Burke Williams

Good refuge from the world

by PWP at Citysearch

Very good spa for the South Bay area...the best I've found so far overall, but compared to a few I've been to in other states/countries, there is still room for improvement.

Likes:

1) Great ambiance with classic European look and feel.

2) Very clean facilities. Very important!

3) Robes, slippers, and plenty of small amenities like combs, brushes, fruit, drinks, and other toiletries.

4) Other products available but I did not feel pressured to buy anything.

5) Quiet room for relaxing with recliners.

6) Professional staff and consistent and competent.

7) Monthly membership is great idea for those who use this type of service regularly, especially since it's located in Santana Row. Nice place to download and rejuvenate.

8) Spacious facility even when crowded.

9) Best time to go is M/T/W.

Suggestions for Improvement:

1) Provide small/medium/large sandals. My feet are so small that I trip on the sandals I was given. This is a safety hazard.

2) Provide a separate room for groups who want to "chat it up." There are alot of wedding groups here in the summer and they're annoying to the regulars.

3) Make the jacuzzi area more private.

4) More ventilation in the entire locker room/sauna/shower/jacuzzi areas. Very muggy!

5) Provide menus throughout the spa for a variety of healthy snacks and liquid refreshments. There is some availabe but expand selection.

6) In quiet room enable the dividing curtains to wrap around the recliners completely, so you can have complete privacy. Also, provide small reading lights for those who want to read a magazine, ect. The lights are too dim to read as they are now. Also provide noise cancelling headphones with music.

7) Put in a working fireplace in the main room and an aquarium in the quiet room. This would really enhance relaxation.

8) Use more meditative music.

9) Provide music menu for iPods in individual treatment rooms.

10) Reception area is too busy. Allow payment prior to service or in the salon. This process immediately takes away your relaxed state as you're leaving. Plus staff is usually busy, frenetic and not as accomodating as those inside the spa. The front desk is WAY too high and difficult to work over. It feels like a fortress! Sends a negative vibe for sure.

11) Provide regular discounts for non-peak days to promote attendance during the week, and reduce weekend traffic.

• Pros: good ambiance and extras
• Cons: weekend crowd

Great spa

by cwatson3 at Citysearch

Great atmosphere. Massage therapists are generally very good. Locker room can get really hot cause of the spa/sauna/pool.

My San Francisco experience was so awful, decided to try this one...

by beautygurl at Citysearch

Can't really say it was much better. This is supposed to be a high end spa and yet it feels like I am at McDonald's. At first how it is set up seemed like a good idea, but it's really just an illusion, the products might as well be from the local grocery store, they are so ineffective. If I am going to spend that kind of money I really want to have the facial do something!

• Pros: at least santana row is nice
• Cons: Mold in the shower

My oasis of luxury and pampering

by teresathegreat1 at Citysearch

When I feel really stressed out and in need of rejuvenation, I run to Burke-Williams to soothe my body and soul. As soon as I slip through the massive wood doors I begin to relax. It's like a country club without the membership fees. Here I know I'll be treated like a lady, with courtesy and consideration, all my needs and wants anticipated. I can slip into a terry-cloth robe and spend as long as I like in the sauna, steam room, hot tub, quiet room. Chilled water and fresh apples wait to refresh me. I can stay modest in a swimsuit or slip into a simple sisterly bareness with other women, without any self-consciousness to disrupt our calm.

Eventually a staff member comes to quietly beckon me and guide me with a gentle touch to the massage room. The room is elegantly furnished and dimly lit. I've even fallen asleep as the masseuse works away my worries. I've had enough massages over the years to know how to request she focus on problem areas or direct her to linger on certain spots, and that simple communication is key to a good massage.

After an hour of massage, she rings a gentle chime to call me back to consciousness. After she leaves, a slip into my robe, pleasantly warm from their heater. I stumble out of the robe in a relaxed haze, and she guides me back towards to women's spa with a gentle hand at the small of my back. I usually doze off in the quiet room for awhile, with a lap rug or magazine, until I feel awake enough to do another round in the hot tub, sauna, or steam room. I bless the quality body wash, shampoo, and conditioner in the shower (real doors, too, no flimsy locker-room curtains) and spend awhile beautifying at the vanity tables, helping myself to the lotions and sterlized brushes.

Then I dress and waft out to the lobby with a beatified smile to pay and leave a generous tip, musing how that was $125 well-spent.

• Pros: Luxury and pampering
• Cons: I've had better massages elsewhere, but never a bad one here

What a great experience

by sashalou at Citysearch

i love everything about this place. the services are great, the locker room is comfortable and well stocked, and it's all very clean. i feel very safe at burke williams, i know that they know how to take care of me!