Spa Aquae — Attraction in Las Vegas

Flew in from San Diego to celebrate my birthday, was staying at the JW Marriott and thought it would be fun to also do spa day. I booked reservations for 7 of us a month in advance and visited at the end of May. I was told the hydra lounge/spa pool area was being remodeled but all other areas were not affected. The spa sales person completely fabricated the actual condition of the spa. I understood treatments were discounted 30%, but even at that it was absolutely not worth it. Here is what I was NOT told:

Women's locker rooms/showers not being available and we'd be using the men's locker room that is in need of repairs.

The lockers many unusable and broken (wouldn't lock/unlock, attendant knew of the issues and told us, "It is what it is", we had to ask for assistance in opening.

No A/C in the treatment rooms, it was hot and they used small fans to circulate warm air. Hot stone massage is nice but not when the temp outside was over 100 and no A/C available.

Plumbing issues, and awful stench that made all of us vacate the bathroom area immediately. We did not use any of the amenities because of the unsanitary smells/conditions. Showers flooded and water coming up the drain near the sink area with the terrible smell of sewage.

No space/room for us to hang out, I was told we'd have a dedicated area and champagne to celebrate this special event. There was an old brown couch crammed up against the wall, maybe could seat 3 people, random mismatched dining chairs placed in the locker room area, and makeshift partitions for privacy (look like metal screens they found laying around outside), it looked like a garage sale in a crypt. The area was more like a dingy dark dungeon. The spa was not in any condition to be open.

Worst of all was the dreadful customer service from the spa attendant, (found out later that she was the spa manager) who thought by offering me warm champagne as I'm checking out could make it better (my guests left the facility already). I expected her to ask how everything went, but she didn't because she already knew. It was an uncomfortable conversation, no interest from her or apology. I was in disbelieve of what just happened and asked that she just charge the cost to my room in hopes of addressing the problems with management.

The next day I sent a follow up email to let the spa sales person know of the situation, only to receive a templated insincere email from the spa manager saying, "your feedback is being used as an important point of reflection and improvement for myself and our team..." and TO MAKE IT RIGHT she offered me spa passes for when the remodel was completed. I responded saying I don't live in Las Vegas and they would not be of any use to me. Instead I asked for a refund/partial credit, something in return because spending over $1000 for a horrible experience is not right. I have not heard anything back and it's been 3 weeks.

I imagine it will be nice once the remodel is completed, but if you decide to visit before then, don't believe what they try to sell you - "a peaceful spa like experience" because it's not. If they had been honest and stated the real condition of the spa I would have chosen a different spa to celebrate my birthday, there are so many other beautiful spas to choose from in Vegas. DON'T COME HERE UNTIL THE REMODEL/CONSTRUCTION IS...

Service started out great then slowly went downhill.

Two weeks before my stay, I booked an appointment for 1 quench manicure and pedicure and 1 paradise manicure and pedicure. Then 1 week before, I got an e-mail from the hotel saying if I used the concierge I would get 20% off so I got them to confirm my appointment for said services and get me the discount.

Come appointment time, we were immediately greeted by the counter attendant and shown a preview of our bill. It had 2 quench manicures and pedicures listed for us and no discount. That was a easy fix and no big deal since it was a just a preview so the attendant said he would have the proper pricing for us when we were through.

We had pedicures first. The temperature was great in the foot bath and massage chairs were awesome. My cosmetologist made good conversation and I had slightly ticklish massage and what I thought was a decent pedicure. Then we had manicures and service started feeling a little rushed. I still got the full service of wonderful smelling lotions and mini-massage but after painting I noticed a clear spot on my left ring fingernail. I pointed it out the lady and who immediately responded, "Did you bump it?" I just spent $100 on these nails, why would I bump it? I said no so then she said because of the color I chose (pale pink), it just took a little more paint for full coverage. She redid the nail and the one beside it which also had a clear spot I did not notice. Afterwards, she spritz the drying aid, told us we could stay and relax as long as we wanted then immediately left to get a different patron settled in for a haircut.

I prefer relaxing in front of a TV so we went to check out at the counter. There was a different attendant. She pulled out a receipt and I asked before looking if our discount was applied. She said yes, looked at it, then said we had the wrong discount. The first attendant had given us 30% which is the locals discount which I assume was because of the booking error but we are apparently, definitely not locals, so she changed our discount to the 20%. I didn't really consider that a problem until I went back to room and did the math which showed that I actually only got an 18% discount which is close enough, right? But then also got a $1.50 charge from some other room which I have no clue what it was for. That charge is so small so whatever but still, it's the principle of the matter.

Now, for reference, without corrective lenses, my toes are blurry. What I thought was a decent pedicure, was actually not. Upon closer inspection, I found paint on my skin. Looking at my fingers, the paint doesn't even reach the cuticle on all on my fingers. Yes, I can agree, the color I chose would make it hard to see clearly where my nail stopped but come on. To top it off, not two days later the paint is chipping, and not at the front edge. Nobody's perfect but if I can get a better paint job for $10 at Wal-Mart, why the hell should anyone go...

Overall disappointing. Checked in and was brought to the locker room where they asked me if it was my first time there, I replied with yes, but they just showed me my locker did not show me around at all, no tour of the facilities or explanation. I get in my robe for my service not knowing where to go next and no employees to be found. Eventually someone comes to get me and I receive my facial. When the service was done I was really looking forward to using all the facility had to offer and ordering food by the pool. I got out of the pool and there were no towels and again no employees to request one. I drip dried for 30 min and eventually someone came out but by then I was dry. Then I went to order food but didn’t have wifi, again tried to find an employee to ask about getting on wifi to order food and couldn’t fine one! Not one outside by the pool nor inside the facility. I gave up ordering food and went to take an everything shower but couldn’t find razors. When I eventually tracked someone down probably 20 min later she informs me they are out of razors. It took me 3 showers before I finally found one not slowly dripping water and had somewhat of water pressure. After my shower with my still hairy legs and can’t find a brush for my hair, take another 20 min to track someone down again and what do you know, out of hair brushes too! All the little things that you would expect from a luxury spa and a day of pampering weren’t there. Maybe it was an off day but a very disappointing birthday celebration to say the least. And as a local, I know of plenty of fabulous spas just down the road that have never been out of basics like towels, hair brushes, razors,...