The Chocolate Spa at Hotel Hershey: Chocolate Baths, Massage, and of course, Hershey Kisses!
- Published: Thursday, October 11th 2007
- in Living Well
The Chocolate Spa at Hotel Hershey: Chocolate Baths, Massage, and of course, Hershey Kisses! By Susie Ellis
On the way back to Manhattan after spending a few nights at Bedford Springs Resort and sampling the Eternal Springs Spa, Peter and I were driving close to Hershey Pennsylvania so I asked him to stop so I could tour the Spa at the Hotel Hershey (Part of Hershey Resorts). To his credit and my delight, he was happy to do so. Personal note: You would have to know that in our 22 years of marriage one of the major points of argument between us has been this very issue. We are driving somewhere, flying somewhere, walking somewhere, and I say, “Oh, I just want to pop in and visit this spa.” I have done this for 22 years and admittedly at times it hasn’t been in the flow. But no matter, I usually insisted and he resisted. It often became a major battle.
Don’t even get me started about the time some 10 years ago where I literally had to run through the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Colorado in my ski outfit because Peter was so angry that I insisted on stopping there on our way back to Telluride after skiing in Vail. He didn’t even get out of the car…was steaming mad…and gave me exactly five minutes before he was leaving for Telluride without me. Years later when Kobe Bryant from the LA Lakers had his famous “indiscretion incident” there, I remember him telling someone that he was familiar with Cordillera. I had to smile.
Anyway…off to Hershey. We were totally unannounced but Jennifer Wayland-Smith, who I knew was the Spa Director, had always extended an invitation to visit. So we took a look around the large hotel with its family-friendly atmosphere and found the spa. Although Jennifer was off that day we did get a tour and I was able to see the famous tubs where they do the chocolate baths (they were getting one ready and sprinkling cocoa powder in).
Good thing we had a tour guide as it was a bit of a maze. The spa has 54 treatment rooms and they have just converted the men’s locker-room into a second locker-room for women as a result of so much business (The men were given a sort of make-shift new one down the hall). There were bowls of Hershey Kisses here and there, some yummy hot chocolate in the waiting room, and all of the treatment rooms were named after a different rose. I remember that everything looked immaculately clean although the décor seems a bit dated (especially compared to Bedford Springs which was brand new).
Before I left, I also received a Hershey Resorts news update. It was announced yesterday that the spa’s director Jennifer Wayland-Smith was leaving the spa at Hershey and was moving to Arizona to head up the Golden Door Spa at the Boulders.
