A guest at the Conrad Maldives went to the spa – for a treatment so bad he says he left with trauma to his neck that led to a 4.6 cm mass made up of scar tissue and clotted vessels, and that he needed surgery to remove it. He calls it a life-altering injury, says he provided Hilton with all his medical records and bills, but that they’ve ghosted him for months.
The good news, though, is that this was a trip to propose to his girlfriend – and she said yes (they’re now married).
1/5 I went to @ConradHotels Maldives to propose to my now wife. I left with a permanent neck injury and surgery after a spa massage went wrong.
What should’ve been the best trip of my life turned into a medical nightmare. A thread on how @HiltonHotels has ghosted me since. pic.twitter.com/BSeC7prtXM
— Andrew (@AHOLMESxyz) January 5, 2026
3/5 My medical team directly linked this 4.6cm mass to the trauma from the Conrad spa.
I’ve shared every medical record and bill with the @HiltonHotels Office of Trust & Risk (OTRI). I’ve done everything right. Their response? Total silence for months. #HiltonHonors #hiltonhotel pic.twitter.com/9dTJetnQbx
— Andrew (@AHOLMESxyz) January 5, 2026
Now, he says this was life-altering, but he doesn’t share enough detail to understand that part – post-surgery, he’d be expected to end up with a scar and possibly mild chronic tightness but not really any ongoing medical limitation. Life-altering would suggest a permanent nerve injury (which could also result from the surgery); a stroke or pulmonary embolism; chronic pain that persists despite healing. The surgery might look different than these photos. So I’m hopeful that it was a nasty, painful episode that required surgey but that he’s largely fine.
But what could have gone wrong here?
I’m not a doctor, but the therapist either applied too much force, put it in the wrong place, did it for too long, or did something closer to manipulation than massage: deep pressure directly over the the neck, sustained compression with an elbow, knuckle, or thumb in one spot long enough to bruise tissue or injure a superficial vein, working through sharp pain instead of backing off.
The scar tissue and thrombosed (clotted) vessels seems a tear or irritation of a superficial neck vein, leading to a clot, the body walls it off and it feels like a lump. Or hard pressure causes a deep bruise that over weeks becomes a mass.
This isn’t a “1 in 100,000 massages” kind of thing. It appears to be so rare that when it happens, it tends to show up in the medical literature. About 10% of massage clients report minor discomfort after a session.
However for a neck vascular injury leading to formation of a mass requiring surgery? That seems to be in the single digits kind of event. There are reportedly tens of millions of massages per year and only tiny numbers of serious massage injuries are reported over long periods of time. But I still think I may avoid high-force work in the neck, and prefer light Swedish massages in that region.
If you’re concerned with risks,
- Ask for Swedish / light to moderate pressure, no deep tissue on the neck, any deep work should be on big muscle groups like glutes, hips and back.
- No neck adjustment or high-velocity thrusts
- Avoid if on blood thinners or have a history of clots
- Any sharp, burning pain stop work in that area immediately.
I imagine that investigating a claim in the Maldives can be time-consuming, and the property may be recalcitrant. However that’s not an excuse for ghosting a guest over $50,000 who’s gone through this.
