For proletariats such as Dennis and I, one of life’s more affordable luxuries would be a few hours at a spa. Buti na lang, Riyadh has its share of excellent spas.

It didn’t use to be like this. Massage services kasi are something that have been frowned upon before. Medyo taboo. Pang-sports lang ang massage and not really for relaxation.

I don’t really know what happened but a sea change occured somewhere, somehow and soon spas have been the toast of the town.

If I can hazard a guess, the trend began when the famed Four Seasons Hotel opened its Health Club (that offered spa services including massage therapy) about five years ago at the iconic Kingdom Tower.

 

For sure, other hotels may have been offering the same services far longer than the Four Seasons, but somehow, such services were never quite known nor as widely popular. 

Perhaps following the lead by the Four Seasons, other hotels began sprucing up their health/sports club facilities to look more like spas. The Marriott, for one, even built an entirely new wing just to house its spa. The Radisson renovated the hotel and included a spa which exudes a very Zen ambience. The Intercon too had been quite busy upgrading its facilities to include the services of massage therapists.

Those who can’t go to the spas, still have ways of availing of the services of massage therapists. There are the honest-to-goodness masseurs and masseuses. And then there are those whose services actually consist of the so-called “happy endings.” Either way, these services are offered by OFWs who want to earn extra income. [I'm not quite sure about massage services being offered by non-OFWs; have yet to hear about it or encounter one.]

I didn’t realize this before but this OFW blackmarket massage services have been a big underground business. Therapists in fact have gone beyond the traditional word-of-mouth/referral approach, and have begun advertising their services on email groups. Quite logically, the biggest clientele of such services would be those who work in offices - precisely because they are the ones with access to email and the advertised services. 

Belatedly, I also found out that the bigger barber shops in town, which cater mainly to Arabs, also offer massage services including Arabic and Turkish bath (hamami) services and amenities.  

Typically, the going rate for the OFW blackmarket massage service is anything from SR50 to SR100. This will exclude any costs related to transport. So if one has a car, it is quite logical for the massage therapist to be picked up from and brought back to his place, by the customer. Sometimes, the customer also has to serve the therapist refreshments or even a meal. But this is not de riguer; it’s just a matter of pakikisama and pakikipagkapwa-tao with a fellow OFW.

In our case, we have been fortunate enough to have found massage therapists who eventually became barkada.

For the barber shop-based services (mainly for Arab customers), the rate can range between SR120-200, while the rates for the hotel-based spa services can be anywhere from SR150-375. Methinks it is the Four Seasons which offers the most complete range of spa services, and thus, the most expensive rates so far.

Without belaboring the point, all of these services are for men (except for those offered by fellow OFWs/masseuses who of course only “do” women). For women, only the barber shop counterparts, the so-called beauty shoppes, offer massage therapies (and other beauty regimens/services) solely for women.

So far among hotels, it’s only the Four Seasons which has a facility solely for women; it’s incorporated into the third floor of the Kingdom Mall which has been designed exclusively for women shoppers with shops manned by females salespersons/assistants.  

I’m not quite sure if compounds also offer massage services to their residents and guests. Maybe it’s time to find out?