Reviews of Ai-Ais Hot Springs Spa
(80%) From 4 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
| 
Ai-Ais Hot Springs Spa review
This was the one mistake of our trip.
The place had a lot of litter around. Reception a bit unhelpful.
The rooms are built around the spa pool in a concrete block and it is all very noisy with a lot of door slamming which echoes awfully
Ai-Ais Camp a pleasant surprise
After a dusty drive over rough roads into Fish River, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive at Ai-Ais and find not so much a 'restcamp', but more a 'resort'.
There are camping facilities here also, but we stayed in rooms in the main block which were excellent - spacious and comfortable, air-conditioned. There is a series of indoor pools in this main block, varying in temperature, great to relax in. An outdoor pool is also available.
The meals were good, although we decided our men needed to learn the fine art of cooking on a braai. The kitchen staff were great and loaned us some equipment. Overall this place exceeded our expectations.
Hot Springs Cold Reception!
We were very disappointed to be told on arrival that the bush chalet we had booked was not available as the accommodation was still being worked on. We were offered a free dinner by way of compensation which we did not want as we had been looking forward to self catering for the night and had our own supplies. As an alternative, the receptionist said her supervisor might be able to organise a treatment at the spa instead but she would need to check. The room we were given was well designed and equipped but no substitute for the chalet with its cooking facilities and jacuzzi.
We had to chase up the question of the treatment with the supervisor ourselves when noone got back to us and he assured us that we could have a complimentary treatment each. This proved difficult to achieve when there was noone to take bookings at the spa and when we finally spoke to the therapist she seemed reluctant and disinterested, sighing and rolling her eyes impatiently. This carried through to the actual treatments which were much shorter than scheduled and of poor quality in any event with the therapist inexplicably leaving the room at times and using her mobile during the treatment time. Certainly no substitute for the downgraded accommodation and not something we would have been happy to pay for at the published price either!
We enjoyed the other camp facilities including the springs themselves and had an enjoyable breakfast with friendly waiting staff who restored our faith after our difficult and almost unpleasant experience at the spa . It was obvious that the chalets (and some other areas ) were effectively a building site still and we couldn't understand why it had not been made known beforehand that the booked accommodation would not yet be available.
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
