full of clothing (and awful, overpriced clothing at that). Take a few racks out.
2. For a spa at a hotel where you can technically spend several hours enjoying treatments, hot bath, steam room, pool... they offer no food. Reason? We were told bird problem. Given the other restaurants outside within a stones throw - this makes no sense. But when lounging outside during a spa day, some food options should be made available and would improve my impression of a spa at the world famous Hotel Del. Also, we didn't see any birds. Offer a light menu, you are a part of a hotel.
3. As is the case with the entire Hotel Del, carpeting is disgusting. Please clean the stain on the carpet directly outside the quiet lounge area for men.
4. Music. The music piped in around the spa tends to sound like suspenseful elevator music. In the treatment room, my therapist changed the channel to a very typical pan flute style. Since the music was looped - it is kind of annoying. Update music for the 21st century spa experience and have ipod docks for therapists to select music for their individual clients.
Hits (no particular order):
1. Nice enough staff.
2. Locals pricing on services.
3. Comfortable massage tables.
4. Validated parking for 8 hours.
Neither Hit nor Miss:
1. Massage itself. I get a massage every other week. While I generally go to the same therapist, I have seen therapists across Southern California, Nevada, Mexico and even St. Lucia. This doesn't make me an expert, per se, but it does allow me to offer this insight - as noted by other reviews, the therapists are only okay. My deep tissue was fair, not awful nor great. If you calculate price into the quality of the service, the service was a step below fair. Frankly, at their prices, I expect more. The ambiance surely doesn't justify the double the average cost for a massage.
2. Facilities. The pool is small. The seating around the pool is cramped. The showers, steam room, etc, are displaying a bit of wear. Nothing was neither a deal maker or breaker, though.
3. An unusually disproportionate share of unattractive, overweight people getting services. Obviously, this is no fault of the spa - but DAMN.
My wife and I walked away from our experience at this spa rather unimpressed. We weren't outrageously disappointed - but we would not recommend the del nor would we consider returning and that is unfortunate given the location of the spa.
cheers.