Be careful when you book a spa hotel – Warning

Spa hotel can mean different things.
However for hotels to call themselves a spa hotel, it should have at least an indoor pool, sauna, steam room and possibly a jacuzzi.

Many larger spa hotels also have a gym.

Spa hotels usually offer a range of beauty, health and wellbeing treatments. Most popular spa treatments include massage. Massages are usually aimed to reduce stress or help to reduce pain such as neck pain or back pain.

Many spa hotels offer spa days and spa breaks. Some spa days may already include a special treatment. In general spa treatments incur a separate charge. A therapist will offer a specialist treatment for you to enjoy.

However booking a spa hotel can lead to an unexpected surprise.
Most people would expect that using the pool, sauna and steam room would be included in the room rate, as they are part of the facilities of the hotel,  if booking an overnight stay at the hotel. Sadly, that is not the case with several hotels. Online booking website usually state what is included and what has to be paid separately. On hotel booking sites, it is often not stated, that spa facilities such as pool, sauna and jacuzzi are not included.
Many people would however assume that when booking an overnight stay with or without breakfast, or dinner that they would also be entitled to use those facilities. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and quite often the extra charge for these facilities is quite high. So, it is not unheard of, that for example, a room that is available for only 65 to 70£ or 80 pounds per night, will incur an additional charge of 30 £ to use the pool.
It is worthwhile to check out if usage of the spa facilities is included, by contacting the hotel prior to booking. It is not surprising, that some people will feel cheated if they only find out after arrival that they had to pay another 30 to 40 £ for something that they had reasonably expected to be included.

Additionally, at some spa hotels those facilities are only available for very short periods of time, or they are not available at all due to some maintenance. Sadly this is also not mentioned on many websites.  It is worthwhile to get in touch with the hotel prior to booking to avoid disappointment.