Sense Of Self (SOS) — Attraction in Melbourne

I am disappointed to leave this review and also to not be able to bring myself to come back to SOS again. Where it was once a place I was excited to visit, to recommend, to buy vouchers for friends, the way the team have handled a simple booking glitch for my friend and myself is very upsetting. I had my last visit today and as always Lev was incredible, so thank you. I have never faulted any of the massage therapists or front facing staff upstairs in the massage section but I am so bitterly disappointed in the treatment my best friend received when making our original booking for earlier this week by Caitlin. What was meant to be a day of self love and relaxation to help with a very hard day, turned into having to console her after being spoken over and made out to be some awful abusive person when just trying to confirm our booking and understand what happened. A booking which was made mid January, with two $200 vouchers and additional payment. Now I am in customer service, so is she, we also know that technology can not always work in our favour - however, when the error occurred she followed up twice immediately and was verbally told by Caitlin that if the hold deposit comes out then we don’t need to click the pay now button again and the booking will be made. Which it did. If you are going to verbally tell someone something like that, it should also be your responsibility to follow up and ensure that those bookings are there and to follow up with the clients who are paying $450 for services. I would never just be so “whatever” about this, especially when the client is coming to you for help with the error and you’re aware of it. It comes across with a “you snooze you lose” mentality and the fact that my friend was then BANNED from SOS for this is so disgusting - especially when she asked to talk to management and was refused by Caitlin. I would have simply apologised for the mess up, try to find a time to rebook and move on; but instead Caitlin has decided to make my friend out to be this abusive customer, which is so far from the truth I can’t even wrap my head around this reaction. I can see that there are some other reviews based around Caitlin’s behaviour so this is clearly not a once off thing. If you don’t like your job, change. A knee jerk reaction to a simple misunderstanding, miscommunication or IT error should not be met with the hostility and banning of a loyal client. I’m not one to leave bad reviews, so this is somewhat uncomfortable but I simply cannot look past this. Zero tolerance policy shouldn’t be used and abused because someone has been caught out...

If I could give 100 stars I would. I was nervous about another non inclusive pretentious bathhouse which I have experienced in the past as a bigger person.

The inclusivity and body positivity mentioned on the website made me give it a try. I saw only a few minutes in that people of all sexualities and bodies are indeed welcome here.

Wow! Where do I start. I am still floating on a Magnesium Cloud.

From the moment you walk in you are greeted with the most divine surroundings and smell.

The Bathouse is stunning and everything is clearly designed to evoke maximum relaxation.

The Magnesium pool was beautiful and relaxing and warm. The taps running in parts of the pool I found added to the relaxation.

Sauna was hot and spotless. Ice plunge was well freezing and I look forward to going longer each time.

The showers in between each station are regularly mopped by staff keeping it fresh.

The unexpected lounge in between with snacks provided for a break in between sessions was such a fantastic addition. Especially if you need a little temp cool down or up in between the hot and cold or something to keep the blood sugars good for the Sauna/ice.

The snacks were light and nourishing and exactly what you need to recharge in between the Sauna, Pool, Hammam and cold plunge.

Change rooms and lockers are clean. They have thought of everything, spare hair ties and little additions should you need them. Everything is available.

Staff delivered ginger sparkling water to us pool side. All these small things made such a difference to the experience.

I have already booked for next week. I'd love to see a quiet session available on weekends 🙏

I've been trying to also book a massage but can see that must be busy! If the massage is like the Bathouse, I am not surprised! Hopefully some availability comes up soon 🤞🤞🤞

Honestly cannot recommend this place enough.

I live over an hour each way and it is beyond worth it.

I will definitely be a regular.

Thanks to the owner and team for a beautiful zen recharge space, it was well needed and well worth it....

Thanks for our experience at Sense of Self! We attended during the day on Thursday (myself and a friend). Wanted to leave a few suggestions as I appreciate the concept of this bathing house and the fact that its in the city too!

Whilst we left feeling moderately relaxed, I feel there are possibly things that could be done better to improve the overall experience (for the price that you pay).

Pros - Staff were friendly and calm which was nice, the place smelt good, the atheistic were lovely!

Suggestions (minor and some petty, but I think it adds to the overall experience) - There were a few broken items around the place, some of the shampoo containers/hand wash were broken and so you had to pour it out, the shower tap in the Hamman fell off when someone went to use it and then you couldn't get any cold water or change the temp. It's hard to work with a small space and I appreciate the effort you guys have made to make this work. Sometimes its hard to feel relaxed when you can hear the staff door banging every time they walk through (in the lounge bit), the clearing of metal cups, the locker pins making a sound every time they are unlocked and people in the locker area talking loudly/showering. I almost feel like the whole change area needs to be kept quite separate (even though I understand this probably cant be done). We got the mud kit add on also. I wonder if there is a better way to do this as we didn't find it value for money. Not sure if mud could be left in its own section and you almost scoop it out of a basin or something. We didn't feel there was anything on us and the amounts were quite small. With the shades up, I felt it quite strange to have graffiti in the background of a zen place. Maybe the blinds should be kept down in that space, just so you don't look out into graffiti and people walking by.

Didn't want to come across rude and please take this as suggestions only. I have bought three vouchers for friends and family and thought they might make similar remarks also (but are still yet to...