The Reeds at Shelter Haven — Hotel in Stone Harbor

When my Mom heard rumors that Steven Spielberg was shooting a new UFO movie in her hometown of Woodbine, she wanted to jump in the car and drive down there to see if she could catch a glimpse of the filming, the stars, or even the director himself! As luck would have it, the filming was scheduled to take place during my birthday week! Spending my birthday aimlessly driving around the pine barrens stalking celebrities was NOT my idea of a good time, but then again, without my mother, I would not have been born, and thus, there would not have been a birthday to celebrate, so in the spirit of cooperation and compromise, I agreed to go on this fool's errand IF and only IF we could stay at a luxurious hotel with a spa where I would book a facial that would make me look and feel younger, in order to soften the sledgehammer blow of being yet another year older. The Reeds at Shelter Haven fit the bill, and I booked a 2-night stay. | You've heard it said that no good deed goes unpunished? On my birthday, that's exactly what happened. First, we learned that the spa was closed on Tuesdays & Wednesdays (spa schedule was not listed anywhere when we booked). My birthday fell on a Tuesday so we had to leave our spacious well-appointed room and sumptuous hotel beds (which were just as relaxing and comfortable as all the reviews say they are) and drive down to the spa in Cape May to get my facial, where Mom had a medical emergency and adamantly refused treatment at the local hospital due to negative childhood memories, despite the well-reasoned logical pleas of three EMTs, a concerned spa attendant, and me. I was on pins and needles for the remainder of the evening and the next day, wondering what on earth would happen next. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. But then I remembered that I wasn't alone. I thought of how kind the bartender had been to me, who made sure I got my order in before the kitchen closed and the night watch lady who offered my coffee the first night we arrived. And the gracious valet who went the extra mil. And the helpful informative front desk people. And the concierge, who, when I let it slip that it was my birthday, left a special treat (Douglass truffles) in our room. And the dining room staff who had dealt with all my Mom's questions and special requests like it was no trouble at all. Before we checked out, I went downstairs and enlisted EVERYONE's help, informing them that Mom was NOT ok, despite any of her protests to the contrary, and that I needed take-out from the restaurant, assistance loading the car, and the keys placed in my hand, because over my dead body was she driving home. This was NOT easy for me. I hate attention, hate making scenes, hate drama and here I am playing Best Supporting Actress in my Mom's drama. (Where was Steven Spielberg then??) But I felt like everyone empathized with me, everyone understood, everyone GOT IT!!!! The concierge apologized even though she did nothing wrong (she did everything 100% perfectly, and I don't even believe in perfection). The front desk lady made sure I had extra coffee while I waited for Mom to come down to the lobby. The dining room staff accommodated our every request to the best of their ability (they had run out of smoked salmon). The valet hugged me before I finally got into the driver's seat after wrangling the keys away from Mom. While it was far from the peaceful relaxing seaside birthday I had been craving, this had nothing all to do with the quality of the accommodations and the caring attentiveness of the staff! When your vacation is idyllic and uneventful, you don't have much to write about in a review, but it's when things go totally haywire and spiralling out of control and you really need to rely on people that you find out what they're made of. When I got home and people asked me if I had seen some stars, my answer was YES!!! Because the REAL stars weren't out on some fake movie set that week - they were working at The Reeds at...

I took my now fiancée to The Reeds at Shelter Haven to propose over the President's Day holiday weekend. For her first spa appointment at the Salt Spa, I booked a Fresh Face Facial with a CBD skin oil enhancement. Afterwards, she said it was one of the best she’s had. I was glad she was happy, but I noticed that she didn't have the trial size CBD oil sample that was included with her treatment. I figured that this was an honest mistake and that it could be resolved when we went to her next appointment the following day.

The next morning, my fiancée got ready for her next appointment, a French Gel Manicure. Before she went in, we notified the receptionists at the spa that after her previous appointment, my fiancée didn't receive the trial size sample of CBD oil. The facial technician notified us that the trial size samples were only for those who booked the CBD Full Facial Experience. However, this goes against what is advertised on the spa’s website. The technician grudgingly gave us the sample anyway, and we went on our way. This was red flag #1.

