Penelope & The Beauty Bar — Local services in Seattle

I keep being asked to do a review so here it goes!

I bought a LivingSocial deal back on April 21st 2014. My boyfriend bought it for me as a gift and it was good for a Facial and Massage, which was about $170 or so. 75 min Facial and 80 min Massage. It took a while to set up my appointment, I left a few voice mails and someone FINALLY emailed me with open times... why they couldn't call me back is beyond me. I also wrote in my email that this was a LivingSocial deal, since they ask you to let them know ahead of time. I was booked with a gentaleman for the massage and the facial would be with Stacy Fullerton. I was assured Stacy was the best. I was excited, and then VERY DISAPPOINTED my experience.

I had my appointment on a Saturday Morning. 11 am I believe. I checked in at the front, I arrived 15 min early to be on the safe side. I was offered tea and sat in the waiting area, which was small but cute. Needless to say I waited almost 30 min after my appointment time for a gentleman to come out and tell me he was ready to do my massage, he apologized for being late because " they told me your massage was later than your actual appointment time" ... why wouldn't you let your customer know that your appointment was running late. The massage was FINE but not relaxing the guy told me he life story and kept asking me questions. I could not relax at all.Once the massage was over I got dressed and went back in to the waiting area to wait for my facial. While sitting there I thought, "huh, that went by really quick" after about 15 min the gentleman came back to the waiting area and told me he didn't realize that my massage was 80 min and only gave a 60 min massage?! Why are you SO UNORGANIZED??? And why did it take 15 min to realize that? I went back in the room which I was not happy about and HE TOLD ME where he would massage me for the remainder of the time?? Why would you let me choose? I was happy to just be done with it.

Now for the facial .. Well a nice young lady who seemed nervous told me she was ready to do my facial. She mumbled her name, and I thought, Stacy seemed to have a lot of experience, I wasn't expecting her to be so nervous. She asked me what I wanted and I explained to her what I was looking for, and she did NOTHING that I asked. She barley put any pressure on my face when she was doing the "massage" part of it. The product she put on my face, literally smelled like cat food or something. I was getting sick from the smell and I told her and she said nothing. The steam machine was broken and she spent 15-20 min trying to set it up to hit my face right, and kept adding pillows under my head. I was not comfortable at all. At the end, I was curious about the young girl who gave me the facial. I asked the front desk when I was checking out what her name was ... Lets just say it WAS NOT STACY. I showed the girl at the desk my email saying I was booked with Stacy, and her response was that Stacy "does not do LivingSocial deals" and they gave me a new girl.

All I wanted was to get out of that place and never look back. I emailed LivingSocial and received GREAT...

I want to give this place 5 stars so badly but poor communication and scheduling issues has prevented me from being able to do so. Unfortunately my first time attending the salon left a poor impression. They were running a Valentine's Day 2021 sale for a compliementary Jade Pod session with any hair appointment. I decided treating myself on Valentine's Day with a blowout and a Jade Pod would be a great way to spend the afternoon so I tried scheduling from almost 2 weeks ahead of time starting on 2/01/21 when I saw the ad. I called almost every day for a week and a half with no answer or call backs. On 2/08 I sent an email to their booking email with no response. Finally on 2/10 I got through but of course by then they were fully booked for 2/14 so I was forced to schedule for the day before but asked them to note that if anyone canceled on Sunday 2/14 to call me and let me know as I wanted my hair done before my date. I was contacted the morning of my appointment due to the snow storm and asked if we could push my appointment back an hour, luckily I live downtown so I adjusted. I was having a hard time getting there due to the snow so I called to let them know I would be 10 minutes late and then I was told someone was supposed to call me to reschedule me as their hairstylist couldn't make it in. I honestly told them just to cancel .. this had become a stressful 2 week ordeal just to come in for a simple blow out. At this time I also found out I was never going to be able to have my blow out on Sunday because there are no stylists on Sunday but was never told this. 5 minutes after canceling I was contacted and told there was a hair stylist after all and if I wanted to come in. Since I was already in my lobby waiting for my ride I decided to just go. My stylist was a very nice woman but unfortuntely she didn't style my hair at all as requested and I was asked if I wanted my hair washed when it was my understanding that a blowout conists of a wash and must be done with wet hair. Also, they had her do my blowout before my jade pod appointment despite a note in my booking that I wanted it done afterwards so it wouldn't mess up. I also found out afterwards that there are no showers in the spa to rinse off after sweating in the infrared pod so I had to go home and rinse off before my date .. which just messed up my hair. Staff was nice but the lack of communication was a big turn off for me. It was great opportunity to support local business but tbh I wish I wouldn't have persisted after no callbacks for a week and a half and just stayed...

I love a good massage and will indulge myself with one whenever I can. But a good massage is a personal and subjective thing and it's very likely that you will appreciate different things about a treatment or a practitioner than I do. This is why each person's opinion of their treatment isn't really helpful. What is useful is knowing the merits of the facility itself. Is the staff engaged, polite, and helpful? How is the design of the facility? What is the environment like? What amenities are available? And what is the depth and breadth of the treatments provided? Is it a nice place to spend time before or after a treatment? Do they have a variety of practitioners able to meet the needs of various patrons? Also, what's the environment like and is it an enjoyable place to spend some time before or after the treatment. By addressing these questions, a reviewer will tell me much more about the quality of any spa than by sharing their opinion about their treatment.

With that in mind, I can report that Penelope is a nice facility with a very well managed experience. It's just a little less recreational than what I typically look for. I like a place to spend some time before my treatment that helps me to relax and unwind. Now, the Fairmont Olympic is a lovely hotel, but it isn't a resort or club and doesn't offer a connected experience between the hotel's pool and locker room area and the spa itself. They have a very lovely and comfortable waiting area for guests but there aren't any heated pools, saunas, or steam rooms, and they're an elevator ride away from one another. As such, I would consider the treatments on the expensive side for the overall value. This isn't surprising to me given the location. It’s just that many luxury properties have a more luxurious spa experience for the price, though it should be noted that hotel guests get a discount on treatment and can use the hotel facilities prior. With all that said, I like the venue, menu, and staff. I just I don't think Penelope makes much sense to visit if you're not a guest of...