Miraval Arizona

This was my sixth visit to Miraval Arizona—and my second visit in two months—but it ended up being the visit from hell. I brought my mother to celebrate her birthday because she knew how much I loved Miraval, and I wanted her to finally experience it for herself. When we arrived, I was surprised by the amount of construction taking place. The stream that normally runs through the center of the property had been drained and they were working on it, and the gym pool was also empty. Neither of those things would have been a major issue on its own. What was unacceptable was the constant jackhammering throughout our entire stay. While lying at the Oasis pool, the construction noise was so overwhelming that I had to wear noise-canceling headphones just to relax. People couldn't stand being at the pool because of the noise. I spoke with another guest who had been forced to move rooms because the noise was so bad. I thought we were in the clear because our room wasn't as close to the pool but low and behold, we awoke to tree trimmers shredding trees right outside our windows. You couldn't escape the noise no matter where you were on property. I understand that summer is Miraval’s low season and that maintenance must be completed at some point. However, it felt as though the property had decided that because one project would be disruptive, they might as well complete every possible noisy project at the same time—with little consideration for the guests still paying thousands of dollars to stay there. Regardless, I just gave them grace and just let it go. Unfortunately, the construction was not even the worst part of our experience. The night we flew home to California, my mother became violently ill. I'm not talking about something she ate didn't agree with her. At first, I hoped it would pass, but within two days she was HOSPITALIZED and diagnosed with confirmed SEVERE salmonella poisoning. The ER nurse couldn't believe how bad her sample levels were. Based on the timing and the fact that we had eaten all of our meals at Miraval, we knew she was exposed there. It's impossible to know what food exactly got her sick (that's the beauty of Miraval, you can stop by the smoothie bar, order a snack at the Oasis pool, eat lunch at the restaurant, munch at the bar, and then eat dinner at the restaurant), but since much of Miraval’s food is served buffet-style, except at dinner, the situation is especially troubling. This isn't the story of an eggshell patient -- my mother is fit and otherwise healthy, yet she became so sick that she could not keep fluids down for more than a couple of minutes. The emergency-room doctors were shocked by the severity of her condition, and she remained hospitalized for four days until she could finally begin retaining fluids. All the money I spent taking her there was out the window since the spent the week after our trip living in a hospital (and I wasn't even the patient whose body had been put through torture). Public Health authorities from California and Arizona started blowing up my phone in the ER while we were waiting for her hospital room to open up, begging me to put in complaints. It was surreal. In the end, this experience completely negated the thousands of dollars I spent taking her to Miraval to celebrate, relax, and rejuvenate. Management’s response was essentially that she was the only case they knew of and that the matter had been reported to Hyatt corporate (who to date has not reached out). When I explained that the entire purpose and expense of the trip had been undone by what happened, the general manager told me that, should I decide to return at a later date, she would “take care of me.” The lady I spoke to who got her room moved because of noise was credited money for her stay but my mom is hospitalized for 4 days and they just take an "incident report"? A vague promise to take care of me in the future (if I ever decide to return) is just not enough. After watching my mother become dangerously ill and spend four days in the hospital, I cannot even consider returning. I am also left wondering whether other guests have experienced similar illnesses over the years and received the same response. What was intended to be a special birthday celebration became a frightening and incredibly expensive ordeal. What a devastating waste of money and time. You've been warned, eat carefully.

Miraval is a wonderful experience for anyone wanting to get away from the everyday. The spa services, the classes and the fitness classes are excellent. The food is also very good for a health resort. My friend and I had been to Canyon Ranch in Tucson a few years ago and prefer Miraval. We'll definitely be back.

Amazing experience would do it ten times over. The food was amazing, the staff was all bought into the experience and the culture.

I came as a solo traveler because I thought this would be a great place for solo traveling. Unfortunately, my experience did not meet my expectations. Thestaff was not particularly welcoming or helpful. There are many days where I would sit in the restaurant waiting to get someone to take my order no one would come by four out of five times I had to flag someone down. the spa was nice and I did go a few times, but the quality of massages was inconsistent. One day. I had a great experience the next day. It felt completely unprofessional when I expressed my concern to the second masseuse about the massage positioning on my belly because I’m pregnant she said I’ve been doing this for 20 years so I know what I’m doing. The most disappointing experience is my psychic reading with Alexandra. I went in looking for healing and left feeling completely disrespected and dismissed. Not only did she end our session 10 minutes early, but she claimed that she wasn’t getting anyone coming through for me and so she made up some generic answers and forced those down my throat a bit. I left feeling worse honestly and can’t believe she’s such a highly regarded healer there. I did really enjoy the all inclusive aspect and I loved my honey tasting class with the resident beekeeper. Otherwise the classes felt lackluster and not valuable.

Miraval was a wonderful retreat with a myriad of offerings from basic spa offerings to esoteric energy work and treatments. So great for exploring new modalities and experiences.