exhale Spa at Virgin Hotels, NYC — Local services in New York

It’s just SO HARD to cancel the membership— I’ve wasted so much time and energy trying to end it, and I’m not surprised to see so many others in the reviews with similar frustrating experiences.

I signed up for an Exhale Spa membership at the Virgin Hotel NYC in November 2024. In January, I requested to freeze my membership since I was traveling abroad for the month of February (3.5 weeks). Unfortunately, my request came just a couple days after my January fee was charged, and they declined the freeze—even though I hadn’t used the service for that month. I found their freezing policy to be rigid and not customer-friendly, but I accepted it and moved on.

Because of that inflexibility, I decided to cancel altogether. On February 6, 2025, I submitted their official cancellation form by email while I was abroad. They responded that cancellations require a 30-day notice, so I understood I’d be charged once more in February. Later, when I checked in person at the front desk after my trip, I was told my cancellation was approved on February 11.

But then—at end of March, I was charged again for the membership fee, even though I had followed all the cancellation steps and the cancelation form said it’s just 30-day notice. I was shocked. I had taken a few extra classes at the end of March thinking my membership was still active through the end of March, but I never expected to be billed again.

When my husband and I brought it up to the staff, they told us to email their corporate office. Since then, the experience was even worse—long email threads full of deflection, excuses, and no real resolution. They continuously ignored my direct concerns about the March charge.

This is still unresolved as of today. I’ve had to file a dispute with my bank in order to get my money back, and submitted a complaint to the BBB. I truly hope others don’t have to go through what I went through—or what so many other reviewers have already experienced. Please be careful before signing up knowing how hard it is to cancel.

At the end, just to be fair—their workout classes are good. They’re intense and challenging (just remember to bring socks), and the instructors are friendly and professional. However, the spa/facial/massage/sauna offerings are honestly below expectations for the price. You can easily find better quality and value at other places...

Post Update: 1/10/25 - The national director called me personally and have resolved the issue of cancelling my account.

I called exhale to schedule a birthday event for me and my sister in Nov and the person who assisted me was Grace. I have informed her that I wanted to book a spa appt for me and my sister in Dec and I saw the discounted price online and asked if I can just purchase two of those one time use spa ones. She has informed that yes but the monthly spa membership is cheaper than the one time ones. I saw that there was a 30 day cancellation time period for it so I didn’t want to do it because I don’t live in the city and merely would be coming in for my sisters bday. She has informed me that it’s ok as she would noted in the system that I want to cancel from the day i bought it so that when I come in after the massage service is done, I can just cancel it as it would qualify for 30 days. When I got there this was not the case anymore. Erica (the nyc spa manager) has informed me that Grace gave me false information and that is not how it’s done. But I don’t want to be penalized for your employees mistake or maybe she was trying to gain a commission on selling a monthly package but regardless it’s not my fault that this happened. So how we resolved it was that they charged me twice on the day for the spa membership so I was able to use the one I purcharsed for myself and they charged me the next month early so they can apply that one early and used it for my sister. They said once they submit the cancellation form today I won’t get charged again but corporate (samantha) emailed me and said I’ll be charged again on jan 18th. This company (or employees) is a fraud. They lure ppl to come and sign up for their membership and then give false info about cancelation policy. Ill definitely report them to bbb as its not the right way to do business. I called their nyc office and corporate multiple times and left messages and no one wants to call me back. They are just avoiding me on purpose....

Edit: This absolutely does have to do with Virgin Hotel Exhale Spa as I called and spoke with MANY employees there, none of whom were able to give me direct contact information for corporate but always told me they would relay my message. After a couple of months and dozens of phone calls to Virgin Hotel Exhale Spa, someone finally forwarded my call to the director of operations, who requested my information via e-mail. I e-mailed her the very same day and sent 2 follow-up e-mails and 4 phone calls over the next 3 weeks, but not a single person followed up--literally not even one--until after I had I posted this review. Only after posting this review did the director of operations suddenly find both my phone number and e-mail address. I am still waiting on the refund check she promised a week later. She did say it could take up to 15 business days, but she should have thought to expedite it, due to her/your numerous mistakes and my serious inconvenience in the matter.

DISHONEST. They shutter locations without warning (multiple locations in the past 3-4 months) and leave their previous clients with unused/unredeemed credits. I have contacted Exhale about refunding my gift card for 3 months now (which I can prove with phone logs) and was promised by a corporate officer that I would receive the refund 3 weeks ago. I never did. Instead, she simply ghosted me and didn't respond the 5 times afterward that I reached out. Then, when I said I would be filing a claim on 4/7/25, she immediately e-mailed me and blamed someone else for giving her the wrong number. I personally gave her my telephone number AND e-mailed her on 3/13/25 (zero response to either), and both forms of contact, as well as my current mailing address, are on my account with the company, should she have bothered to search...