Feel Better Massage — Attraction in Hot Springs

Husband and I booked a couples massage right before the weather got bad. Due to an inability to effectively communicate with my masseuse, my massage was excruciatingly painful. I have had Swedish, shiatsu, deep tissue/ myofascial release massages in the past and have a relatively high pain threshold and I know that it can be a little uncomfortable and soreness the next day is normal, but not being able to lean back into a chair or sleep on my back due to pain, swelling, and bruising is not normal!! I’m still bruised a week later!! The lady doing my massage ran her elbows along the median and radial nerves in my arms with such heavy pressure that my arms went numb. This was not done in a way to release knots or to massage trigger points - it was just immediate heavy elbow up and down the nerve pathways with no muscle massage at all. She dug into my ribs along my back with her elbows until I couldn’t breathe from the pain. When I said it was NOT good, she increased her efforts- it was excruciating- I was tensed and unable to breath and pulling away for most of the massage yet she just applied more and more pressure- aside from just jumping up and leaving, nothing I tried to communicate to her was understood. The ladies chatted to each other alot and were on their phones a couple of times which didn’t support a relaxing atmosphere at all. When leaving I tipped a $20 for the two ladies to split, which upset the Second Lady, ( she did my husband’s massage- which he said was very light and not a massage at all- maybe we should have swapped). They kept asking for more money and finally my husband gave them $30 more dollars so that we could leave. Judging by our experience, I don’t think that these two were certified to do massages, to be quite honest. TLDR- paid $140 for VERY painful massage for me and ineffective massage for hubby - the two masseuses were upset about splitting a $20 tip, fussed at us until we gave another $30 .

Updated- it’s been a couple of months and I still have numbness in my left inner arm near the elbow where there was significant swelling and bruising the day after my ‘massage’. Physical Therapist says that it’s from nerve damage/compression and should resolve over time. I haven’t even heard back from the owner of the spa about our horrible experience. Pro tip: From the other reviews I gather that it’s best to go during morning and early afternoon hours when the few certified massage therapists are working rather than in the evening when you run the risk of having a less than desirable experience. I’m still amazed (and quite salty) that we spent $140 for horrible massages and were bullied into a $50 tip afterwards.

UPDATE 7/17/25 - I see the response I received from the business months ago has recently been edited. Funny how the original post implied genuine concern for my experience and the new post implies that I have a health problem. I bruise as easily as anyone else and do not have an ‘underlying health condition’. As I stated above, I’ve had many massages in my lifetime, I’ve never bruised nor been in as much pain afterward as I was when I received a ‘massage’ here. It’s a shame that you edited your previous response, it showed humanity. Shame on you for implying that I...

My husband and I went for a couples massage today based on the great reviews. I am a qualified massage therapist myself and I was most disappointed with the service received. On arrival and throughout the treatment communication was impossible due to the language barrier. No name was checked to confirm our booking and we had to speak into Google translator for them to understand that we had booked online. Despite having booked a couples massage we were sent into separate rooms with no instructions given. No medical history was checked for contraindications and/or injuries. I usually like to go for deep tissue massages but what I received was near torture and extremely painful. Despite several requests to ease the pressure the lady who carried out my treatment increased the pressure constantly. Instead of getting relaxed I became more and more agitated. The ambience was also rather disturbing with constant conversation outside the treatment room and the doorbell going off constantly. At one point the therapist left the room and I was not sure whether the treatment was over or not. My husband’s therapist left the room twice. When we were finished the ladies were quite demanding regarding their tip. I would be ashamed of myself if I provided a treatment like this to my clients at home. I really don’t know why this place has only 5 star reviews with only three at lower ratings of recent weeks. Something doesn’t add up...

Pre-paid and booked on line was the first mistake. My partner and I showed up for our 6:00 pm appointment. We were greeted by a woman who couldn’t communicate with us other than phone app. After a few phone calls and running to the back a couple of times, we were told to come back after 7:00 pm. Turns out she was by herself and was in the middle of doing a massage. We came back after 7:00 to go through the same process as before. I showed her the confirmation text and told her just give me my money back. She typed wait, they had already come by and are on their way back. 7:30 we are finally on the table. Padding wasn’t the best and has the hole in it instead of an adjustable face cradle. We waited for some time, the first woman brought another in and she started on me. The other lady left the room and left my partner on the other table. He wasn’t sure how long before she came back, but she left the room multiple times during the massage. As a licensed massage therapists of 18yr in Texas, I was very disappointed and don’t think they are even licensed. That was NOT a deep tissue massage or even a Swedish, and was NOT 90 minutes. So many NOT’s and No’s going on and my knots are still just as knotty. After all that, the second woman tried to get us to tip them a minimum of 20-30%. The first woman knew to back off. We walked out of there feeling ripped off and suspicious of their 5...