Japanese Mountain Retreat Mineral Springs & Spa — Hotel in Melbourne

My husband booked this for my birthday as we cannot travel to Japan at present. He had pre informed at the point of booking it was a special occasion my birthday. We arrived a little early and decided we would still proceed to reception and check-in. After checking in we were taken to the Moroccan/Massage bath area and told we could wait in the waiting area. As I love attention to detail I noticed there were blown out light globes in the light fixtures. I know this would not bother most people but I find it a sad reflection of presentation. Next we were handed the consent forms to fill out and left there for 15 minutes before anybody returned. Finally we were presented a tray with a Turkish tea pot , glasses and told it was peppermint tea. Lovely I thought nice and refreshing. Not so Luke warm with barely any flavour of peppermint tea perhaps they reuse their tea leaves. There was Turkish delight that was quite edible. Next we were taken to the massage room for our massage. Which was quite good as far as a massage goes. Again no lovely aroma of Essential oils you would normally find in a massage room. After our massage we were given robe’s so we did not have to re-dressed before our bath. Well you need to take your own robe if you are a size 14 up. Surely I’m not the first person to attend your facilities that was a size 14? No robe for me I had to get re-dressed.

We return to the waiting area and presented with tempered tapwater in plastic glasses. Really I did think it was a children's party.

Now we are taken to the Roman bathes Not quite sure when we would know when our time was up so I set the alarm on my phone. This was completely underwhelming. Points of dissatisfaction Your given one towel to shower bath and re shower with. The brass fittings on all the hardware need a really good clean. The complimentary toiletries provided in the shower all smelt like commercial public bathroom products. The Roman bath/ room had a really funky smell in general. Not Plesant and relaxing. We left before our time was up.

Now out and onto the dining experience in the restaurant. Butchers paper on the tables ?? Chipped water glass on the table. No ambience whatsoever. The food was good and presentation was what I would expect. Don’t go hungry the food serve’s are very small even though it is six courses. My husband was told they would arrange a little birthday cake. It never arrived. If you factor in the dinner was $300 per person you can really do so much better than coming here. Absolutely poor attention to detail and undervaluing your clientele. There was a birthday card on the table when we were seated. The wait staff were friendly and attentive. Even though they have to run back and forth across the parking area and up the slop to the kitchen. Well overall if you have absolutely no expectations and are happy to pay a premium price for very little. Then you will enjoy it here.

The most disappointing part for me was it was recommended.

It also nothing like a Japanese spa retreat. I have stayed in a few and the Japanese absolutely pride themselves on attention to detail.

While I understand the shortage of staff due to Covid over the past two years. Perhaps you should not book yourself out if you don’t have the staff to accommodate the paying guests.

Your only getting one star because the food was good and so was the massage. Otherwise I would not rate this place at all. Probably the most disappointing...

One star is being generous! Read the low star reviews as they reflect all the things I reported to Deborah from Japanese (very misleading name - but she will have an excuse for that) Mountain Retreat. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. FOR THE PRICE YOU WOULD THINK THEIR WOULD BE SOME STAFF AROUND - THINK AGAIN! And read on. Booked a couples massage for special celebratory birthdays for my daughter and I. It was an extremely ordinary and disappointing experience. I sent an email after we came home, as I did not want to dwell on the experience by completing the review left in our booth. Not sure why they want reviews because it appears paying customers have told them of their disappointment and nothing has changed. Arrived early as requested. Waited in booth with some tea to have (this was fine) Guided to massage room. Massage therapists needed to continually walk away from the massage to retrieve more oil or hot towels which were over the other side of the room. No continuity in contact. Also there was a very loud noise we could hear while massage was on - this disturbed the tranquility of the massage. My daughter said her therapist was quite rough in placing modesty towels and particularly the face cloth. We had booked 50 minutes massage with sweets and tea. After massage we were directed to a booth, and that was the last we saw any staff. Not sure how educated the owner is but as the price was per person and it said sweets (plural) we expected a couple of things to have with the tea. We received one square of Turkish delight each! Given it has Japanese in name I was thinking we'd get something Japanese. For the price I'd think we would be getting a small high tea type of arrangement. There is no privacy as others waiting at tables outside our booth. Deborah's response Website states spa is drawing inspirations from Arabia (to which a copy of this included in response email) Therapist cannot massage without oil and towels to remove oil - no response to the fact that inconsistency in touch is not really a good technique use in massage. We offer mint tea and sweets that are authentic to Marrakech (so why have the name Japanese??) We do not advertise a "High Tea" (No comment from Deborah on only one sweet - singularly) Booths could be closed by undoing the gold loops (surely a staff member could have enquired as to our comfort but they take your money and save on money by not having any staff). It should be called a "do it yourself retreat". ABSOLUTELY no response to the loud noise that disturbed our massage experience. Indicated feedback from guys is 99.9% positive. Not sure how Deborah come to that conclusion. Read the low reviews they are very accurate. Very defensive - as you will read in the responses to negative reviews. I sent another email to ask why the noise issue wasn't addressed, however have not received a response. Asked for my emails to be set on to management as I didn't know what position Deborah held. No response, so assuming she is owner or manager.

So many other less expensive and excellent retreats and massage places - my advice -...

We really wanted to love this place. Purchased the 'Date Night | Outdoor Bathing' package for $1088, which includes:

Couples massage 50 mins Private Outdoor Bathe 50 mins Poolside covered daybed Pre dinner cocktails Six course (Omakase) Japanese fine dining experience

First of all, the massage itself was fantastic. Both my wife and I agreed that both our masseuses did an excellent job and we could not fault them one bit. The decor in the Spa house where the massage rooms are located is also beautiful and unique, setting the tone for a memorable experience. After our massages concluded, we were ushered into the front waiting area/lounge for someone else to come and usher us over to the Private Bath area. Unfortunately the wait time was at least 20-25 minutes, which wouldn't have been an issue if that time didn't impact the 50 minute allocated time for the Private Bath House.... which it did! The receptionist who was working on the day (she was great by the way) was also the same person ushering us to and from the different areas of the facility. She did mention that she was the only staff member working at that particular time and is why we had to wait so long after our massages for her to come and get us. Again, we wouldn't have had an issue with the long wait time if it didn't impact the time we got to spend in the private bath area. To our disappointment we only ended up spending 25-30 minutes before she had come back to collect us and walk us over to the restaurant for our six-course dinner. I do need to mention though that the private bathing area is just perfect and there is no faulting the actual facility itself; the daybed, the large space, the tranquility of the spa.. amazing! Dinner - OK so once more, the operational timing of this place needs mass improvement! Not only was out private bath experience significantly cut short, but when we got to dinner we were left waiting at least 45 mins before our first course was served. Why were we ushered from the private bath area 20 mins earlier only to go to dinner and have our first course not served until 45 mins? The cocktail of the night was fantastic, I could've had them all night. However, the food was somewhat disappointing. Could be the fact that we were left waiting so long in-between servings, or the food itself lacking the flavours needed to be considered 'fine dining'.

Overall - Staff are great! Massages are top shelf. Facility is unique and exclusive. Scheduling needs massive improvement. Keeping tabs on the time so the guests aren't left in a)limbo and/or b)short of their booking time would go a long way. Food is average at best. $1088 is a little excessive for what you get, especially given the timing issues. More than likely won't come back again and won't be buying these as gift vouchers for...