Sarah Baldwin Horacek

Review of Kempinski Hotel Ishtar, Dead S...

In my trip to Jordan I planned one night for the D...

In my trip to Jordan I planned one night for the Dead Sea and I really wanted to stay at the hotel with the best spa. I ended up choosing Kempinski, and I could not have been more disappointed. The spa is run down and not very nice in general. As a guest, you pay the equivalent of $60 to use the facilities, more if not a guest. I attached a lot of pictures, so you can make your own call. The changing room was really dirty - hairs and dirt on the chairs, mirrors not cleaned, peeling paint, stains/marks on the walls, rusted trash can/towel fixtures, etc. There is a lot of peeling paint, etc in the main spa room as well. You could say things are rusted because of the salty air, but this is supposed to be a five star hotel, use ceramic, plastic, or something that isn't a rust concern. Or use the fees charged to each guest and replace things as they rust.

After checking in and seeing the facility, I decided not to do the spa at all. When I left I forgot my earrings on the shelf of my locker and when I went back to get them, they were gone. I told the manager and he had me meet with the security team, which was quite a production that took over an hour and treated me like I was under investigation. They did not come across as actually caring and just told me things like that don't happen there. So the spa was a bust, the hotel underwhelming, and the loss prevention team unimpressive. I highly recommend choosing a different hotel, maybe see which one was most recently built or renovated. Do not waste your time and money as I did, and I share this because I looked at so many reviews/blogs in trying to make a decision. I hope this ends up helping you.