The I Spa San Francisco

Reviews 3

CA

Catherine Wong

OMG - if you ever get the chance to do this - GO! RUN to the Intercontinental and get your facial, massage, or other beauty treatment at the spa - 6th floor inside the hotel. The reason why this spa is far and away better than all the others is that when you call them and get an appointment for a treatment, you are considered a guest of the hotel - making the gym, lap pool, hot tub, steam room, showers, pool & sun deck all available to you, all day. Yup - all day. (Even if you are an actual paying guest with a hotel room, you would have to pay to use the steam room and showers - Im telling you - making an appointment is the way to go!) Right now, at this minute, I am saving my pennies for my next day at this spa. As mentioned, the spa is located in the Intercontinental Hotel on Howard & 4th in the city. Take public transportation. If you cant take public transportation, almost reasonable parking is located at the 5th and Mission garage - if you strategically park on the 4th street side, it is not very far at all. I set my appointment for later in the afternoon so I could work out at the gym and sweat before my facial. The check in process was relatively quick and painless - but when I was ready to go and use the gym, you must snag one of the receptionists from the bustling spa and physically have them accompany you around the corner and down the hall to be let by key into the gym. Not good. I would suggest their computer whizzes come up with a "day key" one could use to just get you into and out of the gym, pool and sun deck areas. Additionally, the placement of everything on that floor is just a little weird. The gym was clean and not crowded at all. It was small, as most hotel gyms are, but had everything needed to get a good little workout. Unfortunately, I forgot my swimsuit, but I could have also taken a swim in the lap pool and a hot tub too! After working out, I wandered back to the spa for a shower before my facial. The spa provided a robe and rubber slippers. The robe was nice with a worn terry lining - the nice thing about the terry being worn was the robe had that "lived-in", comfortable feel as opposed to that sort of scratchy, new feel. There are two showers at the spa, the first one had 16, (count em, sixteen), shower heads (one above, and five along each of the three walls) here in Drought Central, California. Feeling economical and responsible, I checked out the other shower, which consisted of a much more reasonable handicapped type shower with one-handed shower head, shower bench and handrails. Since I was giving myself a mini-staycation, I showered in the 16 shower head shower, reasoning that I couldnt use a full three shower heads since they were pointed square at my face, which probably would have drowned me! This was one of the best showers Ive had in some time. As a matter of fact, I was so busy in the shower, I nearly missed my facial! The facial was wonderful. 50 minutes of relaxation and an analysis of the health of my facial skin was the highlight of the day. My technician was attentive and careful and gave my face a wonderful treatment making my face feel new and totally refreshed. After my facial, a friend who accompanied me and I made a quick trip to the hot tub to dip my feet in and then down to the bar (the restaurant was closed in between lunch and dinner) for a quick snack. The bar area was ok and they had a limited selection of food. Service was not very fast and the soup we ordered was just this side of not hot. But everything tasted great and the service was very cordial while informing us we could not order dessert. So the long and short of it is, if you ever have the opportunity to do this, go - It is an enjoyable day of pampering and relaxing. I will definitely go back!

AM

Amy Kristin Sanders

The I Spa was a major disappointment from start to finish. I arrived and checked in at reception, where I was shown to the locker room, given my robe and told where the ladies "lounge" was. No mention of steam room or other amenities despite me having significant time before my service. The "lounge" is a tiny room with three uncomfortable chairs (no lounges, nothing to relax), a small setup with a jar of trail mix and a pitcher of water. The environment was not relaxing as you could hear staff laughing and doors slamming on all sides. Something in the room was emitting a high-pitched squeal as well. I was led to the room for my facial, which although mediocre, was the highlight of my experience. My esthetician did a serviceable job -- nothing fabulous. She did a nice arm/hand massage, though her pressure was so light I could barely tell she was touching my shoulders. Afterward, I got the standard 5 minute pitch to try to sell me products. My massage, however, was a complete catastrophe. I upgraded to aromatherapy and hot stone. The room was cold, the table was not heated, the curtains were not drawn so the room was stunningly bright. About 5 minutes in, the masseur left the room for several minutes, only to return saying they were out of several essential oils. Then, he overheated the stones, so he turned on the sink and moved them to a basin of cold water. By the time he put them on me 5 minutes later, they werent even warm. In all, about 10 minutes passed before any massage really occurred. He spent a majority of his time walking from the table to the lotion/oil dispenser. In all, I got about 25 minutes of decent (though not overly skillful) massage. At one point, he asked me about whether I believed in some energy cleansing thing and then started breathing out very heavily. It was odd. Back at the locker room, I was looking forward to the Vichy shower. Because there was only one, I had to wait a bit to use it. However, about 50 percent of the jets didnt work. Very disappointing. Thankfully, I used a Groupon. I dont recommend the experience at Groupon prices. I certainly wouldnt pay full price here. Ive had far better experiences at places like Massage Envy. The I Spa really lacks the "spa" feeling. Instead, it feels more like an in/out, nothing special massage or facial place. Not what youd expect from a 5-star hotel. On the upside, it was clean. Im pretty certain I didnt catch anything while I was there.

A

Anonymous User

My husband had arranged for me to have a massage, manicure, and pedicure while we were in town. It was a surprise for me. My husband to me about it on Friday night but I had scheduled something at the same time, so he called at 9 am on Saturday to reschedule. Instead of noon, he set the appointment for 1 pm. My husband told me about the time change and I told him no, that was not really going to work either. My husband called right back to cancel and they told him that it would be a 50% cancellation fee because he did not cancel more than 6 hours prior, a small fact they did not tell him when he made the appointment. Personally, I would have never given my credit card to hold an appointment for a spa. So my husband kept the appointment, slightly annoyed. Around noon, while he was in a meeting, they called him and said that they had to cancel my massage, because they did not schedule appropriately, so I should not come until 2 pm. Wonderful. When I got there a few minutes late, the guy checked me in and the manicurist said, "Oh, I do not have time to do both the manicure and pedicure. You will have to do one or the other." I was sooooo, annoyed. I asked the receptionist about the cancellation and he said, "Oh, your husband said that you might run late to the 2 pm. But we will waive the fee for the massage." What? The I-Spa cancelled it, not us. I think that it was known by 9 am, and definitely by noon that there was no time for my massage, as well as for both the manicure AND pedicure. What poor customer service!!! I should have walked away right then and there. The receptionist brought me cold herbal tea that should have been hot. The manicurist did a good job, but it was not anything that you could not get at your everyday local spa. My husband was so disappointed that I did not get the full service. I will never recommend this place to anyone.

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