The Living Spa — Local services in Taos

My Husband and I love staying at El Monte Sagrado and decided to get a couples massage after a day of skiing Taos. Upon arriving the front desk attendant checked us in and had to check the locker rooms to make sure there was a robe and sandals in the assigned lockers. He was very nice and offered us water during the process but it took him awhile and we were late for our appointment. They need to have multiple people working the desk as there was a group of us waiting to check in and pay. It was a bit hectic and slow. The locker rooms are a bit small to where you are on top of each other when changing. The showerhead in the shower I used after treatment needs to be descaled as most of the water was blocked from coming out making it challenging to wash my hair. The locker room had nice finishes but I don’t believe they keep up with the maintenance. The massage room was nicely adorned with a fireplace and serene for a treatment which was a plus. My husband enjoyed his massage but mine was literally the worst massage I have ever had. My massage therapist asked if I had anything specific to make note of. I mentioned I like medium to firm pressure and that I hold tension in my neck and upper back mostly. She then proceeded to say we didn’t book a deep tissue and seemed flustered and mentioned needing a different type of oil… I said I don’t need a deep tissue but just wanted to let you know my preferences. She then mentioned something about a different oil again which I didn’t quite understand. During the massage she barely used any pressure… it was light touch if anything. She also “massaged” multiple areas twice and missed others all together. My husbands therapist was very professional and offered a eye mask when turning over and asked how pressure was multiple times when mine did not. I didn’t know what to say after I had already made my desires known and my therapist proceeded to barely massage me and mention different oils as a response to pressure desires. I get massages atleast every 3 months or so and have been to high end spas to local masseuses in an office space. I have never had a massage as bad as this one. For the price I was extremely disappointed and expected a more experienced and professional service. My husband had already paid for the services by the time I came out and the front desk agent was with another client I didn’t want to bring anything up. He already seemed a...

This was not a terrible experience but it was the worst massage experience I have personally had… the walk from our room was wonderful, passing by cute casitas and under swaying trees. The lobby of the spa was also inviting with relaxing scents and calming music. That is about it unfortunately. There was no one there to greet us and it took a good 5 minutes for anyone to appear. She gave us a waiver to fill out (which we had already completed online) on a wipe erase board. I’m not sure how legal that is! lol. Regardless, she showed us to our prospective locker rooms to change into our robes… I placed my clothes, phone and jewelry in the locker but was told they don’t lock because previous guests stole the keys. We had a “couples tub” which was a large, square tub with jets. There was no music, no scents and we never could figure out how to work the jets. We wandered back out into the hallway where our masseuses seemed surprised to see us. I requested a female but received a male. We each had 80 minute massages (even though the website still says 90)… again, no calming scents and although there was music, it was so low I could hear conversations outside. My masseuse gave me a strange massage, saying he was trained in Japan but it was more about pressure points and fascia release than actually massaging out my stress knots. We were then lead back to the locker room, where I took a shower that ran cold before I could rinse the conditioner from my hair. Although, a blow dryer was available, there was no deodorant or body lotion. So we paid the bill and walked back to shower again in our hotel room… where the water was hot and the...

My wife and I decided to get a couple's massage and The Living Spa seemed like the best place in town. My wife said the massage that she got was the best she had ever had, but my experience was the opposite. I will say that the steam and dry sauna was very nice and relaxing. However, the woman who did my massage made a snarky remark to my wife when I asked where the restroom was. Something about it being "a classy establishment". I assume she was implying that we weren't classy (maybe because we have a lot of tattoos). The massage was the oddest massage I have ever had. While soothing briefly at times, for the most part the massage lacked any flow or even pressure. The pressure she applied was as if a toddler was rubbing my back. I could barely feel it at times. She would rub my neck for two seconds and then abruptly stop to go adjust the sheet at my feet, then just touch my arm. When I say "touch my arm", I don't mean massage, she just touched my arm for 2 or 3 min. Right when I would start to feel like I might be getting an actual massage, she would abruptly stop again and change the position of the sheet or just go fidget with something in the room. This is how the entire 50 minutes went. My massage was the opposite of relaxing. I was wondering what the hell was going on the entire time. I was trying not to be judgemental, but it seemed like she was on drugs and/or not at all a trained massage therapist. At the price they charge, I expected I much...