Spa Zone — Local services in New York

Coming to Spa Zone can easily be a jarring experience, here’s what to know… Before booking, it’s incredibly important to understand what kind of massage you are signing up for as it’s not always clear when you make an appointment and all massage advertising often uses ambiguous, nondescript imagery presenting a relaxing experience.

Spa Zone offers traditional Chinese tui na acupressure massage. For anyone not familiar with this style, I highly recommend researching. Oftentimes people think they are walking into a Swedish massage parlor, which focuses on relaxation and costs much more than Chinese massage parlors’ $50-60/hr price range. Tui na style massage is a blend of high pressure kneading, chiropractic maneuvers, and physical therapy to really loosen and stretch limbs, tendons, and release knots. It’s much more focused on kneading out tension and improving circulation—and not always relaxing, but sometimes rather painful.

Some notable pros about Spa Zone are that they are immaculately clean and the space is lovely. There are many rooms and they offer a wide variety of services for individuals and couples. The cost is affordable, about $55/hr for full body and if you book on Groupon it’ll be slightly cheaper. They take pressure requests seriously and really focus on areas you need specialized attention. All of your knots will be undone by the end of the session.

The pressure can be quite intense, so if you are wanting softer pressure be sure to let them know. There are also quite a lot of sensory changes, the coconut oil they use is quite cold, the hot stones are scalding—but really relax muscles, and the pressure throughout can be quite heavy handed in high tension areas.

Because this is a Chinese run and operated institution, it absolutely helps to speak Mandarin and there will be less information lost in translation as a result. The service will also be friendlier and less transactional if you’re able to communicate in Chinese. Bring cash because tipping is mandatory regardless of where you book. They expect a minimum of 20%, also because the base price is so inexpensive—they will insist on a tip and potentially charge your card extra if you do not.

If you book via Groupon, you save about $5, but know that upon walk-in they will ask you to pay an additional amount for tax and afterwards you’ll need to pay a tip on top of what you’ve paid on Groupon. For Groupon users, they will only accommodate you if you come before 5pm to not impede on their higher walk-in traffic hours, most of this is not indicated in the fine print. The manager will also encourage you to book directly through them instead of Groupon, they told me they mainly use the platform as a way to attract new clientele.

Overall I had a good experience, and appreciated the deep tissue work, but there was a lot I didn’t expect in terms of business practices. I can see this experience being quite jarring for people who walk in not knowing what they’ve signed up for, especially if they possibly face a cultural...

I visited this spa today with my mom after finding a great deal on Groupon for a full body massage (1 hour). The price was somewhere between $60 and $80, and while I don’t remember the exact amount, it was absolutely worth it!

We both chose the Swedish massage, which is the lighter, more relaxing option — and we loved it. The staff made sure the pressure was right and checked in during the session to make sure everything felt good. The experience included hot towels and hot stones, which made it even more enjoyable.

After the body massage, I got an additional 30-minute foot massage for $35, and it was the perfect way to end the visit. Both my mom and I left feeling amazing.

The only reason I’m giving 4 stars instead of 5 is the lack of personalized customer service before the massage. At other spas I’ve been to, they usually sit down with me beforehand, ask what kind of scent I’d like, offer hot or cold tea, and make the experience more welcoming. Here, when we arrived, they just told us to wait 5 minutes, then brought us to the room, told us to undress and lie down — no extras or personal touches.

Also, they charged a $5 tax per person, and we left a $60 tip total (30 each) because the massage itself was excellent and the therapists deserved it.

Overall, a very relaxing experience at a great value thanks to Groupon. I would...

This spa is an absolute nightmare. From start to finish, it was one bad experience after another.

First, I had a confirmed appointment for 5:45 PM, which I even showed in my email. The woman at the front desk insisted it was 6:30 PM and treated me like I was the one who didn’t know what I was talking about. No apology, no accountability, just attitude and eye-rolling from the start.

Then, during the massage, I specifically asked the masseur to focus on my lower back, which was the entire reason I came in. She completely ignored that and did her own routine instead. It felt rushed and careless, definitely not worth what they charge.

And as if that wasn’t enough, when I went to pay, they added a random $5 fee just for using a card, without mentioning it beforehand. When I left a 15% tip, the front desk woman actually told me it was “mandatory” to tip at LEAST 20%! The way she said it, with attitude, rudeness, and zero professionalism, was the final straw. Tip is supposed to be EARNED, not demanded.

Had she asked politely, I might have given more out of respect. But the entitlement and nasty behavior were unbelievable.

Save yourself the stress and skip this place. There are plenty of spas in NYC that treat customers with basic respect, and don’t act like you owe...