Bathhouse (Hot Springs) @ The Springs Resort & Spa — Attraction in Pagosa Springs

I am a physician/first responder that has traveled regularly to Pagosa Springs since 2004 to relax and unwind from my demanding life. Over the years I have owned a vacation home, or stayed at the The Springs Resort & Spa, Wyndham timeshare, or at an Airbnb/VRBO rental. I returned to Pagosa last weekend for a quick 3 day/2 night respite after 2 years of a hectic, non-stop, demanding pace at work. I was disappointed to find the Springs Resort had eliminated their week pass, as your only other option is to buy a ONE-TIME entry into the springs for the day. The $55 entry fee per per person must be paid again if you leave to frequent a merchant or restaurant across the street. The $5 off I received for my ticket as a first responder was an appreciated nod, but didn’t negate the fact that we couldn’t leave and come back once we entered.

I brought my party of 5 to the springs resort twice during our 3 day stay, and the second time decided to rent one of their new cabanas for shade so I could work on my laptop while the kids enjoyed the pools. The cabana rentals begin at 9:30 am, and are either a full day at $225 for 11.5 hrs, or $150 for a half day (ending at 3pm). I purchased a half day since we didn’t arrive until 12:00pm due to an hour long conference call I had with a patient at 10am, and needed to leave by 5pm for our long drive home. I asked Christina (the manager on duty) if we could have the cabana until 5pm if she didn’t have anyone else moving in to it. This would be a 2 hour rental extension since we lost 2.5 hours at the beginning. She said she would call her manager, Amanda, for permission. She stepped into a private office - I assume to make a call - and upon her return told me Amanda said they couldn’t do it. I said “ok”, and told her I may pay the additional $75 for the full day (even though we didn't need it until 9pm) if my party wasn’t ready to leave at 3pm and the the cabana was still available. For the next 3 hours my party of 5 enjoyed the pools and ordered $300 of food and drink while I sat in the cabana and worked on my laptop. At 3pm I went to use the restroom and was stopped on my way out by Christina and another employee. I was told they had another party coming in and they needed to clean the cabana. There are 5 cabanas and we were the ONLY rental all day up to that point. I asked if they could put their incoming party into a different cabana so we could extend our current rental for the 2 additional hours we had remaining before our departure home; and that I would pay the additional $75 for the full day rental. Of course that was okay, given they had 4/5 cabanas vacant. As the kids continued to order food/drinks I shared my disdain for management’s decision with my server - who was great and very apologetic. At one point a bath house employee came and opened up the cabana next to us but no one ever checked in. Our server must have said something to Jesse (the marketing manager), because he stopped by around 4pm to close up the vacant cabana next door, and asked if there was anything he could do for us. I asked for nothing but shared my disappointment in the way we were treated, given we had spent about $1000 there in 2 days between entry fees, towel/locker rentals, food and merchandise. He apologized and said had he been asked he would have gladly extended us the 2 hours, given they had 4/5 cabanas available, yet he didn’t offer to refund the $75. I didn’t ask for it because quite frankly, it wasn’t about the money. Principle is the only reason I’m writing this review. I will say the servers who assisted us in the 2 days we were there (Cyndy, Daryn & Mariah) made up for my disappointment with their friendliness and attentiveness...

We went there for 2 days. 1st day was just the hot springs experience and it was on Saturday so there were decent amount of people in each pool. We looked around and wanted to see all before we decide which one to go in so we kept walking and went up the stairs. There is a gate that says adult only and some people were just coming out who held the gate so we walked in.

We went in 3 different pools and there was a guy coming in and out asking pretty much everyone for drink order or asking if they need anything but he never once asked us anything. (this area wasn't as busy as the rest of the resort).

Then after being in that gated area for about an hour or so, the security guys basically told us we need to leave the area bc the area was only for the hotel guests. There was no sign anywhere says it’s only for a hotel guests. How do we even know when it just says it’s 18+ adult only? Also these security guys told us to leave like we were the problems in that area aka policing us when they could simply asked us if we were staying there or just tell us nicely instead of embarrassing/yelling at us in front of everyone.

Anyway so we left the area and gone into the other pools and mentioned about our experience as we were leaving and the front desk guy apologized but this was the first time anyone mentioning to us that the area is for the hotel guest AND the upgraded admission. You would need a keycard to get thru the gate for that area but people are going in and out all the time so it’s not that hard for someone to just hold the game and walk right in. And again there is no sign says it’s for the hotel guests and ‘VIP’s. How the heck do we know when it’s our first time???

Anyway the front desk guy promised us to upgrade for the next day since we had a spa appointments and was going to come back and he did.

The price for the general admission is so high compared to some other hot spring places yet the pools are pretty filthy unless you pay extra to get access to ‘adult only area’ those pools...

I naively thought this “soak in a hot springs” experience would be peaceful and relaxing, a once in a lifetime kind of experience. To the extreme contrary, I overheard the front desk folks telling another customer that they expected over 1,000 people to come the day I visited, 12/27. The check in area was crowded, the locker room was so full it was hard to walk through and find a place to change into or out of your swimsuit, and then…the springs. What a sadness. Every spring with any sort of “hot” temperature rating had at least 10 people in it. What was worse is that everyone could bring their belongings to the spring side, so there was just an enormous amount of human stuff lying around the sidewalks, against the springs. It’s honestly hard to tell you’re getting in a hot spring because the natural rock formations are mostly covered up, and the construction around them just makes all the hot springs look like really dirty hot tubs. Should these springs be not crystal clear water? Well sure. Should they have human hair and skin cells and finger nails floating around in every visible square foot? Hm…no, probably not.

On top of the human cells floating around, people were drinking (and splashing) cocktails into the springs, eating (and dropping) french fries and ketchup and burgers into the springs. Like…wtf. It’s really sad that these springs were used at this high of capacity, without any “rules,” probably for a long time, which (selfishly) makes them unenjoyable to visit and harms these natural wonders.

I would recommend you visiting this location a 0/10. It’s gross and sad. Major tourist trap that’s not enjoyable any which way you spin it. Certainly not worth anyone’s time or money “just to try it once” as it costs per person $50 for a day pass and $15 robe rental and $10...