Spa Chakra

A while back, Vanessa and I bought a spa package from Groupon for Spa Chakra at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Ray. On paper, the deal looked great, something like a 70% off. Immediately after the confirmation, we called to book for a weekend, as we knew it was going to be difficult to get a weekend appointment with ~2000 sold….they should really limit it. There is no way one facility can fill this many appointments.

I went with the Fassage, a seamless blend of a facial to clean out pores and a therapeutic massage that wreaks holistic and healing havoc. Vanessa picked the Exceptional Orchidée Impériale treatment, which includes two facial therapies, two masks, and a detoxifying eye contour treatment that uproots even the most stubborn signposts of aging.

I thought with the branding “Ritz-Carlton”, it would be very luxurious. Well, it was nice, but not something I would pay the listed price for, definitely not “out of this world” category. Beside it being in the brand name hotel and by the water in a pricey area, the spa facility itself was ok. For the price it charged the clients, it should have been a 5-stars rating, but it wasn’t.

Our original appointment was for two weekends earlier, but then one of their therapists had an injury so they had to rebook us. Then the day before when Vanessa called to confirm our appointment, were told it wasn’t this weekend. She was furious and finally able to get our appointments back. Of course, no one told us that the two hours appointment for my Fassage would have a whole hour wait in between. They didn’t even tell us until the hour is up and I found out that “what, I have to sit around for an hour, and then Vanessa had to sit around for an hour after me?” Now if facility is really nice, then maybe I wouldn’t mind. But then we also had dinner plan with family, this was just so unprofessional!

The treatments were nice, but again, nothing spectacular where I would recommend to someone else at full price. But hey, at 70% off, it was a good offer.

As you can see, I have no picture to offer. It wasn’t anything I would be “bragging” about it here….

The funny thing is 2 weeks later, we found out the facility has ceased operations. Huh? Ritz-Carlton closed? Unbelievable, we only found out because we were tempting to change our second appointments to a different weekend…..they just couldn’t accommodate this many people. Actually they should have known that they were closing, but still selling this many vouchers. Good thing that Groupon refunded us!