I don’t even know where to begin with this experience. I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend in the small city of downtown Indianapolis. The city has the 2nd most monuments (Washington D.C has the most) and was awesome to visit. The last thing on my agenda was a spa day at was is considered one of the most prestigious hotels of downtown. The Conrad Indianapolis is apparently the only onsite hotel spa. So why not schedule a massage, body scrub, and facial? Sounds like a perfect Sunday.
I went online to schedule my appointments and I started to have second thoughts. When looking for the massage services, the picture of the “Massage” tab has a therapist with bright blue nail polish on her long nails. As a licensed Massage Therapist, painting nails, much less having long nails, is extremely unprofessional. Thousands of dead skin cells fall of our arms daily. Can you imagine how many clients’ dead skin cells get caught under the nail polish? That can lead to nail fungus. So gross. And who wants a massage with someone with long nails? Ouch! Needless to say, it was not the best marketing image to gain a buy-in for their spa.
But I wanted to check out the hotel spa and scheduled anyways. Plus, I was overdue for a massage. So I called and scheduled a half day of self-care including a full body scrub, a 90- minute massage, and a fascial for my bo and me. And because we were going to be there that long, we had the option to eat by the indoor pool. How cool is that? The lady on the phone was very helpful and kind and scheduled it all. When we arrived, we walked through the beautiful spa doors and was immediately greeted by the lady who happened to have been the same lady that scheduled the sessions for me. She checked us in for the day then handed us the menus for Capital Grill (restaurant attached to the hotel) and Conrad’s room service menu. We were able to choose whatever we wanted from either menu.
After we made our order, an employee escorted us to the locker rooms. Since I had not been there before, she kindly walked me in and instructed me on how to use the lock on the locker. After we robed up and put our belongings away, we went back in the hall to relax in the waiting lobby. The lobby was nice and quiet with relaxing spa music surrounding the atmosphere. Few minutes later, two employees walked in, introduced themselves to us, and escorted us into the couples massage room where all our services took place. My boyfriend’s Massage Therapist asked him all the common massage intake questions. Side note, we didn’t fill out any intake or general liability forms. My therapist was rather quiet and said very little. When we got into the room, they informed us of the order of our day: Body Scrub first, walk back to the lockers to shower, back to lobby to wait for them to escort us back to the couples massage room for the massage, walk to the pool lounge for lunch, back to the lobby to wait to be escorted for the facials. Ok, awesome!
We de-robed and started face down for the body scrubs. Um…. Ouch. I was starting to question if the person doing my body scrub was a Massage Therapist. It hurt. She rubbed the scrub so hard and fast that I almost asked her to stop. I was also pretty sure that I asked for a scented scrub but didn’t smell anything. But again, this was my first time here. So idk, maybe that’s how it was supposed to feel. But, geez! I couldn’t wait for it to be over. And when it was, we threw our robes back on and headed back into the hall. When there, our therapists walked us back to the lockers. My therapist was so kind! She walked me to the showers and pointed to the first one; she had already turned it on, placed a new robe on the front of the door, new slippers by the door, and even a small container that had the rest of the body scrub in the shower! She said to take my time, enjoy the extra body scrub, and head back to the waiting lobby when I’m done. I felt so special and somewhat spoiled lol!
After my shower, I walked back into the waiting lobby and met my bo. Within a few minutes, two employees walked in to greet us; one was my therapist from the body scrub and the other was a different employee. The same lady that did my body scrub was the same lady that did my massage. The new employee was the Massage Therapist for my bo. As we got back into the couples room, I can hear my bo’s therapist asking the typical massage questions such as, “What brings you in? What areas do you need me to work on? What do you want me to avoid? Etc.” Meanwhile, all my therapist did was instruct me to put my robe in the closet. I had a hunch my therapist was not a real Massage Therapist; so far, no Massage License was displayed in sight, no intake form to complete, and no basic questions were asked.
As the session started, laying face down as most common, I can hear my bo’s therapist talking and saying things like, “I bet I broke up more bar fights than you. I used to be a military guard.” And halfway into the session, I heard her tell him to just breathe. Then later heard my bo say in a grunting voice, “That’s as far as my arm will go!” I tried so hard not to laugh. Clearly he wasn’t getting a relaxational massage like he wanted. Meanwhile, I can tell that my massage wasn’t exactly a professional massage. The strokes were the exact same strokes used during my body scrub. Often times, the pace was fast, too. I truly started questioning if she was a licensed massage therapist or if her employer taught her how to do this.
After the “relaxational” massage session, it was finally over. We robed up for the second time, walked back into the hall and was escorted to the pool where they placed our Capital Grill food order on a table. We had 45 minutes to enjoy our meal and time by the pool. It was a fabulous steak salad with a glass of champagne. Afterwards, we headed back to the waiting lobby and waited for our estheticians so we can receive our facials. And would you believe it, my therapist cam back into the room with another employee. Only to find that my therapist was going to do my bo’s facial and this new looking employee was assigned as my esthetician. Ok…
For the third time, we walked back into the couples massage room. I can tell that both of these estheticians were legit. They asked the appropriate questions, followed the protocol, etc. My esthetician event had products at the front desk that she used during the session. After the session, we robed up for the final time, walked back into the hallway, and was escorted to the locker rooms for the final time. We got dressed, collected our things, then met back up at the front desk where I received my bill in addition to products that my esthetician recommended me buying. Kudos to her for trying to up sale my experience and her commission. However, I could tell that she was the only professionally licensed person that touched me today. I paid the bill and walked out frustrated. The end.
My Take-a-way:
- The website with blue fingernails… I just can’t get past that. This is supposed to be one of the best hotels of Indianapolis and it has one of the most unprofessional massage photos on their website!
- I know a little about Indiana State Statute and the Massage Therapy profession. First, Indiana is a licensed Massage State. In order to practice as a Massage Therapist, he/she must be licensed in the state of Indiana. Two most important requirements is that their massage license is to be physically displayed for the public to see. Second take-a-way from this is that the state statute requires a minimum of six years of records. We should’ve had intake and general liability forms to complete. I guarantee the font desk didn’t know the rules; the previous owners didn’t care either.
- Guarantee my Massage Therapist was not a licensed Massage Therapist. As kind and professional looking as she was, her lack of communication, massage “strokes”, etc was not professional at all. The body scrub was painful and the massage strokes were exactly the same. Plus, I wasn’t asked a single question about what I needed worked on, what to avoid, etc. At least she knew how to do my bo’s facial lol.
Overall
The ambiance, food, locker rooms, etc was wonderful. The pool looked nice. The hot tub was out of order, but the gym was open. As nice as everyone was, I don’t think the staff there knows the state statute/rules for the state. There seems to be some employees that are licensed and some that are not. Regardless, the management nor owner(s) clearly either don’t know of Indiana’s rules or they simply don’t care. As a licensed Massage Therapist, this was an embarrassing visit. I feel terrible for those licensed in Indiana. This experience gave a bad rep for those who are licensed. As wonderful as the ambiance was, the body scrub and massage was one of the worst that I have ever experienced. And I can’t believe they charged me the “spa” price for an unlicensed experience. Way overpriced.
