Spa Nalini - Santa Cruz, California

Clover Lee

Booked appointments in advance, prepaid, and no masseuse ever showed up. Didn't even get a courtesy call, text, or email. I planned my entire day around this and it has honestly ruined my evening.

Michelle M

Had the great fortune of getting a massage with Tatiana today. She really explained why I was having neck issues and helped relieve and release the pain. She truly knows what she is doing! Great healing work!! 10/10

Jenny Bolger

I made a reservation for myself and two of my friends (girls out of state get-a-way weekend) 45 days in advance of our trip to Santa Cruz. I was assured all of us would have a massage therapist on site for our treatments. The day before and on the day of our appointments we received reminder texts messages/emails about arriving 15-30 minutes early so we could get checked in and enjoy the amenities. All was good until we arrived at the spa.

My massage was scheduled for 10:30am so I arrived at 10am. The door to the spa was barely cracked open with no one around. We made our way in and were greeted by a note to grab some tea and someone would be with us shortly. It felt a bit strange with no one around but we rolled with it. The waiting area is not typical - computer screens and office equipment visible but it was clean and tidy.

Thirty minutes pass and still nothing - it's now past our appointment time.

A male therapist comes in (just arriving for his shift, I assume), says "hi" and keeps on walking to the back. Eventually the manager came out - with gloves on her hands and it was obvious she was in the middle of a treatment with another customer. She apologized and said she could get one of us in now so my friend went back. The other two of us had to wait - but she offered for me to go lay down in the meantime. I agreed and was taken to my treatment room.

Never was I shown around the spa - no clue where anything was - never got to see the steam room, sauna, nothing. I'm not even sure they exist. I got ready for my massage and waited, and waited, and waited. At least 30 minutes pass and at that point I had to use the restroom and get some water. I had to completely re-dress because I was never given a robe. I went to the hallway to get water - but there were no cups. So I went back up to the front where my other friend was still waiting to be serviced to grab a coffee cup. Still no spa staff in site.

I went back to my treatment room, waited some more and could hear the manager talking to my other friend that was waiting (you can easily hear through the walls). I later found out that the other therapist was a no-show so my friend decided to leave. Ugh. We had plans later in the day and due to time constraints she could not wait around. The manager performed my massage and it was good. The equipment in the room was top notch. But, the lights were never dimmed, no aromatherapy was offered and the atmosphere certainly did not feel spa-like. Due to how long it took to get started, I had to decrease my treatment from 80 minutes to 60 minutes.

All of us were looking forward to our spa day. Unfortunately, It was not what we expected and overall a very disappointing, expensive, experience.

Tina Brox

Not your typical massage experience. Tatiana is a gem. It's worth the money. To call her a massage therapist is not doing her justice. She is highly trained in all ayurvedic practices and knows her stuff. I would highly recommend Spa Nalini and thank you, Tatiana, for enlightening me!

Courtney Brown

We made a reservation for a couple’s massage two weeks in advance of arriving. We came from out of town and was staying at the courtyard for the convenience of relaxing. When we arrived at the spa, the door was locked and no one was present. We came 10 minutes early and thought maybe they’d just come right at appointment time so went back to our room and came back right on time. Still no one so we went to the hotel front desk to ask. Front desk attendant had to ask management and then came back to us with some confusing response about someone being in an accident and they’d call me with more info asap. 30 minutes later, nothing. I called the spa number and nothing so called the front desk and was put on hold until we got disconnected. I called back and never got through so went down to the front desk again. Someone came out from behind the desk as the spa tech and asked what questions she could answer for me, oblivious of our situation. I told her about our appointments, she walked us up, and ended up accommodating us - one at a time so not only did we start 45 minutes late, but the appointment took twice as long. We got a different reason for no one being present to do our massages. It was handled really poorly from hotel and communication with spa. We weren’t asked any questions about our booked services (I am 6 months pregnant so when I was asked to lay face down on the table, I had to point out that wasn’t possible.) The facility is beautiful and clean, but the quality of service was low and we were so disappointed with how it affected our day and baby moon experience.

Sally Mah

Beautiful new Spa! The staff was nice, the amenities were clean and the Ayurvedic massage treatment was incredible. I will be visiting this Spa again!

Danny Rogers

Wonderful staff and an INCREDIBLY relaxing environment. Easily the best spa experience I’ve ever had.