Felle F.
Yelp
I wouldn't visit this spa again. My overall experience was not good. I expected more from the fairmont.
There are so many great spas in Arizona.
I was super disappointed bc I did all this research and chose this spa based off the brand name, reviews and offered amenities.
First off, I love treating myself to a spa day whenever I am on vacation. Unfortunately, I am very observant of everything during appointments.
Lets start with the positives. Guys at valet were very nice and helpful. Guys at pool were super attentive and provided great service. My massage was great. So 5 stars for the valet, pool attendants and my masseuse. Oh yeah, the food at the pool was delish! But the drinks were lacking. I tried 3 cocktails and they all tasted like sparkling water.
Now on to the negatives.
Negative 1: From checkin, they charge you before your service. This is strange to me but I guess that is their process.
Negative 2: We had a spa tour and towards the end, the employee said to just pick any empty locker. All the spas I have been to, I was always assigned a locker and provided with slippers. So I spent a good 10 minutes trying to find an empty locker. Literally they were all taken until I got to the last row. This was very frustrating and not how I wanted to start my experience. Then there weren't any slippers so I found another locker with slippers inside. Weird again bc slippers are not a one size fits all.
Negative 3:
They are way over booked. W the overbooking, the spa attendants are understaffed. I think there were only 2 ladies managing the upkeep of the spa. i dont know how they do it. It was overcrowded and I kept bumping into people. There was a line for the bathroom, no where to sit in the waiting/relaxation room (I stood waiting for my service), inhalation room holds 4 max, got the last seats at the pool. What a mess.
Negative 3: (no fault of the spa, just my experience) so their Spa guests did not have any spa etiquette! Incident 1: As I start to change, a herd of women start bustling in, trying to get to their lockers. Clearly they have no common sense. There was absolutely no room but they pushed right through instead of waiting. The space for the locker areas are small so you have to hop over the bench to get by since it is not enough room for 2 people. Incident 2: There were a group of ladies gossiping about their divorced "friend" in the "relaxation" room. They continued the gossip into the pool area. Another group was screaming about "meet me at the pool!". There were people chatting in the inhalation room and sauna. One lady was having a phone conversation and another was literally working on her laptop in the inhalation room. I mean why even come to the spa?
Incident 3: a couple was making out like crazy in the grotto so no one felt comfortable going in. I mean good for them but come on this is a SHARED grotto. Gross.
Negative 4: I checked my cc a few days later and they added everyone's service to my card. Like we clearly said these were separate charges and provided them w each of our cc and id.
Negative 5: just some things I observed that can use some improvement. There was only 1 water station and that was in the relaxation room. So whenever you needed water, you had to walk all the way over there. There should be water available throughout the spa. The fact that water was not available near the hot tubs, sauna and steam room is crazy. First off, there is the AZ heat, dehydration from massage, dehydration from sauna/hot tub/steam room.
The bathroom area had no ventilation. Someone took a stinky ol dump and the entire area smelled soooo bad. I really hoped she showered after. If not, hopefully she avoided the pool and hot tub....
Also, This spa offer no extra toiletries . Just a hair brush and blow dryer/flat iron. High end Spas like the fairmont should be offering more: hair band, shaver, tooth brush, qtip, mouth wash, etc.
the steam room smelled like mildew and had brown moldy floors. The eucalyptus in the inhalation room needs to be in the steam room. It smelled so sour in there.
The espresso, snacks and lemonade were upstairs by the gym which no one visits. They should really put a spread down stairs.
I know this is a lot, but this was my experience. A spa day should be relaxing. The only relaxing thing about my entire experience was the massage itself. I really hope they make improvements bc the property itself is beautiful.