Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa — Attraction in Northern Victoria Region

Attended here today for a day spa package consisting of 90 mins mineral soaking in the Sanctuary followed by 60 min massage and a tasting plate at cafe.

This is my first day spa experience. When I walked in I was quite impressed. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Architecture was lovely with pools looking out onto a heavily verdant hill.

As other reviewers mention, the change room is unisex. However there are very many private and roomy cubicles.

What I liked I paid for access to the Sanctuary mainly because children under 16 are restricted and you have the use of 4 pools and 2 saunas of varying types. The Sanctuary is sold as bathing “experience” in a more relaxing and serene environment. It is not private. You get 90 minutes to “rejuvenate the mind and body” and robes and towels are complimentary. Having read other reviews, I think the place must have been spruced up a notch as everything appeared to be in good working order - no sign of difficult and painful floors, dirty change rooms or broken equipment and so on.

What I didn’t like I was initially pleased to have paid a little more to avoid kids under 16 doing what kids do at any swimming pool and have a decent amount of time to rejuvenate the mind and body.

However, it appears that the numbers of people in the Sanctuary at the same time may not be limited and, as other reviewers have mentioned, pools and saunas got rather full of people. Such close proximity gets a little uncomfortable and down grades that “relaxing, serene experience”.

With the removal of children, another cruel and unusual punishment arose Some people (a lot actually) didn’t seem to understand the etiquette of not talking loudly in this sort of environment. I just didn’t want to hear the psycho-analysis of the awful coworker or the long and tedious story about every single detail of the trip to Fiji. I just kept moving away, but by now other pools had no space and therefore there were more and more talkers feeling the need to pour out their life to their friend in the intimate surroundings of a sauna or the salt pool.

I don’t really know what the bathhouse can do about this as it is other people’s behaviour and therefore pretty much outside their control.

Perhaps the Bathhouse could employ a professional “shusher” - like a librarian back in the day who would sush people in the library who were talking when people were trying to study.

How about a “Spa Etiquette - Do’s and Don’ts” sheet and signs asking people to be quiet. There are already discrete signs near the pools reminding people to share things. What’s one more.

The UK rail service has introduced “silent” carriages on their rail services - no talking, no phone sounds - silence. If the sanctuary is to be marketed as special, introduce silence.

I also think that a maximum number of people at any one time should be imposed. Everyone has to book-in mainly on line so that should be easy. If there are already limits, they need to be reduced.

Having said all that, at the end of my 90 minutes I left not quite as rejuvenated and serene as promised but that was probably more about that lass’s trip to Fiji and the fact she flew with Jetstar than anything else. I dressed and went off to another area where I undressed again for my massage with a lovely professional masseuse Alex who gave me a great massage in a quiet and private environment. Thank you Alex.

I left to try and find the cafe which I was surprised to find was a short walk away. The regional tasting platter was ok, although I think there was nothing actually from the region unless it was the danish salami or the very small wedge of french brie. The coffee was undrinkable, being extremely bitter - it’s either a training issue or invest in...

So much unfulfilled potential! We booked for The Sanctuary bathing online and were unsure if towels were provided. I called to ask and my husband used their web chat feature. He found that towels, locker and bathrobe were included in entry. I was told by the person on the phone that it was $25 extra for these items! Who to believe?! Turns out the web chat was correct.

We arrived 20 mins before our booked time and discovered we could go straight in. We were asked if we had visited before (no) and directed to downstairs to find a lifesaver who would show us around. We found someone at the desk who gave us towels etc and explained how the lockers worked then sent us on our way.

While the building design looks lovely and new it is still rough around the edges. Some points for improvement.

