Setai Spa at 40 Broad Street

Logo Yesterday was Emily's birthday.  To celebrate, the girls (Jessica and Emily) and I decided to have a day at the spa including lunch.  I was really excited about it and made the reservations way in advance.  There is nothing quite like the relaxation of a spa day.  Putting yourself first, putting down the phone and just chatting in between appointments with the girls.

I have no where else to seriously launch a complaint but for any of you thinking of booking a day at Setai Spa, don't.  A variety of conversations and they finally got the reservations right.  The services were ok not great.  The length of time was completely messed up.  The lunch which I told them we wanted light lunch of salads was booked downstairs at a fancy heavy restaurant.  If they had sent me the menu or engaged me with big customer service, I would have rethought the entire day. Poor communication on their part and possibly not enough research on mine but for the price they are charging they should have held my hand on everything.  Also, the location sucks.  That was my fault.  I so hate being down in the Wall Street area. 

Lesson learned but it really bummed me out.  Not a cheap day either.  Next time, a massage in the neighborhood and a long leisurely lunch.  I might be done with the day at the spa. 

Comments (Archived):

    1. Gotham Gal

      the customer is always right. i should have known it would have been adisaster after having to call three times b/c they didn’t have thereservation right.

      1. Joeblow

        No need for the Gotham Gal’s return. I don’t think Wall Street wants to see you anyways! Stay away.

  1. Steven

    Ms. WilsonThank you for taking a moment this morning to speak with me. After reading your blog posting regarding your spa experience with us, I certainly wanted to reach out to you personally and, again, very much appreciate your time.I cannot begin to tell you how much I regret that we, despite all of our efforts, did not succeed in meeting your expectations at our Spa on this special day. The staff that was taking care of you and your daughters worked very hard to accommodate any requests or changes that were desired and offered as many alternatives as possible to make you happy. We as a group take great pride in offering custom spa experiences to the most elite of Manhattan and take it very personally should a guest leave unsatisfied or chooses a public forum to display their frustration – a rare occurrence I can assure you, and certainly one that we do not take lightly. We sincerely wanted nothing but for you and your daughters to have a positive memorable experience with us and, again, on behalf of the entire team here, we send a sincere apology to you, Jessica and Emily.As we discussed, our restaurant, SHO, is Michelin rated, Zagat scored 29 in every category and our Chef would have been more than happy to customize any cuisine you required, including light-salads, etc. The dining experience has been celebrated by the best of the best in NYC, media, etc and I sincerely regret that you all elected not to experience it. The Pearl Lounge offers a very casual lunch atmosphere and I think you would have really enjoyed it.As we discussed, I would like very much to have the opportunity to restore your good faith in our establishment and to be able to personally oversee any future reservations that will encompass an unparalleled Spa experience that you expect and deserve.It would be my pleasure to welcome you back for a one hour massage, as my guest, in a effort to regain your support.I can be reached at 212 792 6193 or via email at your convenience. [email protected] hope to have the honor of welcoming you back again soon.Kind regards,General ManagerThe Setai Club & Spa 40 Broad Street – 3rd FloorNew York, New York 10004T (212) 792-6193 M (646) 319-8374F (212) 363-5423www.setaiclubnewyork.com http://www.SHOShaunHergatt.com

  2. Nancy

    Public venting options, if you’re still feeling the urge: Copy paste from here and plop that onto their Yelp and CitySearch pages with a One- or No-star rating. I just had a crappy facial with ‘tude elsewhere that required a visit to the dermie to correct the damage, so I wasn’t going to let that slide. If nothing else, it felt good ;-)On the upside, I complained to Groupon, which was why I was there in the first place, and they refunded my $$. Excellent customer service over there, despite their meteoric rise to fame.And, yes, IMHO a yuck gut feeling at the get-go is usually not to be ignored. I also had one as soon as I walked into that other place. Good luck, Joanne!

