Malvern Spa, Worcester

This place could be so good but due to a lack of care and control is sadly lacking! Feedback from a regular user of the facilities i.e. 5 to 6 times a week.

THE SETTING.

Thankfully they've stopped saying it was nestling in the hills as they did when it first opened! It is 2 miles from the hills, on really a business park (not retail as their website states) which borders an industrial estate! The main electricity pylons into Malvern run right next to the building and that is your main view from the pool and some rooms. You can see part of The Malverns from the pool area alongside the pylon wires. It wasn't built here because of the Malvern water as a reviewer states this month, as there never was a well on this site. The water is from a bore hole and to trade on Malvern Water when 2 miles from the Hills is stretching it a bit far!

THE BUILDING

Modern boxy building that you could mistake for an office block. Plenty of parking but the car park is again a mess even after just 2 months of being relayed! The turning into it, all the gravel has been pushed over to the right and the foundations exposed. Why a member of staff doesn't just rake it back into position heaven knows! Litter is prevalent and rarely picked up, as are weeds. Glass entrance doors often dusty from the gravel and lose gravel at the front rarely brushed away.

RECEPTION AREA.

Large white square reception with a couple of basic sofas to sit on. Hardly a place to unwind. Entrance to the gym and changing rooms on the left and to the restaurant and bar to the right through a massive opening, without doors so open to the reception area and front doors. Reception staff usually welcoming and efficient.

THE GYM.

Modern, air conditioned gym. Wide range of equipment. Though only two real bikes and 4/5 unused steppers taking up space. At times gym attendants haven't cleaned well. With full bins by water cooler and practically no paper cups. Often the gym attendants can be found locked to the desk eyes fixed to the PC screen. Also reports from members through July that two who open first thing are locking themselves in the gym, with everything ready, and not allowing anyone in even a minute early - so be aware if you want an early start before breakfast! Let you know their names if still at it this month!

THE HYDROTHERAPY POOL.

If your 1st visit you'll be bowled over, come regularly and you'll see the cracks! When it's all working and all cleaned, lovely relaxing experience, when not very disappointing! It's well known with regulars some of the jets haven't been working for many, many months and even with recent new owners the same old problems exist!

The outside area is meant to be cleaned numerous times a day. More like numerous times a month, and that's on a good month! Whether it's loose tiles, hair bands, tissues, used plasters, a cigarette butt, or bird droppings, they can all be lying around for days! One morning members found a broadsheet newspaper page floating open in the pool. Night staff hadn't seen it, neither whoever opened up in the morning!

All the missing tiles have been repaired in the pool in July but as it seems the usual here, loads of loose grouting was left on the floor of the pool by the swim-jets! Within two days tiles had come away on the steps into the pool and loose tiles are popping off daily! Who on earth is responsible for the pool area???

Pool temperature can fluctuate wildly. On Sunday 3rd July at 5pm very cold, on Tuesday 5th at 7.30am red hot! Staff don't know why (dooh) or don't even notice, even though they kid the owner that they take hourly temperatures!

Sauna areas lovely when working as should, but maintenance if anything wrong, takes far tooooooooooo long! So hopefully you'll strike lucky!

Outside area with loungers and small grassed area, though has failed to be regularly cut this year. Here is your view to the Malvern Hills (through the electricity pylons) and the electricity wires dominate the view from the hotel here. Why not put in some 12 ft bamboo to hide them? A couple of palm tress by the pool survived the winter, the only ones over a wide area here that did! 5 large tubs with conifer type plants have joined the lone one that has been on it's own for 6 weeks complete the look (though looking like they aren't being watered as starting to brown, what a waste). Members weren't sure if it was the visit of two geordie celebrities that got many things done at the end of June but the above planters, missing tiles on tables, an outside seating area by the bar among other things got done within a couple of days, that had been waiting for months!

CHANGING ROOMS, ROBES AND TOWELS.

Nice high class rooms with wooden lockers. Six large stone tiled showers and sinks too. Fairly clean but not sparkling. If a gentleman and you visited in June 2011, only two were properly equipped with shampoo/soap, two had one or the other and two had none! Took over three weeks to fix this, hasn't anyone heard of next day delivery? (Again for the last week all shampoo is missing from male and female showers, what is wrong with whoever is in charge of this.) One hand shower head has been missing for months in the men's showers and just the pipe remains - very poor!

Robes are past there use-by-date and often stained with products from the treatment rooms. Towels are the same and if your lucky enough to find a new towel (yes they are elusive) the comparison between the two is scary. Some of old ones are only fit for a dogs home! (It seems housekeeping all need a coach trip to Specsavers - maybe they could get a group discount!)

TREATMENT AREAS.

Probably the most consistently best part on the place. Lovely areas to relax and unwind (see website). Usually spotless. Staff 90% top quality, though your treatments can vary dependent on who does it, so get their name if you were happy and book with them next time!

RESTAURANT AND BRASSERIE.

All have good feedback but see warnings from other reviewers.

