Burke Williams Day Spa — Local services in Santa Monica

I’ve been coming to this location for some time now, a couple years as a member. It can be, but is not consistently a 5 star experience, but I hope this can be changed. Massages are usually great, love the infused beverages, love the infused wash clothes, the ambiance is amazing, especially with the recent updates, the place is always clean, staff is overall polite.

My one huge issue, which I’ve given feedback on, is with the quiet room on some days. I’ve talked to staff about this several times and they eventually offered ear plugs, which helps, but not 100%. The purpose of the quiet room from by understanding is that it’s “quiet”, a place to disappear, disconnect and relax. My problem is that there are days that staff are coming in constantly calling names for scheduled appointments. This is so startling and is so very disruptive, not what the experience should be at all. They even come in a few minutes before scheduled appointments, like at 1:58pm.

I feel it’s fair to hold guests accountable to be in the main room by their scheduled time. I don’t think we adults/ guests should be searched for in the entire building and especially in the quiet room. We are told to be in the main room before our scheduled time and if we are not, those minutes should be deducted from our treatment time. It’s called accountability and we should all be accountable to abide by the guidelines.

Related to this, there should be a clock in the quiet room!!! This can help us guest keep track of the time so we don’t have to bring our cellphone in ( which supposedly is not allowed), but we’re not given another option to tell time. This is my huge huge complaint. Please stop having employees come into the quiet room so often. Definitely NOT to call names and maybe every 30min ( I wish every hour) just to check on it to tidy up as needed, but NOT every 15min. I’ve had employees come in JUST to toss something into the trash. Twice in one day it was a young man… which is even more uncomfortable since I have nothing on under my robe. I believe 95% of these disruptions to the quiet room can absolutely be avoided. It’s one of the things I look forward to the most after my relaxation massage, but i end up leaving irritated instead of relaxed on those days with so many interruptions. Please make some changes. It really is ridiculous...

I have been a Burke member since 2022, and I have steadily watched the price go up and the service quality go down. However, this time a line has seriously been crossed. I booked a visit for my elderly relative who was visiting from out of town this evening. The staff at Burke (1) told her the incorrect time for her message (saying it was at 5:30 and not 7:00) and (2) left her sitting in the waiting room for 1.5 hours without checking on her. She didn’t want to miss the appointment and was confused because the staff told her to wait there till the apt and not to leave. She didn’t go to any of the other amenities to pass the time but rather sat unattended for 1.5 hours. It is unbelievable that no one bothered to check on her for 1.5 hours. She was exhausted just sitting there, and didn’t feel up to having the massage when they finally realized they forgot her. I wouldn’t either if that had done that to me! Instead of the apology she deserved, they literally just gave her a day pass (you know those coupons you can’t use on the weekends…and also she’s visiting…when would she able to use that!) and sent her on her way. I felt AWFUL when she got back, and she was embarrassed about the entire thing. How could you not have the common human decency to check on someone you know has been sitting there? If you had bothered to correct yourselves and give her the right time (or even checked on her after the 5:30 or 6:00 massage times had passed), she could have had a nice relaxing time and not felt uncomfortable and pressured by your staff.

I called the Burke support number and the regional operator, Abba, was incredibly crass about the whole thing - going as far as lying and saying the appointment was actually canceled. I know it wasn’t canceled because I booked it. I would have been notified. He then said “oh that’s so weird” without a single apology or sense of ownership. He either could not get ahold of the Santa Monica location or didn’t bother to, but said “he’d put a note to be in touch” and hung up without saying anything more - not even a goodbye.

A Burke membership is expensive, and the experience that happened tonight was downright disgusting. I’ve come here every month for 3 years, but now I have no desire to ever step foot in here...

Wish I wouldve asked for masseuse recommendations. Had a deep tissue massage....not good. Masseuse was very friendly just not very skilled or at least did not demonstrate her skills during my massage. Did mostly gliding and trigger point therapy on my back and shoulders but not very effectively...not long enough to actually relax the muscles she was working on. Even the trigger point work was confusing, way too slow like she was waiting to feel a knot but when she actually found it she would rush through it. I thought the whole point was to work out the knot...not find it and quickly avoid it. She didnt do any kneading, no cross-fiber, no myofascial release or if she did I couldn't tell. The pressure was fine but it just seemed like she was not very experienced. Frankly I've had better chair massages at the mall. I honestly thought I might buy a membership and enjoy the spa facilities after a monthly massage, but I would be really annoyed getting a mediocre massage again and having to compensate for that poor massage by sitting in the sauna, whirlpool, and steam room. I'd rather get a much better massage at a cheap thai place I know and use the sauna at my gym. The tea and lemonade they provide are very tasty but that's not a good enough reason to return. I was honestly expecting to really like this place, but a bland massage killed it for me. I could've gotten the same or better relaxing feeling foam rolling at home. The whole massage felt like a warm-up to the...