Booking a Massage for Someone Else

Booking a treatment for somebody else — a partner, a parent visiting from abroad, a friend who has had a hard month — is slightly different from booking one for yourself, and there are three or four things worth getting right.

The person receiving it has to be able to answer for themselves

This is the main one. A massage involves pressure, bare skin in some treatments, and a stranger in a room, and the person on the table is the only one who can consent to that and the only one who can say stop.

So: book it for an adult who knows it is happening and wants it. A surprise therapist at the door is not a nice surprise, however kindly meant, and we will not treat anybody who did not know they were being booked for.

If you want it to be a gift, tell them it is coming and let them pick the time. The surprise can be that you are paying for it.

What we need to know about them

Several things change what the therapist should and should not do, and only the person receiving the treatment knows them:

• Pregnancy, which rules out some oils and changes positioning.
• Recent surgery, injury, or a diagnosed back or neck condition.
• Numbness, tingling or weakness in an arm or leg — a doctor or physiotherapist first, in that case.
• Allergies, including to nuts, which matters for coconut oil massage.
• Skin conditions, recent tattoos, sunburn.
• Whether they actually like firm pressure.

Put what you know in the booking notes, and tell them to mention anything else to the therapist when they arrive. There is no awkwardness in it; it is a normal part of the first two minutes.

Choosing a treatment for somebody who has never had one

Err gentle. A first massage that was too firm puts people off the whole idea, and nobody has ever been put off by one that was too pleasant.

Thai oil massage at ฿1,000 for sixty minutes is the safe choice — flowing, warm, unscented, on a table, with nothing surprising about it. Foot massage at ฿1,000 is the other, and it is the best option for anybody who seems uncertain about undressing, because there is none.

What not to book for a first-timer: deep tissue, which is genuinely firm, and traditional Thai massage, which involves assisted stretching and being moved about. Both are excellent and neither is an introduction.

For a parent or an older relative, gentler and shorter: sixty minutes of oil massage rather than ninety, and mention their age in the notes so the therapist can adjust pressure from the start rather than after being asked.

Where to have it

Their home is usually better than yours, because the twenty minutes afterwards are part of the treatment and they will not have to travel through them. If they are staying with you, a room with a door that closes and about two metres by one of clear floor is all that is needed.

If they are in a hotel, give us the hotel and room number. If they are in a condominium, find out what the building needs from a visitor — what a condominium visit involves covers that, and it is the thing most likely to go wrong when the person booking is not the person who lives there.

The arrangements

Book in your own name with your own contact details, and say clearly in the notes who the treatment is for and that they are expecting it. We confirm availability with you before anything is fixed.

Give the therapist's arrival window to the person receiving it. The commonest small failure here is the booker knowing the time and the recipient not.

Payment is arranged when we confirm the booking, and the amount is the one on the request. Tipping is not expected and is never added, so there is nothing for your guest to feel obliged about. There is no travel surcharge in any of the twelve districts we cover — the service areas page lists them.

Every treatment with its price is on the home page, a newcomer's guide to Thai massage styles is useful if you are choosing on their behalf, and you can send a request once you have agreed a time with them.