Spa Soak — Local services in West Chicago Township

EDIT: The owner clearly won't own up to how she acted and is trying to chalk it up to a simple miscommunication. It wasn't. If you wanna come here, book with Quinn instead, she's great!

I’m sad that I need to post a bad review for this place, since my first experience with them was amazing (Quinn is great, book with her!) - but the second experience, with Jennifer, was so comically awful that I think people really need to know.

I booked a 90 minute massage with Jennifer. Things started off normally (she asked me if I had any pain anywhere, etc. - I told her what hurt and what to focus on, and then told me she'd be back in a minute to start the massage).

When we started, I felt like she was coming at me at a really high speed (like she was trying to finish as fast as possible) and at a physically painful pressure. I didn't say anything right then because I know all masseuses have different styles, so wanted to see how I felt after settling in. But after five minutes, I realized it hurt too much and there's no way I should let myself be in pain for 90 minutes.

So I very gently asked her if she could please move away from that area and reduce the pressure a little. She didn't respond and continued doing everything the same. So five minutes later I said "I don't mean to be a bother but it's still hurting a bit, would you mind lowering the pressure a little and slowing it down?" And she goes "I'm not used to this much direction from clients. You're disrupting this for me". And I say ... "Excuse me?" And she says "Massages are a meditative experience for me and this is disrupting to me". And then continued doing the same super painful stuff was she was doing before.

So I straight up said nothing for like ten seconds because I was in disbelief, and then said "l don't wanna be difficult but, if a customer is in actual physical pain then I should get to say that - and I'm paying for this service, so my experience of the massage matters too". She ignores that too, so then I say "In that case can we stop now please"? And she said "Fine with me" and left.

I go to the concierge right after and say what happened, and she told me that the masseuse was actually the owner of the place. So I'm like ... "No wonder, she knows I can't do anything about it". I'm betting Jennifer doesn't get a lot of customers who look like me, but treating people like that is not okay. I hope she treats the next customer with basic...

I originally booked a session with a different spa that had to cancel my appointment at the last minute due to extensive remodeling, which was very upsetting since I was traveling from out of state for it.

I called multiple locations looking for last-minute openings and was fortunate enough to find an appointment available at Spa Soak, for which I am grateful. However, I have to say that my experience was quite mediocre.

A previous review questioned why this place is called Spa Soak since there are no spa treatments or soaking experiences available, and I found that to be true. In a typical spa, you would receive a robe to change into, but at Spa Soak, you are taken into a room and told, "Okay, I'll be back."

The initial intake was minimal, only asking about some focus areas, which seemed surprising for a new client. I had booked an 80-minute hot stone massage. In my past experiences, hot stone massages involved the therapist using the hot stones to apply pressure to tension spots. However, at Spa Soak, the stones seemed to be used simply to warm my body—similar to rubbing your arms for warmth—before the therapist massaged by hand. No pressure was applied using the stones at all.

Additionally, the treatment rooms had a lot of light. Although curtains were used to dim the room, they did not create a relaxing atmosphere. The location on a busy street in Chicago contributed to the noise level; I could hear people screaming, cars honking, and music blasting from nearby vehicles. This is understandable in a typical setting, but it was not at all relaxing for a spa experience.

Overall, Spa Soak may be suitable for basic treatments, but I wouldn't recommend it as a place for a...

Bad experience all around. Booked a massage for 10am today and showed up on time. Receptionist couldn’t find me in the system. I show her the reservation I booked through classpass and she manages to find me. The massage therapist either called off or double booked and my only option is to reschedule. This would be totally fine if they had told me this before I left the house and not at the front desk. She said 2:15pm today they have an opening, ok cool put me in. Just kidding! 2:15pm is not available and they’ll have to reschedule me to a different day. I then asked for a refund and she told me she doesn’t know how to refund classpass. I had to leave Spa Soak after 15 minutes of just standing there and contact classpass MYSELF. If you can’t handle classpass reservations, please take yourselves off classpass. This was a horrible experience and it felt like I was inconveniencing the front desk for a massage booking! Leaving more stressed than...