Buckstaff Bathhouse — Attraction in Hot Springs

If there's any wait time to get in, it is NOT worth your while. They are incredibly poor at managing a large number of people. We paid because we were told it would be 1 hour wait for men, and 1 hour 40 minutes for women. My actual wait time was about 3 hours just to get into the first bath. My male partner was completely done and leaving the building before I even got called back. The customer service then goes downhill after the waiting room. After the 3 hour wait, they put me in a tub of hot water for 30 minutes. No one checked on me or asked if the temperature was okay or did anything with the loofah I paid $4 for. I had to get up and find someone to come tell them I was done because it gets nauseating sitting in extremely hot water for that long. Then they laid me on a massage table and put a hot towel underneath my back and left again. The table angle was uncomfortable and I needed another towel, but there were no staff available to ask for assistance. After this, they put you in a "sitz tub" which is this tiny tub that you sit in and your legs hang out, that's supposed to be good for back pain. Except it's highly uncomfortable if you're tall and actually exacerbated my lumbar pain. My male partner said their sitz tub had a jet on their lower back, but mine did not, it was just sitting awkwardly in this tub that was too small for me. I don't know if that's an intentional difference between the men and women's spas or if they just knowingly gave me a broken one. I skipped the steam chests because I was already anxious from this bad experience, the chests you sit in are tiny and gave me a horrible claustrophobic feeling. My male partner said he sweated so much in it that he no longer felt clean, and that should have been before the bath. The other complaint my partner had is that the men are provided a tiny hand towel to cover with when moving between stations, but it wasn't big enough to wrap up in; meanwhile, the women were provided giant flat sheets to cover up. MAYBE the experience would have been worth it if there had been no wait time and I had gotten the massage. But in my opinion, skip here and book a real massage parlor. I do feel for the staff, I know I was there on the busiest day they have ever had and most were doing the best they could to keep up - some of the staff members said they hadn't been able to sit down all day - but a huge shame on the management for running this so poorly. It could have been handled better by having appointments or restricting the number of customers coming inside to give better service instead of just taking the money from anyone they could and providing a subpar fraction of the experience. I would have rather been turned away than paid to waste half my day...

I was waiting to go to buckstaff bathhouse from May 2022. My husband went there in May 2022. My parents went there in Oct 2022. My in-laws went there in Apr 2024. All of them had a great experience except me. I took the deluxe bathing package. Once I went upstairs, I was invited pleasantly by Kathy. I liked the way she eased me. Then I waited for 5 mins after keeping my stuffs in the locker. I was taken inside by Mattie and she asked me if it was my first time and showed me the restroom if I had to relieve myself. Then she took me to the whirlpool mineral bath where she wiped my back and foot with the scrub they gave me downstairs whereas everybody got scrubbed. I spent only 13-15 mins instead of 20 mins there. Then was the hot packs. It’s mentioned that I can be there until 15 mins but I spent around 8-10 mins there. Also in my opinion they have to replace the towels evety 5 mins. The towels became cold in 6 mins. Then is the vapor cabinet. I sat there literally for 3 mins and the steam was not hot enough to sweat me. I didn’t sweat a drop. I think the vapor cabinet was broke. Then it’s the sitz tub. I was allowed to sit there for only 5 mins which is supposed to be 10 mins. In every stage I felt I was treated differently with respect to the other customers. Everybody enjoyed all these 4 amenities for 20, 15, 5 and 10 mins respectively. They have to use a stop timer clock instead of looking at the wall clock. Then comes the massage. I was taken to the cooling room by Danielle. She stared the massage without asking the pressure level but I told her she can put more pressure but she didn’t seem to give a thought about it and continued the same way. Luckily she massaged for exactly 20 mins. I felt completely rejuvinated but I didn’t feel the WOW factor which my husband, my parents and my in-laws felt. The hand wax was great. Overall not great. I came to know about the timings in each item and the heat inside the vapor cabinet only after I came home. I went there early ever before they opened so that I can have fresh minds to work on me. I went there with back pain and my back didn’t feel better and is still there. I gave 2 tstars only for Kathy and the hand wax specialist. I didn’t feel $100 worth service. I would like the owner to train their employees to treat everyone equally and let the use the facility for the allowed time limit. Please check on the corner vapor cabinet. I visit hotsprings at least twice a year. We live in Texas. Anyways thank you for the service. Myself and my friend went in together but I came out 20 mins earlier than him. I should have gone to the receptionist and complained but I didn’t have time. I left my 2 year old at the hotel so I hurried back...

My husband along with both our mothers made a visit to the this bathhouse this past weekend. No line no wait was sweet but the service, equipment, and amenities not so much impressive! The whole experience for me was horrible. We traveled with our parents and were truly excited to share this experience with them as this was something they had never experienced before. My mom says her water was not hot instead it was just warm and I had the same experience. My expectations were set higher because of my previous experience at this boathouse which was impressively well! I was embarrassed by the let down that my travel partners had to experience especially when they traveled to this place on the account of my word. I was put in a non working sitz tub. The attendant says the sitz tub hasn’t been working for a while and that the feds will have to come and fix it since its apart of the National Park. The attendant manually poured hot water in my sitz tub and the water was not hot as I would have liked it. The water at the temperature which she poured in my tub felt like 70 degrees and quickly cooled to very cool! I requested of the attendant several times to move me to another sitz stall that was working she told me she couldn’t because she didn’t want to fall behind schedule. I paid a little over $350 for all 4 of our services and traveled over 200 miles JUST to visit here, so I did expect to receive exceptional service and accommodations as I in turn thought exceptionally high about this place. Yet I received neither exceptional service or accommodations on this visit! I voiced my complaint to 3 other employees including my masseuse. I think the masseuse got a little ticked at my outspokenness and really tried to hurt me rather than provide relaxation and therapy! I was on the table thinking wow I don’t think a massage should feel this painful. Then I thought about it, saying to myself.. well I did just express my disgruntle to her and maybe my complaint was aimed towards her friend🤷🏽‍♀️. I filled out a complaint form before I left and have yet to hear from this company in regards to my issues at all. The front desk clerk lacked any empathy, I think her job that day was to hold the keys and collect payment l. Sooo take your chances when you visit this place. I doubt very seriously I will gamble the chances and visit this bath...