I was looking forward to enjoying the spa, too, so I booked us a Full Body CBD Experience Couples Massage for our final appointment. The appointment was scheduled for 1:30 PM. As we waited for someone to bring us to our massage room, we watched the clock. Waiting is all we seemed to do. We waited and waited until finally at 2:30, I decided to go speak to someone. I went to the front desk of the spa and asked why we hadn’t been seen for our appointment yet. It turns out that they had taken the wrong couple for our appointment. Since couples are called by name to their appointments, this was strange and was red flag #2.

Rightfully so, we were disappointed. The manager met with us and offered to reschedule our appointment for their earliest availability and that we could have any add-on we wanted, free of charge. The staff provided us with a bottle of champagne to share while we made our choice. The manager returned to speak with us more than an HOUR later. We decided that we wanted to have a hot stone treatment and a rosewater foot wrap instead of the Full Body CBD Experience. She wrote down the changes and said she would pass the information along to the technicians. Our appointment was rescheduled for the following morning, which delayed our trip back home.

Which brings us to red flag #3...

The staff were there ready to receive us the next morning, still apologizing for the mistakes made the previous day. Before our massage, we were given the tincture for the CBD Full Body Experience that I initially booked. I figured that we were going to be given that treatment in addition to the hot stones and foot wrap we requested. It quickly became evident that we were not. After the massage concluded, we went to the front desk and notified them that we didn't receive the treatment we requested. The manager came to speak with us, and offered a gift bag as compensation, then proceeded to blame us for not pointing out the mistake in the midst of our massage. In the gift bag, there were poorly packaged, unlabeled products. This was the final straw. After not one, not two, but three mistakes plus the long wait times to speak with the manager, all that could be offered was a gift bag? I would’ve preferred that the charges would be dropped for the massage or, at the very least, discounted.

The spa staff are very disorganized. They don’t know the information for the services they provide and, though customer service efforts are present, they continuously fail to remedy the spa’s mistakes and blame the customers. It is assured that my fiancée and I are never going to return. While the hotel is great, The Salt Spa at the Reeds at Shelter Haven helped to turn a dream engagement into...

My friend and I went for a mid-week Girls' Getaway--our first ever after 50 years of friendship! We were underwhelmed. We didn't realize that going in mid October would mean that many of the amenities would be unavailable for our use. We also didn't realize the our room was in the spa building, which is across the street from the main building where the lounge and restaurant are located.

We expected to have 4 dining options based on the website, but Sax was the only actual restaurant dining option. The Water Star Grille was closed either for the season or because they were laying a new patio; the Mexican place was advertised for Taco Tuesday and this was our plan for our arrival day, but it was closed also. We had pizza outside of the pub by the water, which was lovely, but chilly. We asked for one of the many fire pits to be turned on. Our server was less than willing, although he said twice he'd check into it. We asked another employee and she said absolutely -- but she disappeared never to return. It was cold and we were surrounded by fire pits that just stared ironically at us...

Food, drink and service (especially loved our server Alexa) at Sax were excellent. Our spa trip was nice. The massages were amazing, however the dry float treatment was not worth the trouble. Definitely not the same as a wet float in any way. There was loud music playing and you're just wrapped up in layers of towels and waterproof wrap as you're lowered in somewhat warm water, however there is no floating feeling. It's just still. Also odd is that a male attendant is in the small dark room with you and just sits in the corner occasionally making noise. That part was not relaxing.

The hot tub closes at 4 pm, which we found odd for a resort. We checked in a 3, the designated time and asked what there was to do that evening and really, the answer was nothing beyond getting pizza and drinks at the pub. After telling us that the beach was closed due to the recent unfortunate storm, the Water Star Grille and outside area were closed, the pool and hot tub were closed, the Mexican place was closed, the sweet front desk girl took pity on us and unlocked the gate to the hot tub, so we were able to use it briefly once during our stay, which ended up being one of the best parts of the trip.

We had a super friendly valet named Walter upon arrival, and a grumpy, disinterested valet upon leaving who who got our car and barely looked our way, while neglecting to load all of our bags. Front desk was superbly friendly. We did unfortunately need to report a blood-stained comforter, a toilet that flooded our bathroom from the bottom where it met the tile, and the only roll of toilet paper in our room was stained blue on one end and had apparently been wet and subsequently dried. Our spa building bathroom was small with one small vanity/sink and nothing special. We expected much more of a resort hotel room.

In the end, we had a good time and lots of laughs, with good food and drink, but nothing more except some friendly staff and great massage therapists. We we won't be returning. It was definitely not the spa/resort experience we expected, at least...