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Best and worst UK spa hotel chains for 2026
An Orwell prize-nominated investigative journalist, Kate lives in Portugal and covers news, travel rules, tourist taxes and visas.
There’s good news and bad news, according to our spa hotel chains survey of over 1,745 spa hotel guests.
The good news is that UK spa breaks don’t have to be expensive. Your three favourite spa hotel brands from our survey are Brend, Bespoke and Hilton, and all cost, on average, under £190 per night. That even includes luxurious escapes with infinity pools overlooking the Cornish sea, bucolic hideaways, and urban retreats in the city centre.
The bad news is that if you’ve booked a spa getaway lately, it’s likely you overpaid — in our survey of 2,502 spa stays, 66% of customers paid full price. But it’s easy to book strategically and find discounts, including at Which? Recommended Providers.
Some trustworthy holiday deal sites like Which? Recommended Provider Travelzoo do a good job of aggregating off-peak packages. We knocked £147 off a two-night stay at WRP Brend’s Saunton Sands, including breakfast, dinners and a bottle of wine. Just make sure you’ve checked restrictions and the cancellation policies before booking.
Another WRP deal site Luxury Escapes offers negotiated rates and deals, often on higher end stays. We saved hundreds on a two-night getaway for two at Raffles London, including breakfast, an afternoon-tea experience and champagne on arrival, at £1,629. Booking direct, it would have cost £2,480, without afternoon tea or welcome drinks.
Free hotel loyalty accounts can also lower rates. An All Accor account offers 10% off, Hilton offers spa discounts on certain tiers, and Marriott Bonvoy allows ‘instant redemption’ on points towards spa bookings.
Try checking in on Sunday or midweek, and off-season (think UK coastal destinations during the winter). And skip pricey ‘spa breaks’ with bundled treatments and dinners which can bump up the price. Instead, call the hotel to confirm if spa access is included in a room-only or bed and breakfast rate. All our WRPs, below, do. Read on to find out where we saved over £300 with this method.
This article first appeared in Which? Travel magazine. We don't accept freebies from travel companies, airlines or hotels, so you can be sure that our investigations, recommendations and reviews are completely unbiased.
Best and worst UK spa hotel chains
| £186 | 79% | |||||||||
(377) | £143 | 79% | ||||||||
| £177 | 78% | |||||||||
| £316 | 78% | |||||||||
| £278 | 78% | |||||||||
| £215 | 77% | |||||||||
(192) | £196 | 77% | ||||||||
(134) | £220 | 76% | ||||||||
(30) | £143 | 76% | ||||||||
(83) | £118 | 75% | ||||||||
(232) | - | 75% | ||||||||
(190) | £151 | 74% | ||||||||
| £198 | 73% | |||||||||
(99) | - | 73% | ||||||||
(48) | £90 | 70% | ||||||||
| £127 | 70% |
USING THE TABLE Based on a July 2026 survey of 1,745 Which? Connect panel members and members of the public, covering 2,502 stays at UK spa hotel brands/chains in the past two years. Data is unweighted and may not be representative of UK spa hotel guests. Sample sizes in brackets. Which? Recommended Provider (WRP): based on customer score and other criteria. Average price mean lowest rate per double room per night based on three most visited locations for each calendar month. ‘–’ indicates insufficient pricing data to generate an average price. Customer score combines overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend.
“When booking, make sure you check if the spa is actually included. In our survey, 36% of spa hotel visitors were charged extra to access the spa – Hilton and Celtic Connection missed out on WRP status because they charge extra at some properties. Meanwhile, Eden Collection slaps a discretionary 7.5% service charge on check-out.”
Which? Recommended rated UK spa hotel chains
Brend Collection, 79%, WRP
Average price per night: £186
From the lavish Himalayan salt rooms, cedar saunas, heated ceramic loungers and crushed ice fountains, you’d never know the Brend family business started out as a butcher’s. A motel followed and, four generations later, the name is synonymous with coastal luxury. It now has two Cornish spa hotels in Falmouth and St Austell, two in North Devon’s Barnstaple and Saunton, and a fifth in Sidmouth, South Devon.
Guests appreciated Brend hotel locations, which offer easy access to the beach and ‘fantastic views’, along with comfortable, tastefully decorated rooms. Many customers also praised the brand’s ‘exceptionally warm and attentive’ approach to ‘premium service’. One called it ‘luxurious and top-notch like no other’. 84% of Brend guests in our survey booked without any sort of discount, compared to an average of 66% elsewhere, so do shop around for deals.
Verdict Stunning stays in top coastal locations, with luxurious spa options and thoughtful service
Bespoke Hotels, 78% WRP
Average price per night: £177
You may not be familiar with the name, as Bespoke is a hotel management company that develops and operates existing hotels. But guests loved the way it runs properties, calling Bespoke ‘trustworthy’, ‘reliable’ and ‘reputable’. One told us that Bespoke is ‘really consistent in everything they do’.
