Gardenia Holistic Bodywork

Well… I hate to be the first review and it be negative but it is what it is. I bought a 90 minute groupon for my brother and he tried to make an appointment and Gardenia canceled on him and he lost interest. So I decided to use it and made an online appointment and Gardenia called me and told me that they couldn’t take me at that time and needed to update their online appointment booking. So they said they wanted to reschedule but seemed uncertain of when they had availability. OK. I accepted that for what it was. Then recently made an appointment. At this point the groupon had expired so I was basically going to be paying full price. I thought I would give it one more shot. Also I am a massage therapist and have a regular therapist I go to but thought I’d try them out. Well she called this morning to cancel saying she had to go out of town last minute. But it didn’t sound like an emergency. My conclusion about this place is that the therapist there is a complete and total flake. Unreliable and completely sounded out of it. In the many years I’ve been in this business I’ve never canceled an appointment the morning of, it’s customary to give a 24 hour notice in all cancelation and really 48 hour is proper. I remember canceling once in the last few years bc I came down with a horrible flu. It’s not business like and I don’t want to be worked on by someone who doesn’t seem to take the work seriously and take pride in their work. For me 3 strikes your out. So I’m writing this review so people don’t waste their time. And maybe Miss Gardenia will realize how serious a career is and how better business effects people. I was in need of a massage. I took the time off from my very busy schedule. I called around after she canceled and couldn’t get an appointment so will have to work another week before getting worked on. It is a domino effect. It wastes my time, and also my performance in my business which effects my clients. If you had given me 24 or 48 hours I could have scheduled another massage for myself or taken a client. Either way you are a FLAKE. Your customer service sucks. Probably your massage technique sucks too.

Thanks to a Living Social deal, I was able to get a badly needed massage here.
Kat, as she states on her website, is truly interested in helping clients heal and treating them like individuals. She was extremely present throughout the massage; I could tell she was focused on my difficult areas and on doing a good job and not just going through the motions, so to speak.
I had a lot of tension and knots and really liked her technique; I also like a lot of pressure and Kat is very strong. She also made some helpful comments and observations, and afterward showed me a few stretches/​yoga poses to do for my problem areas. I had a very tender/​sore spot and she applied a special product that she makes herself, and I was surprised how well it worked. I thought it was a reasonable price and bought a jar.
This is not your typical spa experience type of massage with dim lighting, rainforest music and aromatherapy. It’s on a side street in downtown Guerneville, and that’s what it feels like. I care more about the quality of the massage than I do about the spa «experience,» and the room and massage table were clean and comfortable. It was a truly therapeutic type of massage and I will definitely go back.