A great day spa can make you feel rejuvenated and on top of the world. But a bad day spa can leave you feeling horrible and ripped off. So how can you find a great day spa? While there are could be many other criteria, these are the five most important things that you should consider. The first to consider when choosing a great spa is to ask your family or friends what they recommend. First-hand recommendations from people who have actually used the spa will be your best source of information. Another factor when trying to decide which spot to go to is what services they offer. For example if you want a mud bath, make sure that the style you want is offered before you schedule an appointment.

Another big factor is time. Many people don’t have the time to take off several days to go to a destination spa and they have to choose from a day spa in their local area. If you do ever chance to go to a destination spa, I highly recommend it. A day spa may not have a lot of the facilities and treatments offered at a larger resort spa, however, you only need to go there for as long as the procedure takes, typically a couple of hours. Since you are not spending the night, it is considerably less expensive over a resort spa.

For some treatments, it’s nice to have a licensed therapist administering them to you. Before you get involved with complex treatments, make sure you ask what kind of training they have had. Does the business have certifications to support those exotic treatments? Often spas prefer to offer as many services as they can – and it can turn out to be overreaching. If you are thinking about acupressure or Swedish Massage, ask what type of training the therapists have gotten. Ideally it is more than just a weekend seminar. Thanks to increasing competition among businesses, many of these facilities are now offering reward programs. If you choose to take advantage of these, you can save a lot of money off of your treatments. Before choosing a regular destination, ask if they offer or rewards program.

Not enough of us worry about the spa water balance and think that as long as the water is crystal clear, we are good to go. If the pH of the water in your hot tub isn’t balanced properly, not only can it damage the tub and its components but it can also be harmful to your skin. Because the water in your hot tub is not drained after every use you obviously need to be more careful about this water than your regular baths. When the pH is not balanced the various sanitisers you use like chlorine and bromine do not work well and this will just promote the growth of bacteria in your spa water. If you have skin or eye irritation after using the hot tub, check if your water balance is right and this is the main reason experts stress on maintaining perfect water balance. You can also add a bactericide and an algicide to make sure your water is safe.

With the right water balance in your spa, the lifespan of your hot tub, heater, etc will be longer. The heater, seals, spa pumps, other equipment, etc can get corroded because of acid pH, and at high pH levels scale build up can be seen and so a high or a low pH can reduce the efficiency of your heater in particular. Also if your water has the right pH balance, the filters don’t get clogged very often. Hot tubs are a wonderful thing to have and maintaining them will be that much easier if you make sure the water is balanced properly.

Maintaining a spa is not as expensive as you think and by just taking care of the water you can save a lot on electricity. If you check and maintain the water pH you won’t have a lot of scum and scales to scrub, the frequency of the filter change will also be less and lower amounts of sanitisers will be required if the pH is right. A lot of test strips and kits are available in the market, which can indicate the state of your water accurately. Then by adding certain hot tub chemicals in accurate amounts you can maintain a suitable water balance. An average of 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient to follow all the above steps and you will have a very safe hot tub. Plus there are alternative hot tub water cleaners that do not use chemicals such as chlorine or bromine.