Unfortunately, I have to give my most recent experience a one-star review.
For context, I have gone to many spas and experienced many different massage styles both in the US and abroad.
I came to Thy Spa a few months ago where I received a massage from a masseuse (whom I will call by her first initial, 'E'). The facilities are clean, and there is hot tea and snacks, which are nice. The massage with E wasn't bad, so I decided to come back today to try a different masseuse (I'll use her first initial, 'J').
The front desk booked my massage for a "Head, Shoulder, Back" massage at $110, 60 minutes, for a Monday.
Things started out really well. J was friendly and I thought I might like to come back to her as a return client. I told her my problem areas were my shoulder blade area and that I needed a lot of work for tension in my back.
Here's what I experienced: Elbow in the back at the same 5 points in my back, over and over for about 20 minutes. Here's the extra strange part: between each application of the elbow, she would feel around on my back lightly (almost like a light tickle) trying to find something. I wasn't sure if she was actually trying to find a problem spot or just trying to fill up the time, because I have *never* experienced this before. Literally half the time was her brushing her fingers around on my back instead of actual massage.
After the elbow-patting-back routine, she then told me to flip onto my side where she proceeded to do the same - feel around with her hands lightly, almost like tickling me, and then applying an elbow in my side around the armpit area. It was very strange and I don't see what this had to do with treating my back or shoulders. I told her I was also ticklish on my side where she was working, but she proceeded to keep going.
After 30 minutes into the service, I was feeling a little fed up and was tempted to leave. But I decided to share again, gently, that I really could use some more help with my upper back. In response, in the last 10 minutes or so of the service, she had me flip on my back again and repeated the elbow-in-back-patting move.
Overall, she probably got to about 30% of my upper back area - no exaggeration. Then she said the service was done and left the room. I felt tenser after service than before. At least E was nice enough to offer some water.
I feel really ripped off. This was maybe comparable to a chair massage you'd get in a mall -- and I've even had better there. Definitely not worth the $110.
After the service, I politely conveyed my concerns to the front desk. The woman suggested that it was a matter of client preference and that I could be happier with a different masseuse. While I agree I would be much happier with a different provider, I'm also concerned that the person I received service from also wasn't qualified for the job. It felt like she had no idea what a proper back massage entailed -- helping remove tension, knots, so forth...listening to the client.
Overall, I'm disappointed. If anyone were to ask me and insisted on going to this spa, I would say stay away from booking J. read more