Baths At Romans Spa — Local services in Calistoga

My wife and I are regulars to Napa and Sonoma and we thought we’d visit Calistoga for a mud bath. We were so excited. We arrived we got changed into robes and then the attendant led us into the spa area that has two mud baths, two bath tubs with jets and two showers. The place is very outdated and nothing at all that you’d expect for a viewing of the website. The attendant was pleasant and told us that the baths would be warmer towards the foot of the tub (we didn’t think much about that) and then directed us on how to get into the mud baths and then left. We put a foot in each bath and both were unable to keep either of our feet in the mud! It was EXTREMELY HOT! We called her back in and she used a garden hose to put the equivalent of +/-1 gallon per bath of tap water to a 150 gallon tub(estimate). She left and we tried again but the heat was too intense. We told the attendant and she is rinse our feet off and get into the tubs for a mineral treatment. That was nice enough with a mud mask and then we were done and rinsed off and were led back to a room for a cool down with a cucumber mask for 15 minutes and then the door opened and told our time was up. I went out to pay and informed the lady at the desk that we did not do the Mud Bath because it was too hot. The owner then came to the desk and informed me that she had just checked the temperature and it was 104 degrees ands some people just can’t handle the heat. I should’ve asked her to immerse her leg in either tub! I looked at her incredulously then informed her that we have a hot tub back home that we keep at 104 degrees and we are in and out of it all the time! I know what 104 degrees feels like and that mud bath was MUCH hotter than that! The front desk lady then said to try later in the day because the tub temperatures decrease throughout the day. I did feel insulted being talked to in a condescending manner by the owner when I understand thermal dynamics just fine. They did adjust the price of the visit for 2 Mineral baths, which was fair but when I looked at the bill I saw they threw a 23.5% gratuity on the bill on top of the cash we left for a tip in the changing room. My recommendations for this place: Update to actual luxury spa feel Temperature Gauges on Baths to actually know and show what mud temperature is at. Reading other negative reviews the owner needs to stop making excuses and placating people with meaningless excuses. I wouldn’t recommend this place based on it not meeting any of our...

This place is definitely old and overpriced. The room we stayed at looked like it had not been updated since the 60s, with old brown carpet, and a sink so low that a woman of average height would need to double over to use it. The beds were comfortable but the heater would not stay on, so the room temp would drop in the middle of the night and you'd have to either try to get the thermostat on or use extra blankets. Honestly for how much we paid we expected a lot more. You have to pay extra for robes which is really disappointing. The stairs to our room were very steep and difficult to climb. The pools themselves are nice but nothing to write home about. The indoor hot tub was definitely not hot most of the time we were here. But overall I would say the pool area is the highlight of the hotel. The most unpleasant part of the stay was that we were told to check the day of our check out of we could have late check out, which we really needed for a business call. However, on our last day, the front desk told us that the room was spoken for and there was nothing they could do to help us out when they could have easily asked cleaning staff to not clean our room until just a bit later (this is a pretty big hotel and they can start anywhere else). Plus, they could have just told us at check in that they would need the room instead of making us play the wait game. Mind you, this is a Tuesday in the middle of January and I very much doubt there were no other rooms available. The lady we spoke with was rude and combative and I have never had that kind of an unpleasant experience anywhere else in California. I'm giving this place 2 stars - for the bed and the pools (when they worked correctly).

Reply below does not help the overall...

If I could give this place zero stars I would. I’ve never had such a horrible experience. I read the reviews and saw a handful of bad ones but thought “oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad” but boy was I wrong.

The good: first time doing a mud bath, it was kinda nice. But would never do a mud bath again at this place.

The bad: where do I begin? The facilities look like they haven’t been touched in years. We walked into the mud bath room and it felt more like being at a public pool locker room than a spa that charges that kind of money (more on that later). I’ve felt more relaxed in truck stop bathrooms than I did in this spa room. Not to mention that the showers to rinse the mud off had less water pressure than a water gun from the dollar store. Next up, we’ve got the massages. Once again, the common theme here is a lack of relaxation. We paid for CBD oil and deep tissue massages, and instead left feeling like someone had lightly tapped us on the back for 45 minutes and then spread baby oil over every inch of our body.

The ugly: the prices here for what you get are just horrendous. $220 for a couples mud bath where you spend 15 minutes in a gross smelling locker room and then rinse off in a dirty bathtub? Check. $175 for a 45 minute massage that leaves you more tense? Check. And an automatic 20% gratuity on top of every service, whether you like it or not. Not to mention the pricing was completely different than what was communicated to me on the phone.

Please do yourself a favor and go anywhere other than here if you are looking for a relaxing spa day with mud baths and massages. You definitely DONT get what you...