Watch out for the spa at Harrah's Rincon!
I recently spent a weekend at Harrah's Rincon.
It is located in northern San Diego county, about 45 miles from San Diego itself.
I recently got some nice offers to stay there, including free room, free food, free play, and $150 free spa credit. Note that "free" is kind of a misnomer here. This wasn't a gift, but rather as an offer because of my heavy play at Caesar's, as is common to give to any Seven Stars member.
The $150 spa credit was good for a "90 minute" massage. This massage is not actually 90 minutes of massage time, but rather a 90-minute block of time where you get massaged for 80 minutes, and the other 10 minutes involve getting undressed, putting your clothes in your locker, walking to the massage room, etc. They told me this in advance and I fully understood.
The only problem was that I was not able to get an appointment for 90 minutes, because it was a busy weekend there and they were full. I reluctantly accepted a 50-minute massage instead, and got on their waiting list in case a 90-minute spot opened up.
On Saturday afternoon, they called me, and informed me that a 90-minute massage spot opened at 9am Sunday morning.
This was perfect, as I had to leave the hotel relatively early (11am-ish). I snap-accepted it.
My appointment time was 9:00am-10:30am. Recall that there are only 80 minutes of massage time, so as long as I got into the massage room by 9:10am, I would get my full 80 minutes of massage. It is this way by design, so people who come at their appointment time have 10 minutes to get ready.
I got down there about 9:08, got undressed, and walked into the massage room. I saw a digital clock on the table reading 9:13, which seemed accurate. Basically, I was 3 minutes late, and knew I'd probably only be getting a 77-minute massage instead of 80, which was obviously no big deal.
My massage therapist was a white woman who appeared to be in her 40s. The massage was okay -- not great, not bad. However, when she announced it was over, it felt like time had flown. It didn't seem at all like 77 minutes had passed.
"I'm going to leave the room while you get dressed. Come out when you're done," she said, exiting the room. This is very standard for the end of massages at spas.
However, one thing wasn't standard at all:
When I got up, I noticed the digital clock had been turned off!
Why on earth would a regular digital clock in the room have been turned off between the time my massage started and ended? It wasn't a timer -- it was an acutal clock. I had no idea what time it was, since my watch and phone were in my locker.
I went out into the locker room, and saw the bad news on my phone: 10:16am
Keep in mind it took me a few minutes to get out up, get out there, and open my locker, so the massage probably ended around 10:13, making it a 60-minute massage!
At this point, I had to figure out what to do. I really didn't feel like getting dressed, going to the front, arguing for my 15-20 minutes I was shorted, and then getting all undressed again just to complete the time they stiffed me. But I was also pissed that they did this, especially since it was a spa located in a Harrah's property, and not some shady back-alley operation where you would expect this sort of thing.
(Keep in mind that the spa is owned by Caesar's, and is NOT a third-party company renting the space.)
I went to the front and the manager happened to be there. I said, "You see it's 10:18 now, right?" She said yes. I said, "I was supposed to have a 90-minute massage. My appointment time was at 9:00. Do the math and you'll see it's impossible for me to be out here talking to you if I wasn't shorted time."
She confirmed that something was indeed wrong, and went to go find the therapist, who "could not be located".
She then came back and said that she could comp me a 50-minute massage later in the day to make up for it. I told her that I had to leave and wouldn't be able to do that. She then gave me her business card where she signed that I could have a free 50-minute massage next time I came back. I wouldn't be back there for at least a few months (maybe longer), but I accepted it. There was nothing else that could be done, since I "paid" for the massage with a comp, and I was leaving immediately afterwards.
I was a bit annoyed that she had me sign for the $150 comp to be transferred to the spa since I didn't really get what I paid for, but I decided not to argue because this was just an internal budgeting thing within Harrah's Rincon, and not really my problem to deal with.
Before I left, I requested one more thing:
"When you do speak to the therapist, can you please find out what happened and call me?"
The manager agreed to do this.
