Spa World Houston - Korean Spa & Sauna — Attraction in Katy

i love this place and used to come 1x/week on a weekday before i got busy with the school year. however, i went this past saturday with my best friend for my birthday and our experience was not pleasant. the food has always been mediocre, but because of all the other wonderful amenities, i used to ignore it and accept that no place is perfect. this past saturday, i ordered $16 spicy pork ramyun for my meal. i noticed they updated the menu and the picture on the menu looked delicious. to my surprise, the ramyun i was served was instant ramyun. it was obvious that they used instant ramyun and doctored it up with some tiny pork bits, an egg, and some veggies. for almost $20, i expected fresh noodles and an original broth. but instead, i was given soggy, instant noodles and a powder + water broth. if i wanted instant ramyun on my birthday, i would’ve stayed home. futhermore, i felt so bloated afterwards and couldn’t fully enjoy the rest of my stay because i was served cheap, salty, instant ramyun. because it was my birthday, my best friend and i booked a couples massage. it was very expensive, so we expected exceptional service. the massage was given in a tiny, dark room. the room completely lacked a sense of relaxing atmosphere as well as aromatherapy. i’ve had many massages in my life so details matter to me- especially if i’m paying a lot of money. the 2 ladies who gave the massages were inadequate. i am a masseuse and occupational therapy doctoral student so i was very disappointed when i asked for deep tissue and the technique was subpar. the technique was rushed and sloppy instead of slow, rhythmic movements of deep pressure. my friends massage was even worse. my friend also requested deep tissue but the lady must’ve thought my friend was asleep because all she did were light squeezes and some slapping?? she didn’t position my friend correctly so pressure was inappropriately applied to the wrong parts of her body and resulted in more pain than relaxation. my friend’s massage lady also lazily sat down on the massage table while she was massaging which caused my friend to have to move over and almost fall off the table. after the massage was done, they asked for a tip a stared as down as we decided how much money to give. we hastily tipped way more than we should’ve because we felt so pressured as they hovered over us. i also would like to know what measures Spa World is taking to sanitize the facilites. There was a big group of couples wandering around and the men consistently sneezed all over the different saunas without covering their faces. It’s been 2 days since, and I am having cold symptoms. Kids are also supposed to have their own area so the spa can remain adults only, but on several occasions, I witnessed kids walking around unsupervised. I would also appreciate more signage explicitly stating that people are expected to wash themselves at the shower stations and tie up their hair before using the public baths. I witnessed far too many people get in the public baths without washing themselves first, which is extremely unsanitary. There was also lots of hair in the baths. Like i said before, I used to love this place and will continue to go but ONLY in the morning on a weekday due to sanitary reasons. I will also not eat here again or reserve any...

The administrative staff at Spa World are unprofessional, and their pricing policy is highly unreasonable. We took three children to Kids World to play, and during check-in, they only asked for the children's ages without explaining the pricing policy. We assumed that as long as the kids didn't stay exceed two hours as it states on their website, it would be fine. Children under five were to be supervised by us, while the staff initially promised to watch over children aged five and above but were absent for long periods. After playing for 1 hour and 40 minutes, the children became tired and hungry, so we left Kids World. There were no staff inside at the time, and the doors were open for anyone to enter and play without payment. We went to the second floor, had lunch, and returned to check out on the first floor. We were told that each of the three children would be charged for over three hours because we didn't check out the kids earlier. One staff member claimed it was possible to check out at Kids World, while another said only the spa reception could check out kids. Despite the children not using the spa facilities or services, we were overcharged $27 USD (tax not included) after paying the regular child ticket prices. The receipt stated that for every hour over two hours, an additional $1.5 USD would be charged, but in practice, it was charged for every additional 10 minutes. Even the printed text on the receipt contained errors. We were perplexed and asked for an explanation at the front desk. The staff impatiently and illogically stated, "This is the policy; everybody knows it." We then requested to speak with the manager, who said she would call Denise, the Kids World staff member. However, after the call, the manager informed us that Denise was not at her station, had gone to the office, and wouldn't be available until 5:00 PM, despite it being only 2:30 PM. When questioned about the long break, the manager was vague, claiming Denise had matters to attend to in the office and would call back within an hour. At 5:05PM, when Denise failed to call us, we dialed Spa World again. Without introducing ourselves, we requested to be transferred to Denise. However, after a brief pause, the front desk informed us that Denise was in a meeting and about to leave for the day, promising that she would call us back later. I asked, "Do you have my number?" The reply was, "Yes." After waiting for a while, Denise finally called. She repeatedly asserted that the charges were in line with their policy and were non-refundable. We informed her of our intention to leave a negative review online to expose this unfair pricing practice, to which Denise simply replied, "Okay." We've been to many children's playgrounds, but none have been as poorly managed, unprofessional in communication, and overcharged as Spa World. Their ticket prices are already expensive, and the food inside is obviously marked up. To excessively charge even within Kids World is unacceptable. Dishonest...

UPDATE # 2 (Body Scrub): Finally worked up the courage and made time to do the scrub. If I was already in love with this place, this just gave me one more reason to be completely obsessed!!

My experience with Choi was exceeded every expectation I had, which is saying something, because I've only heard great things about the Korean scrubs at Spa World.

I'll admit there were a few things I was nervous about, none of which ended up being a problem. I thought the scrub part would be a little painful, but it was fine. I worried I'd be uncomfortable with getting that up close and personal in my birthday suit, but I had no issues there either. I went with the Scrub & Goddess, because I wasn't sure I'd even be comfortable with the scrub itself much less the massage part that the scrub plus has. There was still a light oil massage in between the scrub and the wrap and it was honestly the best massage ever. Very light, but so relaxing, better than any actual massage place I've been to. While the body wrap was fantastic, I will definitely be trying out the scrub plus next time. Also, just as an added bonus, the products they used (soap, shampoo, mango coco butter for the wrap) all smelled heavenly! I really debated doing it for a while, because I wasn't sure I wanted to spent the money on it. This ended up being my mother's gift, but I can now confidently say it is 100% worth every penny.

All in all, I give the whole experience a 20 out of 10. If I could, I would add 5 more stars to my Spa World review just for the scrub!

UPDATE: Several visits since my first one, and I would still give this place 5+ stars. It is seriously the best self-care experience and I've seen noticeable improvement in my physical and mental health when I can get even a couple of visits a month. Spa World is my happy place 🥰

Original:

I am not really much of a "spa" person, but I had my first experience at a Korean spa at Spa World recently, and all I have to say is WOW! Seriously can't believe we've had something like this so close to home for a couple of years and we just found out about it.

I went with my mom to take advantage of the promo they were having for teachers, and we were blown away by how beautiful the place was and how many different things there were to do.

The value for everything they offer was incredible. $40 for the weekday admission and we had access to the locker room, bathhouse which had 5 different pools of different temperatures, tons of sauna rooms and lounge/relaxation areas, a beautiful outdoor terrace area, and even some little "museum" type areas with Korean artifacts. You can very easily spend an entire day here and get more than your money's worth.

They also have some separate areas that can be used without the spa admission (for a separate fee) - like a kids playground, Korean restaurant, bar, golf and the one I was most excited about - a private karaoke room!

All in all, we had the best day and it was a great mother-daughter bonding experience. Highly...