Lockers aren’t numbered so good luck remembering which locker you used! The floor of the change rooms and whole bathhouse area, (and even some of the pool floor!) is a very aggressive antislip, sensory experience! Definitely in NO way relaxing! Bring shoes to walk everywhere in. Barefoot guests were grimacing while those with flip flops were oblivious to our pain! Loose cables dangled from the roof in The Sanctuary area, above the pools. Perhaps the renovation is still not quite complete? Lack of hooks or other hanging space for towels and bathrobes. Seems that more guests can enter than the number of hanging places. So no one can use the lounge chairs to relax as people use them to put the towels on so they don’t get wet on the floor. Lack of signage. It appeared most guests were first time there so no one really knew what was available or where anything was. No expectation that guests showered before bathing! And no showers near the baths anyway! Just 2 public showers in the change rooms that most people missed (us included) on the way to the pools. Also no signs on doors in change rooms to indicate if shower or changing cabin. Lack of explanation of how to use the pools, their temperatures, what a hamman is etc. Perhaps a simple map on the wall of all the options available and a recommended order of use eg Step 1: 15mins in Lounge Spa Step 2: 5 mins in Steam room etc. Draining in change room showers is a problem. The floor seems to sink in the wrong area and if the shower is used before you, you have to walk through a puddle of someone else’s water to get to the shower tap. No hairdryers but they do have a bathers dryer! Turns out they do have a hairdryer available but it’s hidden at the check in desk so you have to go out and ask for it. The lounge spa chairs are an interesting design. We were divided (my husband loved them and I was not a fan) and it seems that this was often the case with women who didn’t want to get all their hair wet. It wasn’t possible to lie in them comfortably if you had your head out of water. Some other guests felt the jets were oddly placed so even if they did lie down, they couldn’t relax. But again, my husband thought they were brilliant! Outdoor views of the creek and trees and the views from the skylights were lovely (apart from the litter next to the creek) but maybe give the skylights and windows a bit of a clean on a regular basis, especially above the salt pool.

Overall this has potential to be a really lovely and relaxing experience, if all these (hopefully) teething issues can be ironed out. But at a higher price point than other destination day spas, I would recommend saving your money and going to Alba or Peninsula Hot Springs and spending the money you save on a meal in their...

TOOK OVER A MONTH TO GET A REFUND AND ONLY AFTER GETTING CREDIT CARD COMPANY INVOLVED

Rang the day before our reservation to ask questions (as we had never been before) - The lady (sanglia I think) had no idea how to answer a simple enquiry about the difference between the services and whether we could upgrade or not.

At 7pm that night recieved an email saying unavoidable maintence for our area of booking (I get it - things happen) ... The email was offering a partial refund as areas would be closed off an unable to be accessed.

Rang 9am the next day as wasn't sure if our reservation was affected (we live about an hours drive away and need to get organise to attend and weren't keen to arrive and then be told our reservation was affected) Spoke to Bec and kept being diverted to "we will issue you a partial refund" if we arrived or rescheduled - Told Bec it wasn't the service I purchased and we would like a full refund to which she responded she didn't have the authority to do that and we could discuss it at the front desk at arrival (er ... we live an hours drive away) - Asked Bec to be given a phone number to call to organise the refund - She didn't have access to this and kept going back to partial refund and rescheduling - She then asked me what I would like to do ... sigh ... places hand in palm ... I ... would ... like ... a ... full ... refund ... I then said to Bec "who do I email about getting a full refund?" (why are we doing this circular BS?) She gave me advice on the email and told me all calls are recorded so that I could "request" a full refund.

We will see what happens from here ... If I get a full refund in a timely fashion without the drama then I will change this review to better reflect the outcome. Most likely 3 stars as we were coming for a small experience and planned on booking the couples package whilst there. If not the review will be updated with timeline of refund information and what's happening - we will see how long the drama goes on for.

27/08/2024 - sent email requesting full refund as what I purchased couldn't be supplied.

27/08/2024 - received a refund with a $40 fee on it - not intelligent business move. I am pursuing the $40 out of principle now.

28/08/2024 - was sent feedback survey - still no refund for $40 - many others had told me I dodged a bullet as they didn’t get refunds or had experiences with dirty venue, snobbish staff and unclean areas.

30/08/2024 - Got an email today saying the $40 was refunded with the attached picture - not sure If I am dumb but when you pay $150 for something and then you get $110 back (still not cleared but I understand this takes time) and then the picture THEY sent me still shows the $40 not being refunded. What is going on ... its not like its hard maths ...

Its now SEPT 17th and no refund - have taken it to the credit card company they have informed me that as I have an email stating the money would be refunded and hasn’t been that it will be investigated.

SEPT 20th - refund has cleared but only since taking it to the credit...