Scandinave Spa Whistler — Attraction in Whistler Resort Municipality

Vancouver is full of beautiful spas, and BC is filled with natural hotsprings, warm springs and and natural bodies of water to cold plunge and soak in. So I was so excited to visit for my birthday with my husband for our first adventure postpartum after having our first child in November.

I recieved a gift certificate from a family member, and I was highly anticipating enjoying my experience at Scandinave Spa because I have a deep love of water and nature. Two things this site has. So we made the 2 hour trip from Vancouver to Whistler to enjoy our 200$ gift certificate after booking serveal months in advance. When I booked by phone there was definately a miss communication as I booked for two people for $170 but I once we arrived we found out that this was only for ONE of us. I understand that it's still "peak season" in March, but I was astounded by the dismissiveness of the host checking us in when I mentioned this. When I called no one even told us about hotel packages or anything even after I mentioned I was looking. I struggled to justify how a spa that charged us $310 only to use the pools (RMT appointments there are wildly overpriced), could have so few amenities, such little space for guests and really nothing to make the price tag worth it.

There were no actual modesty change rooms for privacy so I changed uncomfortably in the bathroom. Luckily we didn't have to pay for our towels or our robe or our lockers. There were dixie cups for tea and free apples at the end but that's about it.

So when you finally enter the pool area it's quiet and serene, and I loved that there is so much to gain from sitting with yourself and your thoughts and leaving behind the noise of every day life. But then you see the security at the resort walking around intimidatingly enforcing silence which was a wild distraction from relaxation. I understand the idea is that they wear black you can see them if you need assistance, but why not have them in less of a uniform, and like something more zen to add to the experience. Some were wallking about in combat like boots with ear pieces and felt more like bouncers or enforcers than guest services. It felt rather dystopian, and slightly unnerving as they shushed and scolded people around us bearly making noise, trying to communicate where to go next. Also the irony of the very noisy steamroom, rumbling spitting out steam was at most quite humourous. I would say this isn't a place to visit in a group, maybe as a couple but most likely this feels like an individual adventure so you don't upset them. The pools look older and outdated in design for the price.

I'm rather sad about the whole experience. I was really looking forward to it, because it seemed like something I would really love but the whole experience felt really forced and disengenous, and coupled with the price it felt super elite in a way that was really touristy and capitalistic. I looked online at some reviews and even 4 years ago prices for the spa were almost half the price they are now. I feel like this adds to the reason Whistler is increasing inaccessible to locals.

The Scandinave Spa feels like they are in the business of using nature that's for everyone and selling back to you at exorbitant prices that make it only accessible for a select few. You'd do better at another spa, a walk in the forest or even just a pal with a hot tub and a cold shower.

Edit in response to Businesses reply: I in fact practice meditation quite often. I wasn't the one being loud. Other guests were and they were being shushed and truly them being shushed was more distracting from our journey there. We enjoyed the silence. I find it odd that your response is to come back, in the off season. Why are your prices highest when the spas are over crowded? Al

You didn't address the actual customer service issues. The misinformation on the phone, the horrible service we recieved from the begining. Your response feels rather patronizing.

I Suggest you do better. Treat your guests better. Thanks for...

Location 10/10 Scandinave was lovely and relaxing - the location is unmatched and the pools will be lovely no matter the weather. There is indoor and outdoor relaxing areas.

Staff 10/10 No complaints, everyone was helpful and professional.

Other patrons 9/10 Everyone followed the rules for the most part, very quiet, except for one gentleman who I suspect was hard of hearing. His wife kept having to remind him to quiet down. I would suggest putting a small bookshelf next the robe hooks at both pools, because we brought books in and had them knocked into the dirt by other patrons by accident more than once and I saw it happen to other patrons too.

Facilities 5/10 Caveat: my response is coming after visiting places like Spa World, Beppu, Kinosaki and Onoaida onsen In Japan, which all have multiple pools, lounging areas, delicious cafes and options for relaxing, massage and exfoliation services (scandinave only has massage) and similar silent / calming ambience.

This place doesn't hold a candle to those in terms of value, variety or ease of use. It's very luxurious, but limited in terms of options.

There is thoughtful design put into the facility, the landscaping is lovely, and everything is visually pleasing, and if you don't have sensory issues, it can likely work well, but there's only two hot pools. They were marked as being the same temperature, but were vastly different, with the lower one being much cooler than the upper (feeling closer to 31-32 degrees). Upper one felt like it was 39, which is hot enough to actually work on your muscles properly, but the upper one has this waterfall feature directly in the middle of the pool which was super loud and gave me a headache from the noise (I have auditory sensory issues, my husband wasn't bothered by it, so YMMV.).

Since it was in the middle of the pool, you couldn't really move far away from it to escape the noise, and the lower pool wasn't hot enough to work for my muscles, even though it was quiet. Jets weren't very strong either in either hot tub. The seating in the hot tubs is quite deep, so it'll go up over your shoulders, but if you're under 5'2" or short torso'd, you'll be up to or over your chin. I had trouble sitting on the benches without floating away and I noticed several of the shorter women using the hot tubs having to stand up or go up on their knees. Cold pools are not my thing but my husband liked them. I was expecting more hot tubs or variation in the hot tubs and more options for self care. So I basically got to spend $250+ to really only sit in one tub that gave me a headache from the noise. But I'm short with sensory problems so.... I acknowledge this is probably a...

Rip-off for pregnant women! AVOID IF YOU’RE PREGNANT!

My wife was really excited about going to the spa as they are one of the few places that offer massages for pregnant women (another way society makes life miserable for mothers, but I digress). She books online, ticking the box asking if she was pregnant. We get there, sign in and pay and head down for the duo massage.

Here's where it goes to hell. When filling out the massage form, she notes that she's pregnant (again) and the massage therapist sees this and then umms and ahhhs and sends her up to the reception to talk to them about it. Meanwhile Marie says to me, well just at least do your massage and worst case I'll do the thermal voyage and see you there. So, I do my massage (big mistake) and then head off to the spa part. I spend a while looking for Marie and eventually find her in tears.

She'd sat upstairs waiting for me for an hour as the staff had also explained that not only would she not get her massage, but she can't actually use the spa... At least none of the "hot" experiences... So she didn’t go in because if she did they would charge her for it. Meanwhile, no one had told me about any of this so I was enjoying the hot water and only by dumb luck did my massage therapist see Marie waiting and tell her that I had gone in to the spa. So Marie comes in to tell me.

Marie (who’s a black woman) explained that the only discount we would get would be a refund for her thermal journey part of the experience and a piece of cake. So over 500 Canabucks for a 45 minute massage and 20 minutes in the spa the time it took Marie to come find me...

Obviously I wasn’t having that and went and complained, so Melissa the manager refunded us the thermal journey part for both of us but not the massage for Marie (notice the change when the poster child for the Aryan race asks for a refund). So still the best part of 200 dollars for a 45 minute massage and absolutely awful time for my wife. On top of the cost of the baby sitter looking after our seven month old and all the lost time we could have spent doing literally anything else!

Really a full refund would have been the bare-arsed-minimum that they could have offered, and yes, that would mean them losing money on the massage, but that’s business! You don’t make your clients pay for your mistakes! If you can’t provide a service to a pregnant customer, then call them immediately and tell them, or better yet, don't take the reservation!

In short, what should have been a nice end to our Whistler ski trip was ruined by incompetence and poor...