STAFF

Mixed bunch! All house keeping staff wear black and sadly act as if they're at a funeral (apart from the couple of young lads). Reception as you would expect usually welcoming. Gym staff , low on numbers, and need to spend less time at the PC or what's the point of them being there. The two in the morning locking everyone out get a new job and let the cleaners open up. (You'll never get any personal training sessions as word gets about!) Treatment room staff welcoming and switched on. Catering staff good and hopefully the ones who are too busy talking have gone. Maintenance nice but average.

CONCLUSION.

Once inside you are in an oasis of calm and apart from the pylons will enjoy it. Just check they haven't got a coach party in for the day or you won't get a look in at the pool. On your early visits you won't notice everything written here, but on return visits look out.

What could be an original and special place in the area, is sadly let down by basic practices. Attention to detail and cleanliness is the problem. They have had new owners in recent months but it seems they aren't getting a handle on these things. At the front of house there is continual litter in the car park that is never removed as well as many weeds. The poor car park has been renewed in the last two months but not maintained. The glass entrance doors are usually dirty and I really wonder how many people just turn away before even entering because of what they have seen up to then!

The real attraction of the pool and saunas is so let down by basic things of just cleaning.

You regularly see staff walking around and yet not picking up what is lying around on the floor. The scary thing is, this includes management who seem oblivious to things right where they walk!

A new Operations Manager started two weeks ago and on his first day was doing an impression of Sir Alec Ferguson at pitch side chewing gum, hope reception don't follow suit. Maybe first day nerves as he seems to have stopped but needs to open his eyes to the litter inside and out.

Matters reported to staff regularly don't get done, even after a number of different people report them, e.g. the men's urinals for 7 days where people walk bare-footed and still leaking today!

If the new owners don't get a grip (and as more time goes by they can't blame the previous regime) what could be an excellent place will slowly lose guests and members and go the way of the previous regime into administration.

I have stayed at this hotel 4 times in the last 18 months so my review is not given on the basis of a one-off stay... the first couple of stays were very good with even better service, however this hotel was taken over some months back and since then their decline has been rapid? on our third vist we were taken to a single room even though we were booked into a double (they did move us to our booked room 3 hours later)they also hade an hen party going on with 16 young females enjoying the evening, this never bothered us what was annoying was they could not accomadate us for our pre-booked evening meal because they were over stretched, on the morning of our departure we went for breakfast and ordered eggs and toast the eggs came out 15 minutes before our toast and to make matters worse 1 slice of toast was covered in furry mould! unbelievable, so as would be expected we were given a discount on our cost (sadly what they did not tell us was they took our payments twice this was refunded 4 days later.

So we did not want this terrible stay to put us off going again so we booked again for 4 weeks later as like i mentioned we always enjoyed our stay under the previous owners... what a mistake that was, firstly they had noe towels, no robe & no slippers, the spa & facilities were full to the rafters and we found ourselves having to take turns to enjoy the facilities... the plus side was the evening meal was great, sadly this was a short lived experience as come the morning they informed us our car had a brick thrown through it during the night? this was very strange as it is not near any bar ,pub or club and whoever did this had to walk past all the other cars , then past 2 more carparks smash our window and escape the same way the came in (which is past the main entrance & up the side of the hotel) a little suspect do you not think? we arranged for the glass to be replaced and sat in the reception for 8 hours untill the windscreen fitter could get to us, during this time we was asked if we would like a cup of coffee , just one in 8 hours unbelievable considering this happened on there property, they said its not there responsability and just poor luck and carried on as if we did not exist. please please think twice before booking a night at this hotel as it is obviously in serious decline and a plaace where money matters long before service

I personally would not recommend Malven Spa, my experience of the spa has been a very poor one. First of all the location is not ideal being in the middle of a industrial estate not really tranquil and luxurious. Inside the holtel its self looks nice and appealing, but as i entered the mens changing room to find it a complete mess, dirty floor, robes and towels all over the place and unclean toilets. The spa area gets worse papers and magazines all over the floor and in the pool, dirty trays left on the side the whole time i was present. The money they charge you i would have expected alot better and this is most certainly one of the lower end spas i have visited in my time. The food for the price paid is not really up to the standard i was expecting, i have visited many fine restaurants and Malvern spa is definitely not one of them.

I was surprised that the Spa was on an Industrial Estate, but that aside there was a lovely view of the Malvern Hills from the pool, although not visible on the day I was there due to weather conditions. The reception and spa area are very luxurious, but the pool area was a little bit functional. The pool was great but the poolside was sparse and the walls wood cladded which was not luxurious in any way. Changing rooms were lovely, but no shampoo in the dispenser. At £65 per person for the basic day there was only the pool and saunas as entertainment. A light lunch was provided, but it really was "light" although very nice. Only water was provided as a free beverage, all other drinks tea, coffee etc were at a cost of £2.50. Bathrobes were provided but only one bath towel. I have used other spas which were better value.