Avanti Salon & Spa — Local services in Manalapan Township

I felt violated by Igor at Avanti Day Resort while getting a massage.

My experience during the massage:

My 2 sisters, mother, and I booked 1.5 hour massages at the same time so we all had different masseuses. Their masseuses were Hope, Juliette, and Lee and all had positive experiences while I had Igor, the only male masseuse.

It started by Hope, Juliette, and Lee taking my sisters and my mom into rooms right next to each other, while Igor took me to a room farthest away from my group across the hallway. This should have been the first red flag.

Igor started by tucking the cover sheet to my underwear and massaging my back. Many times during the back massage, he would tuck the towel lower and lower, resulting in my butt being more and more exposed. This should have been the second red flag.

I'm not gonna outline the entire experience but there were many instances throughout the massage where he went too far: Like massaging my inner thighs over and over, very close to my private parts, even after I told him to focus on my lower legs instead of my inner thighs; Like sweeping over my cleavage area all the way into my armpits. I thought he would just do this 1-2 times but he swept over the area at least 10 times so that's when I told him to please just do my neck instead. That's when he started to actually properly massage my neck/shoulder. But it was so rushed and aggressive because at that point, we only had about 10 minutes left.

The entire time, he was merely rubbing the skin close to my private parts instead of a proper full body massage; The entire time, I was waiting for him to move on to other parts of the body, but little did I know, he spent the majority of his time on those intimate parts. Had I known the timing of all this and how long he spent rubbing closely to each part, I would have stopped the "massage".

My experience talking to management:

I let the manager on site know what transpired, she was very apologetic and said she would talk to the owner and did not charge me for the massage. What was odd to me was she tried to defend Igor by saying that he sometimes likes to do "European" style massage. I've gotten massages in many countries around the world; Europe, Asia, South America and of course the US and I've never felt violated before. I'm glad she didn't charge me but I felt she did the bare minimum so I hope they actually investigate further and make sure this doesn't happen again to anyone in the future.

TLDR: I got a massage by Igor and all he did was feel me up and get as close to my private parts as possible. Lady at front desk was apologetic and did not charge me but I felt she could...

My friend and I were gifted $500 to this very “exclusive” day spa. We were super excited to take advantage, and scheduled 80 minute therapeutic “couples” massages. We were given a quote of $350 for both massages, and we also did 45 minutes in the salt cave. My friend’s locker broke, so she could not retrieve her items, which was the first thing that happened. Her massage was good enough. Mine was meh. The massage therapist working on me was chewing gum, not obnoxiously, but enough so that it detracted from the experience. I did not love her style of massage either… not her fault. After our massages we were waiting in the “Tranquility” room, where the door to the front of the spa was playing very loud almost house music which definitely was distracting. We were able to close the door as we were the only ones there. We had to chase down the attendant because we wanted the mimosas and the cappuccinos that were part of the experience. When we went to pay, we were bowled over to find that the price was $477 when we had anticipated $390 according to the person with whom we booked. $350 for the massages and $40 for the salt cave. They went and listened to the recorded conversation of our booking and heard that we were indeed quoted $350 even though we made it exceedingly clear that we wanted 80 minute massages not 50 minutes. No one wanted to own the mistake and the even the owner said too bad. Is it that we aren’t the “typical” clientele that frequents a spa like this? All I know is that if your scheduler makes a mistake, it should not be the customer’s problem. People make mistakes. But what happened to the customer is always right? Surely at the prices they charge, they could suck it up, admit a mistake, and do right by the customer. Not the case. I think it goes without saying that we will never go to Avanti again, and we will also spread the word to everyone we know… in person as well as on social media. It’s so sad that such an exclusive place continues to have this reputation if this is how they treat the customers. Like I said, perhaps we just aren’t the same type if client that frequents Avanti but our money spends the same way as everyone else’s. This was not a good experience and I just wanted to let people know to check and double check your booking because even if they make a mistake, they won’t take responsibility for it and you will be screwed out of your...

I will NEVER come back to Avanti. Please do yourself a favor and do not get facials or any other service here as they do not respect their patients. I walked into what I thought was going to be a normal facial, which was the furthest possible thing from the truth. I'm 20 years old and was truly looking to work on my skin. I just had surgery a month prior to my appointment and just was able to get off my boot, so to say I was more than excited for the appointment would be completely accurate. I was bedridden for a month so I felt my skin could use a facial, plus I was always keen on the idea of working on my skin. However, the esthetician Marianna who did the facial was beyond rude and degrading. I mentioned my surgery and intent to work on my skin to her and she got right to some very inappropriate comments. They included her saying I was too young for a facial, meanwhile she was asking if I go to a dermatologist…. She followed that up by asking if I pick my skin… twice.. Marianna compounded her degradation while she slammed the products I was using at the time in an attempt to sell me on Avanti’s products while nearly ripping my skin apart with the extractions. I had always used La Mer Products, which to my knowledge were some of the top of the line skin care materials. After my war scene of a facial, tears rolling down my face, the degrading comments and zero customer respect, it is quite obvious that I will NEVER be coming back here.

The amount of unprofessionalism that this place exudes is second to none. After my tear filled facial, I spoke to the Spa Manager Tasha and the Front Desk who both had no sense of remorse and told us the facial lady had been there for many years. Imagine backing an employee who completely degraded and made a client feel worthless and horrible about themselves. I received almost a forced apology and was told to reach out to her and she will book me with someone else. The last thing at that moment.. After I felt worthless post the esthetician butchering and degrading me, was to book ANOTHER appointment. The true lack of care and appeal to money was evident.

If you want to have people who will make you feel worthless, then have them do nothing to try and amend their clear issues… Avanti is the place for you. Otherwise I could not more strongly recommend a different place, especially if you care about your...