THE LUMI SPA — Local services in London

This place is truly UNACCEPTABLE.

To call this a spa is disappointing and categorically false. This is a place that provides massages, at best. It is not a spa.

I went there to celebrate my aunt’s birthday. We paid £140 for a 50 minute massage, one glass of bubbly and 60 minutes of spa access.

The spa was billed to include a swimming pool, sauna, relaxation area.

We were greeted, given a towel and shown to locker room. The locker room was disgusting. It consisted of a small loo, some lockers, a shower and an off-putting smell. We would discover the smell was the smell of mildew in the shower. It was absolutely disgusting. We realized there were no robes or sandals. When we asked, the women told us we could have them for an additional £8. When we informed her we had been told they would be complimentary - she said, ‘oh ok, let me see get I can do.’ Thankfully, she came back with them. I can’t imagine what we would have caught without sandals. I also can’t imagine what we would have done without a robe? Was I supposed to walk to the room in the low budget towel they gave us?

Now… to the spa access. Again, calling this a spa is is absolutely offensive. You walk out out of the locker room to see a cloudy, DIRTY and cold pool. It was not a body of water anyone should voluntarily enter. So, we skipped the pool. We were handed our glass of prosecco and forced to do the only thing we could - sit in this low budget, lawn chair situation. This was really the only thing to do. There were two other chairs - these terribly ugly, uncomfortable shell shaped chairs. I guess we could have sat there? Or, of last resort, a tiny sauna. That was it. That was the big ‘spa’ experience we were supposed to be enjoying. We had even been called out by reception with an email saying we were ‘late to enjoy the full spa experience’. We were apparently supposed to sit in this grimy space for a full hour. Maybe that would have made us grateful for treatments?

Finally, we were called for our massages. Lucky me… I got the staffer - I’m not sure I’m going to go so far as to call her a ‘therapist’ - with some fun illness. I’m not sure if it was a common cold, covid or what. She coughed continuously and on two occasions, coughed into hand and then put her hands back on my body to massage. At this point, I was to turn over for the second half of the massage. We were two in the room and my mum asked her to put a mask on and she was not pleased. The other staffer said after she left, ‘I know, I told her not to be sick with a client, she should have a mask on.’ Are you kidding me?!? Luckily, the massage was over shortly after and it got me closer to leaving and taking a hot, hot, hot shower. It was clear when I was leaving the room, she had been talking about me.

I couldn’t have gotten out faster. PLEASE, do yourself a favor and do not go there. Do not book there. DO NOT buy a package! I can’t believe I basically spent £40 for glass of prosecco and £100 to get sick.

This place is UNACCEPTABLE, UNHYGIENIC...

Hygiene at the Spa is awful. This has been reported to staff and I hope they sort this immediately. The spa itself is ok and the treatment wasn't the best experience. I have long thick hair and during the headspa, my hair was combed and tugged at. They only concentrated on cleaning the edges of my hair and no treatment to the middle/top of my hair. The therapist then very roughly, towel dried my hair. They definitely need to get basic training on hair. Every hairdresser and advice is to not combe hair when wet and not roughly towel dry hair but to squeez the water out. Very disappointed and not relaxing at all. I roughly dried my hair, the hiardryer was buring hot or cold, and had to shower and cleanse and care for my hair when i got home. A huge waste of time and money. Not great for long thick hair types. Others went for facials and massages and said they were good.

In the pool area there were dead flies, i didnt have my phone so no photos of this unfortunately. After my treatment as expected I went to shower to leave. The shower is absolutely disgusting and has black mould everywhere. Needless to say I didn't shower but did check the facilities. The soap dispensers didn't working the water temperature went for hot to cold without touching any dials.

The hope is they cleaned it immediately but I do question all hygiene and cleaning carried out there. Looking around I saw alot of dust gathered in the fan and not hand dryer or towels in the toilet.

I'm not sure how this has gone unnoticed as the mould hasn't grown over night.

The staff were very friendly although seemed little concerned when I mentioned the black mould growing in the shower which left me not willing to spend time providing my other feedback.

A shame and this will be reported further. A spa is meant to cleanse and relax not provide...

For People with AFRO HAIR — Important to Know

I booked the Japanese Head Massage at Lumi Spa and unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this service for those with Afro hair.

Before booking, I called to specifically ask whether having Afro hair would affect the treatment, and I was reassured that it wouldn't. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

While the massage itself was very relaxing and the spa assistant was friendly, professional, and skilled during the massage portion.

However the hair washing aspect was very disappointing. The scalp wasn't cleaned at all, with attention mainly given to the edges of my hair while the middle was largely neglected. Additionally, after washing, my hair was only towel-dried, not blow-dried, leaving it wet as I traveled home. I had to rewash and properly care for my hair myself after I returned home and my hair was very tangled.

This very much a spa treatment not a hair treatment.

It's clear the spa is not equipped to properly cater to Afro hair, which was unfortunate considering the otherwise high standard of service. I hope they take this feedback on board to improve inclusivity in...