Review of Calistoga Spa Hot Springs 2*

We frequent another resort in town and thought it was time to mix it up a little bit. Came here really hoping it would turn into another go-to place for a quick getaway in Calistoga. We arrived for our one night stay and immediately noted how much the building looked like a dentist's office, not a whole lot of soul to the exterior. Walk into the front desk area and the sterile theme repeated itself. Nothing spa like there either. The gal working the counter never really welcomed us. Asked for my name, had me sign the registration form and informed us of their hilarious pool towel policy: one towel per guest, issued at the desk, and we'll be fined if we don't return them. Huh? I've stayed at hundreds of resorts, hotels, hostels and campgrounds, but have never had my towel use rationed. How very… cheap. She never explained the facilities or what was available to us. Never wished us a good stay. Oh well, we were excited for pool time, so gathered our towels and toted them to our room like the precious possessions they were. Headed to our smaller than expected room with a cute little picnic area out front. Room was clean, but very basic. Clearly a motel masquerading as a resort. Cheap carpet, cheaper bedding. Very lumpy and hard mattresses. Only one mirror and that was in the bathroom, making it pretty hard for three women to get going in the morning. To their credit it was very clean. On to the pools. Having four different water temperatures was great. Battling for space with screaming children — not so much. Kids were everywhere until late at night. Jumping into the pools right next to other guests, being generally disrespectful creatures (parents fault, not theirs). Staff was nowhere to be seen throughout the day, they should actively be setting the spa tone in that area. Lounge chairs showing some age, it was a bit like laying on a sofa bed. Only one toilet for the entire pool area. Worst night sleep ever. The air conditioning unit and refrigerator were SO noisy. Like we had a washing machine in the room noisy. Attempted to turn both off, but for some reason they were both stuck on. That and the terrible beds were enough to keep us awake, but around midnight we found out there was literally zero soundproofing between the rooms. Our insomniac upstairs neighbor made us keenly aware of this by walking his baby elephant back and forth for the next six hours. While the zoo upstairs wasn't the hotel's fault, the lack of sound barrier definitely was. We were looking forward to a lazy morning enjoying our room, but when 7am rolled around we just wanted to get out of this crapshoot. Icing on the cake was the god awful front desk clerk — Anna. Girlfriend should be nowhere near the hospitality industry. Or really anywhere she has to interact with other humans. Never once did she ask us how our stay was. My mother and I expressed our dissatisfaction with our stay and Anna couldn't have cared less. No acknowledgment, no apology, no attempt to make us feel better as we were leaving. She so blatantly ignored our complaints that we decided to reiterate them. Once again, nothing. This place is more like a county jail than a spa. For nearly $300 a (week) night you get a Motel 6 room with an extra pool and surly service. We'll be taking our business back to the real resorts that actually care about customer satisfaction.