    1. Gotham Gal

      Thanks Nancy. Believe me I am in general an easy customer. They did nothingat all to help with lunch options and if they had paid any attention in thefirst place then we wouldn’t have got to where we ended up.What I should have done is paid and left and then called American Express tohave them deduct payment for services not rendered.Arrgghh

  3. ellen

    Instead of offering you a free massage they should offer to refund the horrible day. If you had a horrible time, why go back? You are not going to waste your time for another bad experience.

    1. Gotham Gal

      There should have absolutely been some financial compensation. I wouldn’treturn there ever

      1. Nancy

        Ellen has a point. And, truth be told, I was thinking “One lousy massage — can you spare it??!!” when I read General Manager’s reply. A soup-to-nuts spa day for three people at a four-star locale should be hitch-free — not a source of angst from start to finish and beyond.It doesn’t much matter what their reputation is if they didn’t deliver — by a long shot. They may not offer a full refund, but I’d certainly ask. (Smaller tab, but I’m really glad I asked Groupon).It’s going to cost GM a lot more in lost biz, if you go more public with your experience. If he’s smart, he should oblige in an effort to make things right — or rightish — a birthday only happens once a year — you can’t grab it back for a do-over.

      2. artyowza

        I would have sent flowers also.Or offered to make an auction donation to support the children’s school……

  4. Britta

    I follow the Setai Spa very closely and was surprised to see your comments when it came up in my google alerts. I’m sorry you didn’t have a good experience, although I find it hard to believe it could possibly be so bad. My husband and I live at the Ritz Carlton in Westchester, so I know the level of class and customer service that is expected from a 5 Star Spa, that is why I frequently take my girlfriends, clients and family to The Setai Spa on Wall street. I couldn’t live farther from them but the level of service and quality of the staff and their services is as good at the Ritz, if not better! The staff there knows me by name and they are always going above and beyond to make sure my experience is enjoyable, they’re amazing! The best Facials in Manhattan hands down – which is hard to come by in the city as there are very few good spas!I also read the General Managers comments and it sounds like the staff went far and beyond to accommodate you, but is sounds like there was no pleasing you….the fact that he took the time to call you, shows the level of customer service they posses. For anyone who may actually read this blog, take it from a loyal Setai Customer you should try them! You won’t be disappointed.And one last comment – I don’t get why you would think a refund would be required – sounds like all you missed was lunch – which you decided you didn’t want and I assume didn’t pay for since you didn’t have it.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Believe me they did not try to help or accommodate us for lunch. It was acomplete debaucle. The facialist was great but she did a few extra thingsfor my daughters which they had know idea that they were extra charges.The facilities are wonderful but the follow thru was abysmal. They screwedup the appointments tooTrust me, I am a pretty easy going low maintenance customer. It takes a lotto piss me off

      1. Mary Foden

        Hi Joanne, This blog entry of yours stayed in my mind as I was working with the Mandarin Oriental to package up a spa day to offer for groups for Luxset.com. Luxset, a website that I co-founded, is a platform where groups can find great things to do together and split the cost of those activities on a per-person basis. For our spa party package, we put together a four hour package that includes a treatment and lunch, plus scheduled time to enjoy the spa’s amenities.  I probably should have asked you if you’d mind beforehand, but I mentioned your blog on the Setai spa experience in a blog post earlier today:http://www.tumblr.com/tumbl… I hope you don’t mind, but if you do, of course please let me know. I think that your bad experience highlighted how hard and problematic planning a seemingly simple and lovely spa day can be. Really love your blog! Warm regards,Mary Foden

        1. Gotham Gal

          Thanks Mary. Feel free to use my post

  5. Nancy

    You have GoogleAlerts set up to track your spa — where you’re on a first name basis with everyone? That’s coming up in my ShillAlerts. This blog has an Alexa ranking in the 200,000s, so a ton of people read it.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Nice nancy

    2. Britta

      Yes, I’m in Media/Marketing, I get Google alerts on several businesses, especially when I send my clients and friends to these businesses.

  6. charlessmith

    a bit late here, but this mirrors my wife’s experience exactly. they had her reservation but were running so late she had to leave! They offered a free massage to make it right, but she has no desire to go back.

    1. Gotham Gal

      thanks for chiming in. confirming.