I found the whole situation very odd for a few reasons:
1) My actual massage lasted about 60 minutes. There are no 60-minute massages sold at that spa. They are either 50 or 80. Therefore, there's no way the therapist just got confused and thought she was doing a 50-minute one, as this lasted 60.
2) The clock was on when I got there, but off when she left. This was highly suspicious.
3) Despite being "unable to find" the therapist to question her, the therapist then showed up on the side of the counter as I was talking to the manager, and the manager ignored her. The therapist then walked away after a few minutes.
The manager called me and the conversation went like this:
Manager: I talked to the therapist, and she said the clock was working when she walked out of the room, and it read 10:19. So you were still shorted, but not as much, and she said the clock was on.
Me: It wasn't 10:19. When I was out there talking to you, it was 10:18. How could that be possible?
Manager: I think the clock might have been messed up because of daylight savings time. We've fixed it now.
Me: So why was I shorted?
Manager: I don't know, but I gave you that 50-minute comp massage for next time, so that should make up for it.
Me: So as her manager you didn't bother to ask her why she intentionally quit my massage early and cheated me out of time?
Manager: I think she needed to get ready for the appointment after you at 10:30. You know, change the sheets, stuff like that. You did come in late, remember.
Me: I thought you told me my appointment time was 9-10:30. So that meant if I got in there at 9:10 or any time after, my massage should continue until 10:30, right?
Manager: Yes.
Me: And even she admits to quitting at 10:19, which was more like 10:13. As the spa manager, that seems okay to you?
Manager: Ummm... ummm... well, there was a problem with the clock, and um... well, I made sure it's fixed now.
Me: No, I know what happened. The therapist overbooked and had an appointment at 10:30, so she needed to cut some time off my appointment so she could take a break and prep the room for the next person. And she turned off the clock before walking out, hoping I wouldn't notice that I got cheated.
Manager: Umm.... well.... what would you like me to do for you to make this right?
Me: You knew this the whole time. Why did you lie to me with this ludicrous daylight savings time story? This shouldn't be happening at a spa owned by Caesar's.
Manager: I'd really like to make this right for you in some way. I offered you that 50-minute thing but it seems like maybe you aren't happy with that anymore.
Me: I think I'd like to talk to your boss. Who do you report to?
Manager: The hotel manager.
Me: Tell him I want to talk to him, and have him call me.
The hotel manager didn't call me for the next few hours, even though he was in. I decided to call him at about 4pm. He said he was just about to call me.
Basically, the spa manager lied to him and said that I showed up late for my appointment and was unhappy that I didn't get my full massage time despite that, which obviously is not at all what happened.
I explained the full situation to him, and he believed me by the end. It seemed he was going to take action regarding this, but you never know what actually ends up happening. I asked him what was going to be done for me for this entire mess, and he offered to "repeat the 80 minute massage next time" I come to the property. I accepted this, but asked for the spa to also cover the customary gratuity (that is, the spa will pay the massage therapist what I would otherwise be tipping). He agreed.
I told him that my situation likely wasn't the first, and there's a decent chance the spa is routinely cheating people out of time.
What do I think happened in my case?
I believe the spa knew that I had a $150 voucher and was hungry for it (since Total Rewards transfers that money over to them). However, being unable to get me a 90-minute appointment, they could only have part of it. I am guessing that the therapist originally had a 9-10am appointment and another one at 10:30, but the 9am canceled and opened up. This didn't leave time to prep in between mine and the next one, but they offered it to me anyway, being afraid that it would go unused otherwise. (The spa opens at 9, so it's not that likely someone would be waiting to grab it as a walk-in.) She probably just figured she would short me some time, turn off the clock, and I probably wouldn't notice by the time I went out to the locker room and got all dressed/showered/whatever.
I am guessing that the spa is primarily visited by dumb housewives who don't pay much attention to this sort of thing because their rich husband is footing the bill, so they are used to getting away with shit like this.
I think the whole thing was really dirty, especially turning off the clock so I wouldn't catch them. That's worse than just shorting me time. That's the therapist saying to herself, "I know I'm cheating you, and I'm going to take this extra step so you don't catch me."
