Strøm spa nordique / Montréal (Île-des-Sœurs) — Restaurant in Montreal

Although the amenities are okay, front desk staff is incompetent, unhelpful and rude. We arrived yesterday with a reservation and as my partner was asked to pay he inquired the front desk lady why he already had a charge on his credit card, as he was worried about paying twice. He had received the charge that morning. The lady started telling us that we should have received a card at some point in one of the emails, which we had not received. I asked if we were supposed to receive a card of some kind since it was our first time which I guess did not tip her off that we had no idea what she was talking about. We answered her questions as best we could, mentioned that this was about a reservation that was moved from a different day and that a person on the phone had told my partner he was not supposed to be charged for it.

The lady spent 30 minutes frantically calling people in another room and telling us that perhaps this had not gone through because a business day had not happened. Again we had no idea what she meant, I personally thought this was about a refund or charge cancellation that had not gone through. She even tried to convince us to come back on another day, despite us having a reservation. When she finally came back with someone who we assumed was the manager, they both told us the payment for ''the gift card'' had not go through. My partner frustratingly said he did NOT ask for a gift card and then they blew us off, accusing us of making them look for a non-existing gift card and then ignoring us for the rest of the transaction. They never tried to fully understand what we were talking about and the cashier did not seem to care that my partner was charged twice (the other charge being more expensive than what we were paying her on-site). No apology, ''goodbye'' or anything after this rude interaction. We still have no idea what that charge on the credit card is and reading the reviews, I REALLY hope it will be cancelled when my partner calls the phone service back.

I'd like to add that my partner reserved and bought the experience as a present for me. He's a very obvious anglophone and started the conversation in English but our cashier kept speaking in French, so he spoke French but was obviously struggling in parts of the conversation. When I saw things were getting confusing, I jumped in to try to help with the misunderstanding. The cashier eventually decided it was my fault for my answers to her questions and tried to pin the misunderstanding on me, at times fully ignoring my partner, despite me clearly not being the one that made the reservation or to have gotten the extra charge on my bank account. I was confused about what was going on the entire convo, and she didn't seem to understand that we knew we might have to pay on-site (literally showing our company card to get a discount IN THE CURRENT TRANSACTION) but were now worried about being overcharged. I find it gross that she blamed me as the obvious guest and accused my partner of leading her on in a language he obviously didn't master. The manager only came and spoke to him in English last minute to blow him off on not having a gift card, having heard only the cashier's version of the story, and she never ONCE asked us what we were asking to properly understand the situation. I used to work in customer service: this is appalling.

As other comments mentioned before, people come to the spa to relax. My partner scheduled it for me as a sufferer of chronic pain and stress. When you arrive and somehow are paying more than double and no one seems to empathize or want to properly help you with it, this severely sours the experience and adds stress to it. Add a rude staff who doesn't clarify anything, a manager that doesn't greet you or try to understand you, and a misunderstanding that's 100% blamed on you and ends with attitude from your cashier, I don't see how we are supposed to start our experience relaxed. We were distressed as we started our visit, no apology or compensation. Will...

I have visited Strom spa Ile-des-Soeurs twice this fall, and also visited the Mont St Hilaire location previously. Both times I went on a Friday so I cannot speak to how busy/noisy it may be on a weekend. TLDR: I think this is a really nice spa for a day of relaxation if you're in the Montreal area and would recommend it.

Facilities/setup: Excellent. The spa was very well designed to make you feel like you're in a relaxing nature getaway despite that it is in a suburban residential area. There were a good number of hot pools, different saunas, and nice indoor and outdoor relaxation areas. We did 6 or 7 cycles throughout the day with different combinations and never got bored (both visits). These areas all had a clean and newish feel. Our only complaint was that the women's locker room was small and crowded. It was hard to do anything without bumping into someone else or being hit by a door, and the days we went were not that busy or anything. But the space is what it is, so probably not much they can do about this and at least the locker rooms were clean!!

Offerings: The pools and saunas are clean and kept at good temperatures. The second time we went, the steam sauna was being renovated and they gave us 10% off because of this which I thought was fair. They have one silent pool where they will come tell you to shut up if you talk which also seems fair since there is another hot tub you can sit in and talk quietly. The outdoor and indoor relaxation areas have a good variety and I like the fires. There are NOT enough blankets and they should invest in more especially for the fall as anyone sitting outside or in a hammock would want a blanket, and it's nice to sit and look at the water.