Customers described ‘beautiful’, ‘tranquil’ and ‘perfect’ locations and places that were ‘ideal for relaxation’, and many praised the staff’s readiness to help and ability to anticipate customer needs. It’s also a little cheaper than some competitors, with guests describing it as ‘luxury at the right price’ and ‘better value for money than other spa hotels I have visited’. Not all of its spa hotels have the full spread of saunas, steam rooms and treatments, so check before you book.
Verdict Top-class, relaxing stays at a fair price
More top-rated UK spa hotel chains
Hilton, 79%
Average price per night: £143
For those craving a sauna and excellent night’s sleep in a ‘serenity bed’ with 300 thread-count sheets, London Heathrow T5 mightn’t spring to mind. But that’s the strength of the Hilton megabrand. Its spa hotels are everywhere (30 in the UK, across its various brands), offering praiseworthy service at scale.
Facilities and ambiance vary. Upscale hotels like the DoubleTree Harrogate Majestic Hotel & Spa, in an 1889 historic house, offers acres of gardens, an LED ‘starlit’ pool, salt sauna and steam room. London Hilton Heathrow Terminal 5, might delight weary travellers with its thermal suite, or disappoint keen swimmers with its glorified hot tub.
But respondents consistently told us about ‘very relaxing’ spa stays in ‘clean and comfortable rooms’ that were ‘good value for money’. Disappointingly, some Hilton hotels charge extra for the spa and pool, and it isn’t always obvious. Only on Cardiff Hilton’s spa page does it mention a charge of £5 pp for 90 minutes. Liverpool DoubleTree charges a brazen £25 per hour.
Verdict Convenient, with top-notch customer service – but double-check whether spa access is included.
Celtic Collection, 78%
Average price per night: £278
This sybaritic collection comprises Welsh properties across Newport, Pembrokeshire, Cardiff and St Davids began with Celtic Manor. The flagship opened in 1999 to stage the inaugural Wales Open golf tournament, and has since hosted a Ryder Cup and the 2014 Nato summit. Fit for presidents and world-class athletes alike, its five properties are expensive but offer stylish facilities and original spa treatments.
At Celtic Manor, you can swim off the day’s golf exertions while gazing up at a trompe-l’œil skyscape fresco or partake in a herb-infused steam ritual, complete with mud masks and ‘tropical’ rain. At Pembrokeshire’s St Brides Spa Hotel, hop between stylish thermal cabins and unwind in a glamorous pool overlooking the sea.
Outrageously, given the room rates, spa and leisure access isn’t complimentary at all of its hotels – at The Parkgate in Cardiff, you’ll pay between £30 and £43 per person, per visit.
Verdict Indulgent Welsh escapes with coastal, countryside and city locations, but watch for extra costs.
For spa trips on a budget
Best Western Hotels and Resorts, 75%
Average price per night: £118
Maybe a certain type of no-frills hotel springs to mind when you hear the words ‘Best Western’. And while Best Western Hotels & Resorts (BWHR) does offer budget stays, its portfolio also includes manor houses, sprawling estates and even castles.
Take Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel – a Jacobean manor house rumoured to have been visited by Queen Elizabeth I – which has 18th-century walled gardens and a Thai spa with a plentiful treatment menu. You can book a room on its website without seeing the words ‘Best Western’ once.
But BWHR is good for budget breaks. It is rated significantly better than Mercure, and is only £28 more per night on average. For the cheapest stay, skip its spa packages, which upsell extras. We knocked more than £300 off the price of a two-night stay for two at The Dartmouth, originally £545.
Verdict Spa breaks that won’t break the bank
Is a Champneys spa break worth it?
According to our research, only if you snag a bargain. One of Britain’s most famous and historic spa brands, Champneys began in Tring, as a health farm offering holistic ‘nature cures’ more than a century ago. Today, this ethos means that alongside treatments, saunas and whirlpools, its four resorts offer extras like personal training, meals, bike rental and sleep and nutrition advice.
In most cases, Champneys stays are packages, and with various member discounts and partner deals, the amount guests spend varies vastly.
Booking direct, an overnight Original Spa Break for one in Tring on 19 December was £357, including meals and spa access. But partners like Vitality insurance offer 75% off one to three-day breaks, bringing the cost to £87.
Champneys also has two hotels bookable for room only, but spa facilities cost more. That may be why some customers described feeling disappointed by ‘worn out’ buildings and overcrowding.
One respondent told us they visit annually but wait for discounts and wouldn’t pay full price. As another customer put it: ‘It was a special deal, so I can’t complain about the facilities.’