Spa 66 — Hotel in Fort Lauderdale

BEWARE! Everything is great until you are forced to leave that $51 tip at the end, which ends your experience on a negative! I bought a Groupon for $129, which included a massage and a pedicure (supposedly a $257 value, although the pedicure alone is comparable to a regular $35 pedicure anywhere else). They do give you heads up at the time of setting an appointment that there will be a 20% gratuity charged on the full value, and that it will come up to $51. I thought I'll leave appropriate cash tips instead ($15 per service, maybe even $20 each if the service blows me away, but definitely not an inappropriate $25.50 tip each. Especially on a $35-style pedicure!). When I attempted to leave cash gratuity, the front desk wouldn't give me the gratuity envelopes. Instead they laid them out in front of them and waited for me to hand over the cash. I felt forced to cough up the inappropriate mandatory $51 tip.

Pros:

1. Good service.
2. Beautiful pool area + a hot tub, included in the spa access.
3. Good looking hotel.
4. Free parking (with spa validation).

Cons:

1. The tip amount is INAPPROPRIATE. It was a 50 min medium pressure massage, not a deep tissue 1.5 hour massage. It was a good, not great, $35-style pedicure. Whatever the "full value" supposedly is, is unjustified. And of course, if you fail to hand over the full tip, they'll charge the remainder to your credit card used to hold your reservation.
2. The "key lime" pedicure had nothing "key lime" about it. There were 3 lemon slices floating in my foot tub (not lime). No key lime smelling lotion was used either. I definitely picked this $35-style pedi over a facial I could have chosen because the "key lime" marketing plot made my curiosity / expectation peak. Disappointed.
3. The pedicure chairs looked beautiful at first, until during the process I realized I can't even get a chair massage that most nail salons (even the really cheap ones) have standard.
4. The foot rest on the pedicure chair was moving around (part of the chair design). So uncomfortable! The pedicurist had me prop up my feet on my soles (knees bent) the whole time, so I felt like I had to physically hold the floating foot rest with my feet for the entire 50 minutes instead of stretching out and relaxing.
5. At a supposed $257 value, which assumes this pedicure is "worth" about $130 (plus the insane $25.50 tip), you would think I'd be able to get a cup of coffee! Even a complimentary glass of champagne should be expected! Nope, the pedicurist told me they don't have a coffee!!! (They did have tea or water though.)
6. The entire spa area was freezing.
7. The ONLY spa amenity is a steam room - not even a fancy one, and the steam was warmish at best, not hot! After 30 min in the steam room I didn't break a sweat. I even lasted that long in that pointless steam room because the other spa areas were freezing and I had an hour to kill before treatments. Classic temperature steam with aromatherapy would have been nice, especially since it's the only amenity available!

I was ok with all these massive imperfections because I did get a good service. Until the end when I wasn't able to leave a perfectly appropriate cash tip. Being FORCED to hand over the $51 really sent me home with a terrible taste in my mouth, and I will never use this spa again or fall for it's "attractive" Groupon price and clever marketing names. Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach has a FAR NICER spa for less money with TONNS of amenities, a rain room (!), stunning design and marble everywhere! Spend your hard earned money...

Have been to the spa in the past and it was good, but this time it was spectacular! I was personally greeted at the front desk by the new Spa Director, Adrienne. She informed me that the spa is under new management and has elevated its services for their clientele. I was intrigued and my expectations definitely raised.

Had George for my massage and I can honestly say I was speechless after he was done. Anyone who knows me knows I am a person of many words so to be speechless was highly unusual. He did a very deep tissue massage, as I requested, but also made it relaxing for me. What a difficult balance to achieve. This was by far the best massage I have ever had and I have had some really good ones!

Then I went for my facial and Michelle was also fantastic. Great products that matched the needs of my skin, as well as an exceptional face massage and 10+ minute intensive foot massage. WOW - incredible and like nothing I have ever had during a facial before.

Overall, the spa was absolutely beautiful, staff was super friendly and accommodating, service providers were exceptional and the experience was blissful! I hardly ever write reviews because I am a very picky person with high standards so I am rarely blown away. After this experience I felt compelled to share it because of how highly impressed I was with Spa 66. I will...

I bought the couples massage on Groupon. It seemed like a great deal. For $226 you are supposed to get access to the sauna and steam room, the pool, and jacuzzi. Plus, you get 10% off food and drinks (one time) and free parking. Upon making the reservation I was informed it would be an extra $75 for tip. Fine. However, we arrived and not only was the co-ed steam room broken, but the steam rooms in the female and male lockers rooms were also broken. We discovered that all steam rooms and saunas were out of order. So bottom line is we spent over $300 for two massages. That's it. I'm very disappointed. They explained it was a thunderstorm that may have hit the power but I wish they would have called to ask if we wanted to reschedule. I will say masseuse was nice but all in all I...