Layout of a Spa

Generally there is a reception area, which sometimes doubles as a retail location for various items of treatment, skin care, spa wear, and the like. Larger spas actually have a separate boutique for such items. The receptionist is a source of information and help in booking whatever the guest is interested in. He or she will gladly arrange for a quick tour of the facility.

Past the reception area are locker rooms, relaxation areas, treatment rooms, various forms of pools or baths, and sometimes private outdoor areas. These are usually divided up by gender. Some spas may offer mixed gender services, like couples massage, but that is an exception to the somewhat rigorous separation of boys and girls.

The exception is that the treatment room area may be set up between the side for females and the side for males, so that each gender can have access to them all. Other spas may simply segregate treatment rooms by gender. Many layouts are possible.

First thing, one usually changes out of street clothes. Though the lockers are almost always very secure, spas always recommend that you leave jewelry and other valuables behind before entering the spa. The billing system may be set up so that you do not even have to bring money or plastic with you.

The showers should be right by the locker rooms. It is always a good idea, -- a matter of courtesy and probably a rule -- that a client shower prior to going into any of the bath areas or treatment rooms. After the shower, the client is expected to slip into a spa robe and slip-pers, which are provided. Nudity is usually OK, but courtesy requires a certain amount of self-awareness on the part of the client as to whether it may affect how well others can en-joy their spa experiences. (Most spas will allow a client to keep on undergarments for treat-ments, but the norm is without clothing. Spa professionals know how to drape sheets over the client appropriately.)

From the shower and locker room area it is usually just a few steps to a relaxation area. These areas (in each gender side of the spa) often serve as a kind of lobby for heading to different baths and treatments, and they may offer recliners and comfortable chairs as well as refreshments (non-alcoholic, even in Vegas) like green tea or juice. Background music may also be playing. As the focus is on relaxation and release, there are no gaming ma-chines or televisions in a proper spa. Sometimes papers and magazines are provided.

From the relaxation area it is usually self-evident where the treatment rooms are, the sau-nas, the steam room, the Jacuzzis, the hot and cool pools and baths, the route to an outdoor patio or pool (if there is one) and any other facilities that the spa might offer.

Prior to treatment, some spas will have a set routine or a range of rituals to help the client enter into the appropriate state of mind and spirit. Sometimes a spa attendant will help, or sometimes it is a matter of browsing on one’s own.

At reception, the client may be told the number, name or location of his or her treatment room. Sometimes the spa professional will come to the relaxation room (or ask an attendant to act as a guide). In any event, the client is sure to be directed to the right room at the right hour. Some spas do not have clocks on the wall (as an aid to relaxation), but this is no cause for stress. If a person checks in at the desk on time, the spa will know where to look when the treatment hour comes.

After a treatment, the client may remain within the spa area for as long as necessary or comfortable to gain the most from the spa experience. It is up to the client to decide when to abandon the spa robe and slippers, don the street clothes, and escape past the reception desk back into the real world.