Champneys Health Club, Eastwell Manor - Ashford

Rachael A.

let me preface this please by saying this is no reflection on the ground staff, they were lovely and as helpful as they could be, it’s clear this is a higher management issue.

I’d booked a spa day for a birthday, upon arrival there was a queue of people complaining about facilities being shut, and we were waiting to check in for around 15 minutes, not a great start.
We were then shown to the changing rooms, which were cramped, dirty - there was limescale in the showers, the toilets weren’t very clean, it smelt of damp and generally just not the clean, polished environment you’d expect for a 4 star champneys spa.
multiple lockers did not work or were broken and the receptionist had to show us to “premier” changing which was a shared room, again putting about a 30-40 minute delay on the start to our actual spa experience.
Despite there being a “please knock” sign on the door, whilst I was getting changed a man burst in without knocking, although apologetic, just generally not impressed by this, and again not exactly the ‘luxe’ experience you would expect.

On booking, we were not told we had to pre book lunch, we were seated at 2pm and did not get our food until 2:45, meaning one of us missed the massage that was booked and the treatment team could not rebook.
The menu was limited, and not impressive, the “supreme chicken” was a singular small chicken leg with half a potato and some gravy, overall just disappointing. I’d also spoken to the reception desk about getting a birthday plate and some Prosecco as a small birthday surprise, neither of which materialised.

Unsure what the policy is on reserving lounge beds by the pool but there were towels left everywhere with no indication of who was sitting where, we ended up sitting on some chairs near the jacuzzi, which was loud, drafty by the door and overall just not relaxing.

The treatments cannot be faulted, hence the 2 stars, the Elemis consultant was lovely and very knowledgeable, I was very happy with my purchases, very nice massage and nice clean treatment rooms, just disappointed by the rest of the experience, as we have visited other champneys spas before and this one is not just up to standard.

Would not visit again, not worth the money at all, and not a luxury experience by any means, severely let down. much nicer experience at Reynolds Retreat in Sevenoaks for a similar price.

Jennifer B.

£400 for a couples spa day with a massage.

What we experienced:
Summary
Dirty, faeces in the toilets, badly managed, how is this so called spa still open? If a hygiene inspector visited the spa & changing rooms it would be closed down.
FOH
The front of house manager was not friendly or competent. I was given a damp, cold dressing gown and told I’d get a new one- I didn’t. There was a lady called BARBARA, she is the best aspect of the entire place, she deserves a gold medal. Friendly, competent, on top of things. Lovely lady.
RESTAURANT
Breakfast
Fruit compotes were fizzing at breakfast. Fermented, mouldy. Cappuccinos were not cappuccinos they were large lattes. Not impressed. Not adequately clean.
Lunch
We waited nearly an hour in the restaurant with only bread that we had to ask for it wasn’t offered, drinks I had to ask for, starters never arrived, had to ask for them, offered the wrong meal, the right meal didn’t have in it what it said it would. It wasn’t terrible food, but not the quality you are paying for. We asked for olive oil with our bread, they didn’t have any? No oil in a luxury spa hotel? I had a nice smoothie. The staff, although not well trained did their best and were pleasant.

CHANGING ROOMS & TOILETS.
Unacceptably dirty, I visited all the toilets on the premises, none of which were clean, all day. Cleaning rota is filled in throughout the day, I saw no one clean anything. The faeces in the ladies changing room was there all day. The shower area dirty, flooded, used towels on the floor, dirty tissues left on the tops, some had no toilet rolls, some showers had no shower gel, changing rooms run down, damaged, dirty. See photos for changing rooms.

SPA
dirty, cold pool, a layer of foamy scum in the smaller ‘warm’ pool that wasn’t warm. A rusty, calcified rain shower, that half functioned. Unclean steam room. Fire safety doors run down, rusty, worn out. Jacuzzi water didn’t look clean. Whole place needs cleaning & refurbishing.

MASSAGE
Cost over £100
the treatment area had no one at reception, a group of young girls huddled in a corner didn’t take notice of us as we arrived and waited. The lovely Barbara again appeared and took over and sat us down, the group of three women continued chatting next to us, I believe they were the reception staff and other staff. Still huddled and chatting about their private lives. Felt very unprofessional and awkward waiting. The lady who did my massage was lovely, she didn’t know some basic muscular issue about shoulders etc but she was lovely and it was a nice experience. I wouldn’t say it was worth over £100.

ding L.

Great place for spa and relaxation, walk your dogs. The room however is dated and full of spider webs, few lights in my room we're not working.

Dinner has reasonable choices, but our dishes for the night were too salty, desert was great.

Jackie B.

Been here a few times and staff are always pleasant & professional. Lunch was very nice and nicely presented. There was some building work going on outside which you could hear when in the pools etc at times but didn't really take anything away from our day.

Loic W.

Shockingly dirty “spa”.
Excited after walking along the beautiful grounds of Eastwell Manor, I was highly disappointed by the spa. The pool area is ok but the jacuzzi section needs a serious update with visible decaying paint and rust. The steam room is good though. But being there the whole day my biggest issue was the lack of cleanness.
Nobody cleaned the spa the whole time I was in and the tragic proof was a can of RedBull left by someone in the morning that was still there by 5!! Management doesn’t care as I complained midday and no one cleaned the spa once after that. If you think I’m being fussy about a clean spa look at my pictures.

Chip M.

Disappointing and very overpriced.
Don’t usually post reviews but don’t like seeing people waste their money to this level- If you are looking for a ‘luxury’ spa day - this is not it. You can get spa days elsewhere with MUCH nicer facilities and offerings for half the price.

For details:
Can’t believe they get away with such extortionate pricing with the rundown facilities and poor services they have- We had a generous voucher to use but even with this the day ended up costing hundreds of pounds just to include a treatment each. Total cost would have been around £500 for the day…

Facilities are rundown, not very clean and poorly maintained- see other reviews- it all desperately needs some investment. The pool room is cramped and not a very pleasant environment to be in to be honest felt like being underground as had no natural light. Steam room was out of use.

We couldn’t believe how little the day package included for the price it was- they offer a ‘light snack’ which we missed out on as when we got there just after 10:30 we were told it was no longer on offer after this time despite this not being made clear anywhere beforehand. Our treatments had been miss-booked somehow (a ‘system error) so we had to change time meaning we wouldn’t get lunch till after 2pm, so we then asked if we could have a tea/coffee/smoothie instead to keep us going but was told no this also had finished and must be paid for up until 4pm…?! All they could offer was water. This is on a package that is £150pp… the lunch was ok but basic a soup and small chicken dish that was very much batch cooked, again no drink included in the price.
The treatments were pleasant but again way overpriced and not the most expert therapists as you might expect for the prices they charge- mine didn’t even speak enough English to understand the pressure level I wanted… £100+ per hour pricing and I’m sure that’s no where near in the region the therapists will be being paid.

Linda P.

Had a nice day with my sister for my birthday. The pool area could do with some attention, looks tired & the jacuzzi wasn't working. Disappointing!! I had a taster facial, very nice. The lunch was excellent. Would revisit !!

Susan M.

Nice facilities. Great facial and massage. Bit overpriced. Unfortunately although booked well in advance and arrived on time we had to wait for 2 hours for our treatments. Not acceptable for a £500 Spend I felt. We were offered a glass of prosecco for the inconvenience! Probably will not return. Treatments were good tho