Robes: I am pretty sure you are not allowed to wear your own robe and must rent theirs or buy one. The first time we went, the robes we got were awful. Ratty and thin, dirty-looking (not actually dirty but like gray from overwashing), and gross. The second time, we got decent fluffier robes - they were not new or anything but totally reasonable for a spa robe rental. It might be nice to just let people use their own robes but at least change them over often if not.

Atmosphere: Very pleasant and calm. My main point of comparison is Le Nordik in Gatineau area outside Ottawa which I've been to many times and has become the party spa. Everyone loud and talking and often rude, locker rooms gross, etc. At the Strom spa it mostly seemed to be people taking a relaxation day rather than big loud groups, probably because it's kind of small and not the only spa in the area. The staff and other guests were respectful of the quiet rules and gave it a good vibe.

Food: Unfortunately the food is really expensive and underwhelming, though I find this to be true at every spa of this sort that I've visited so it is what it is. The first time we had a charcuterie plate which was fine, and soup (as good as what you'd get at Tim Hortons, so fine) with "artisanal bread" which was like a grilled hard bun. The dessert was supposed to be a rhubarb crumble but was mostly this weird foamy cream dumped on a pile of what seemed to be canned rhubarb. The second time we each had a grilled cheese sandwich with soup because we figured maybe they'd do better with something simple. The soup was fine again and sandwich was ok too, though really tiny for the price. Although it was supposed to be a grilled cheese with apple, it had very little cheese and seemed to be some fat slices of grilled apple between two pieces of bread with a bit of grated cheese. We dipped it in the soup and it was ok. I had a Caesar to drink and it had so much pepper in it I couldn't drink half. The service (speed and servers) was good. Basically I would not go here for the food, and since we knew this we'd planned a restaurant dinner to finish off the birthday...

I used to go to the Strøm spa quite often few years ago because I loved it. I didn’t go for a while as I was out of town and I decided to treat myself back in Mtl. I was so disappointed. The quality of the spa as well as the customer service has changed tremendously. It doesn’t feel like a luxury to go there anymore. With the price I paid I will never come back.

It all started with the service at the reception. The arrival was super hectic. So many people it was nothing but relaxing. No hello, no welcome, nothing. It felt like the lady at the front desk thought “oh no customers again”. Anyways, once checked in, we had no explanations of the amenities , they didn’t ask me if I’ve been here before etc. We were not informed ahead of time that one hot bath was closed for what reason? It wasn’t clear.

I started with my massage and I was surprised when I learned it was going to be outside. Definitely an experience in winter. The moment the arm or leg is out, it gets really cold. It was not the most relaxing experience. Yes they put the heater over you but once the massage is over, you have to walk directly outside in the cold. Thank god it was not like -20C because that would’ve been very difficult for the body.

There were so many people it was NOT relaxing at all. People talking so loud. I didn’t see any personnel walking around and advising people to talk quietly at least. It was like a public pool. Before it was not allowed to even whisper. I remember if people were talking they had warnings and some were kicked out of the spa if they didn’t respect the rule. The point of going to a spa is to relax and be in silence. The areas of the spa where it’s allowed to speak should be more respected. People were with their phones, taking pictures, making TikTok videos. At some point, I wanted to go to the relaxing room next to the sauna Baril and two girls locked themselves inside and were making videos. Like what on Earth?! How is that even allowed and how come there was no personal to look at what was happening?

Then, being Finnish myself , I find it very disrespectful towards my culture to have a sauna named “Finnish Sauna” where you are not allowed to throw water on the rocks. This has NOTHING to do with a sauna. Call it “dry room” “aroma hot room” but NOT a sauna. At least in the sauna Baril you were allowed to throw water BUT the Baril was not hot enough. It needs to be heated at least 80C as well as more rocks on the heater. There was no heat and with the people that kept going in and out it was impossible to enjoy a real sauna and to keep the heat inside.

Honestly, the only good part of the spa was the hammam and the restaurant. The rest was honestly such a disappointment and I can’t believe it changed into something this bad.

Lastly , when customers leave, it’s a minimum to say thank you, have a good evening. It’s very frustrating to watch the personal chatting together behind the desks and not watching who is leaving. A major training is needed in customer service because this was honestly the worst spa I’ve ever been and I used to work at a spa when I was studying.

Overall really disappointed. If I could give zero...