If your up for a phsycological challenge....It's your call (Colon Cleanse & Detox Retreat Marbella)

Member Name: tragas

Product:	Colon Cleanse & Detox Retreat Marbella
Date:	15/02/06 (1103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ........................?

Disadvantages: If your up for a physiological challenge....It's your call

I booked to stay at Detox Marbella (Vortex Vitaal) in Autumn 05. I traveled from Greece to stay at the RETREAT.

I was very disappointed with the whole experience. For a start, my room didn't have it's own bathroom. I had booked and paid for a room with its own bathroom , and their website clearly advertises, (and still advertises) an en-suite bathroom, but I did not find out until I got there, that the bathroom I had was just off the living room. This was not very private, especially as it was the only bathroom that was not en-suite to a bedroom. This meant other guests wanted to use it too. Out of politeness, I would not have refused other guests from using my bathroom, but this was clearly not what I was expecting.

The room was at road level and although the website says this is a retreat and a UNESCO site, it is a construction site, with Cement wagons going past all day, and the noise was horrendous. At night, all I could hear was the sound of a British family, who were permanent residents arguing in the apartment below. The kids were clearly unhappy with their new home, and I got to hear every argument, which was not conducive to a peaceful break.

As for the resort itself their website says RETREAT, this was just an apartment in a modern development, miles from the nearest town, with no services to the town. There was no way you could walk up and down, as the road was winding and dangerous, even though it was only a few miles by car.

Their website says the resort is a retreat, which to me and most people means you will have the space for silence, but the RETREAT is actually a Townhouse, which I had to share with up to six others, and there was no place to relax other than my bedroom, which didn’t even have its own toilet.

The owners attitude made me feel like I was in Kindergarten, and felt like I was always breaking the ”rules”. I am easy going and get along with everyone, but I was totally disappointed with her attitude towards me, and other guests, and I got to the point I just hid away in my room, rather than argue with her, as she refused to listen to my concerns, or the concerns of the girls who I was sharing with.

I was there for a detox and to do colonics, I have a bowel problem especially when I stress, she knew about that. and I never went the bathroom for days when I was there, but she couldn’t advise me at all.

I know that juice should be fresh and drank immediately, and I make my own fresh vegetable juices all the time at home but the other guests and I were not allowed to make our own juice and therefore drink it fresh before it oxidised. I did not want to drink the juice which had been made hours earlier, as it was fermenting, and you could see the fermentation on the jug of juice, especially the apple juice.

The owner charged us to get to the Mall, and I met a client there who had asked me to buy her two apples as she wanted them, but she was not allowed to take them. I think this was outrageous as the girl had a journey to undertake and wanted to avoid eating airport and airline food, but it would have cost her a fee to go to the supermarket to get them.

One day, I even got ROYAL shit for hand squeezing 6 grapes! I squeezed them so I could drink one of the detox supplements, the damn black powder stuff, because I couldn't down it with water or her fermented juice, which was only made in the morning and in the evening. This stuff was gross, it was impossible to take, and the grape juice made it a little easier.

I met a few people mostly from UK while I was in Detox Marbella. I met some single girls from the UK, and two couples, again all living in the UK (one was Australian though). One of the girls I was living with, was upset that they could not get the owners to set them up for the colonics which were promised via their website, and they ended up setting them up themselves , and clearing away afterwards, without telling the owners, which was madness. It got that bad, they even bought their own coffee, to do colonics on the quiet in the evening, so that the owners could not tell that their coffee supply had gone down, as they kept a detailed count of every supplement.




The owner advertises that she will arrange shopping trips for a minimum of two guests, and she will, but it is totally down to her timetable. She even charged me when she was dropping off her daughter and I was queing for over 30 minutes in a supermarket to get some apples for the girls I was staying with, so they had something to eat on their journey home.

Detox Marbella do one week and two week cleanses, but if you go for an odd number of days, they charge you for the day of arrival and the day of departure. They do not give you any supplements and this is a con. We didn’t have to do anything on the first day, other than not eat, but the supplements are restricted, and as a hotel owner, the rates they charge per day are obscene as they only give you a bed, and don’t give you any supplements, other than their juices, which were watered down, old, and stale. We lost a day as the owner was going back and forth picking up people at the airport, we arrived at 2pm and went up to the R E S O R T!! and she left again to go pick up the 3rd one, meanwhile we are left to familiarize ourselves at the BEACH side spa" Anyhow we didn't have anything or do anything the first day was a waste, only got Oxypowder and were tucked into bed lol.

I would have expected that they had rules about chemicals like in toiletries but there were none, we were not educated on skin brushing or not using chemicals as these are not useful in a total detox.

The owner practically forced her guests to write comments in her guest book, but I told her I would send her a comment on line, which I didn’t do. I know that guests found this very intimidating, as the idea of the book is for positive comments, just as I have a positive comment book in the hotels I run in Greece.

There were meant to be 2 colonics a day, but when I got there I was told there was one every two days. If you are on a seven day cleans, you only get two. I gave up arguing, and felt the number of colonics was not worth it, because on this type of program they should be done daily., the Oxypowder supplement was being prescribed at a dosage of around half of what the manufacturer suggested. When I challenged the dosage with her, she removed the tablet container from the cupboard and the dosage was counted out to all clients every night…I just felt she was counting the cost more than how much she cared about the health of the clients she had staying.

When you did a colonic, the tube which was brand new, and sterilized, was the hard plastic type. This was really uncomfortable, when you are trying to do a self administered colonic. It is possible to buy tubes which are flexible and easier to use.

I own several hotels in Greece, and have been in the hospitality business practically all my life, I have traveled the extensively and have never experienced a well setup SCAM as Detox Marbella. We have to view the passport of all guests staying. Detox Marbella (they took it away from the premises to make photocopies, and brought back to us the next day) whereas in my hotel we would have taken a copy and returned it to the guest right away. As it is illegal in our country to keep any persons passport!
The Passport was taken from us withing 15 minutes upon arrival at the so called “Retreat” just minutes after asking for the CASH ONLY balance which is 50% of the fee. “She made sure to point us out to the Cash machine at the airport just in cash we didn’t have enough CASH to give you, as that is all she accepted. No license of her “business was presented nor visible anywhere in the townhouse. There was NO phone in the townhouse. I mentioned to a few of the girls. What would we do if a fire broke out or there was an health emergency with one of the clients staying there? Nothing to such affect was ever mentioned, or discussed by the owners. My mobile phone had a horrible connection and everytime I needed to make a call I had to go outdoors. Nice security and emergency features?
As you see The things I have mentioned are not something you would need to think about when your on a “RETREAT”

Although they state they are not Medical Advisers on their website, There were no health questions, No questions about Allergic reactions. Nothing other than a mere question of “Did you do the Pre Detox as per her instructions sent to us via email”, No Hospital telephone number, but then again there wasn’t a landline telephone in the townhouse. At one time when we did have a minor emergency of being locked out of the house we called her mobile phone numerous times before we finally got a hold of her nearly an hour afterwards.

“Beware of the owner flashing her “Diet Pepsi” in front of you while YOUR on a DETOX”

Summary: No Referals from me on this establishment