Any idea where I can get a shop like this? I have never seen any offers for a spa.

I want to shop one as well! Don't have a clue as to who covers them, but just keep signing up with more companies as I am doing and sooner or later we will run across them. Good luck!

Carol

I have seen them, but I don't remember from what companies.

I've only seen them as part of high-end hotel shops. Yes, I'd like to do one, too, LOL!

I not only want one, I need one. Hotels would be the best place, think you have to be upper level for those. Spas shopped would be part of a Hotel, never saw a free standing one.

Irene, I think there actually are freestanding ones, I just don't know where!

There are many stand-alone spa shops. Most are offered by hospitality centered companies that evaluate hotels as well. If you do searches here and on V you will find plenty of hints and discussion, but clients come and go a lot in that industry. Many MSCs promote the fact that they shop spas on their home page, which is a pretty good indicator they may have, or be looking for, spa clients.

I've done full day spa visits with multiple services and can tell you, there are not as relaxing as you may imagine. There's no place to take notes when you are laying naked on a massage table, and you can't relax during the treatment since you have to keep repeating all the details in your head so that you don't forget them.

It's like doing a naked solo upscale dinner visit with a 6 page narrative afterward :-0

LOL @ SteveSoCal! That's exactly how I felt when I did those shops! I kept having to go to the restroom with my purse to jot down notes. I can only imagine what was going through the assistant's mind...

For those looking, SQM has some spa shops ~ is this ok if I don't disclose the actual client? I don't know if they have them in the US but definitely in Canada.

Guess I'll wait for my daughter's Mother's day gift of a day at the spa...I can relax, no, being naked trying to remember the names and times...OMG, give me a gun.....everything has a price, what sounds too good to be true is probably not true.

MtlShopper Wrote:
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>
> For those looking, SQM has some spa shops ~ is
> this ok if I don't disclose the actual client? I
> don't know if they have them in the US but
> definitely in Canada.

It has to be okay, since you have disclosed the company name :^) You know the ICA rules.

I have to agree with Steve that the anticipation of the writeup this little moment of pleasure is potentially allowing does, indeed, detract from the experience! I remember one very diligent masseuse working at the knots in my shoulders, caused by write up anticipation, with little success. She suggested that my 'lifestyle' was waaaay too stressful and perhaps I should come in for weekly treatments for a while to 'learn to relax'.

We have spa shops available in several states.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2010 11:58AM by Sentry Marketing.

I am so with Steve on the spa thing. Honestly, I hate them. I never take a stand alone spa shop - I only do them as a part of a hotel - and only if I have to. The entire point of a spa experience is to relax and escape - there is no way to get that if you are constantly repeating (Miranda spa receptionist, Alexis spa attendant, three hairs on my robe, etc. etc.) in your head while trying to relax.

I know you live in Seattle (based on the other post) - there are tons of spa deals on Groupon, Living Social, and Tippr - you can get great services for $25-$30 and actually relax!

If you are set on the spa shop - most hospitality companies or companies that specialize in hospitality offer some spa shops... google spa mystery shopping and the first two listings that come up both regularly offer spa mystery shops.

1

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2010 12:11PM by housingbubblesobstory.

Sentry Marketing Wrote:
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> We have spa shops availabe in several states.


Oh, good. Then you can worry not only about the names and details, but you can get a few more tight knots over whether you can write a LONG, LONG report with absolute perfect grammar and spelling. I can hardly think of a way to have more fun than that!

Dave, the Spelling Police think that "available" is missing something. :-)

It's my impression that all spa shops require a long and well-written narratives.

Why does the guy actually stepping in to offer spa shops get bashed (spelling aside)?

Found out my health provider (Kaiser) has a swedish massage for stress prevention at $30.00, good price, think I'll try that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2010 09:24PM by Irene_L.A..

I would really like to find a massage one too. Not really for the spa experience but because I have a chronic pain disease and massage is one of the few things that help. Even when I am getting a massage I cannot relax because they hurt me while they are going on but help in the long run. So worrying about my report during the massage would not be a big issue for me since they are not a luxury anyway.

Sign up on prophet the are the only one that I have seen

I'm pretty sure that Al Gore could help you on this one.

ShopUntilYouDrop Wrote:
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> I'm pretty sure that Al Gore could help you on
> this one.



Oh, GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

SpyGirl Wrote: Oh, GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

So is Al Gore.

As long as you have good health insurance, medical messages,acupuncture, and the like are covered with a prescription. You just pay your co-pay; tipping is not accepted since these are health professionals, not your standard Swedish massage at your local Massage Envy franchise.

If you don't have an injury, or insurance I second Mickey B's suggestion to check Groupon type sites. Most States have at least 4 or 5; major cities have more. Even Travelzoo and Open Table jumped on the bandwagon and is offering 1/2 Price GC's for local restaurants, bars, and comedy clubs. In NYC (perhaps other States as well) there's a site called Flockmaster, which compiles all the deals from every discount site into one convenient email.

Wouldn't that be a great MS site! One convenient daily email showing every new job from every company. Not like JobSlinger Plus, which I find labor intensive and not terribly useful, since only a few companies participate, but every available job from every company.

Now that's a site I would pay for.


PS.
I just remembered !!
For discount Massages, you can also try SpaFinder.Com and SpaWish.Com
They sell discount gift certificates, and often run sales. I not only use them as gifts, but for myself; especially when I travel, as most participating spas are not the little local corner shop, but national chains and larger spas found in hotels and resorts; Elizabeth Arden's Red Door for example.

Hope this helps !!!

Sentry Marketing has them. I have actually done them and they are not very hard. Payment comes back in about 60 days, I could be wrong though but they will pay.

I did one for Sentry last month and the narratives are pretty long and detailed. Although I thought it would be a great idea, it really is harder to relax knowing you will need to remember for your report, everyones name, what they talked about, etc. (and I taped it to help) After a long day at work, a somewhat stressful massage due to the report I knew I needed to write, plus needing to turn in the report the same night, I am not so sure it was as good as I imagined. Oh yeah, you can expect reimbursement for the massage and a small tip, but nothing additional. If you were to give the masseuse the tip they will reimburse for, it would mean he or she gave you a very poor massage, which just seemed mean.

I agree with the Groupon idea, some GREAT stuff in there

Sentry stopped offering them, fyi.

I perform these types of shops but they are only offered to silver and gold-certified shoppers. And you have to have a certain standing with the MSC.

One of the car dealers by me has free massages with a service call. Maybe you could scour through the car maintenance shops, too, call the dealers in advance and see if they've offer freebies for when you wait.

Another dealer I did had a ladies' Day with service calls and free manicures.

Sybil2 Wrote:
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> I perform these types of shops but they are only
> offered to silver and gold-certified shoppers.

Of course this statement is dependant on MSC.

And I suppose it's also dependant on being able to find a certified shopper. I've been assigned a hotel shop where the shop guidelines specified it was for Gold shoppers. I'm not convinced I'm missing out on a whole lot locally by not being silver or gold certified, and while I've been curious at times I'm not curious enough to fork out any money on it.

saacman, I never said that YOU need to be silver or gold certified but for the particular shops that I am doing, it is one of the requirements. And they are not posted on a job board.

Sybil, I thought that was your intended meaning and meant no offense, but I just wanted to clarify for others as your statement could be read to imply that all shops of this type are only offered to certified shoppers. Although I wouldn't doubt it if you said most shops of this type require certified shoppers as I have rarely seen stand-alone spa shops locally.

On the side note of being curious about certification, how long would you say it took for you to realize a payback on your investment in certification via shops unavailable to you previously? Are you gold or silver?