Foundation Fitness of Georgetown

Good massage, good customer service overall, but had some trouble utilizing a voucher or it would have been 5 stars. Also, they used something called a deep muscle stimulator on me and that was pretty good!

Well, that was a disaster from beginning to end. Here are the facts:
— I bought two LivingSocials, one for me and one for my husband, so we could set up concurrent massage appointments.
— FF’s website says, right on their massage page: «Can two people get a massage at the same time? Yes. Foundation Fitness Georgetown has two massage rooms that allow for simultaneous massages. Please call for availability.»
— I got online to try to book our two massages, and was amazed by how terrible their online scheduling system is. Couldn’t immediately figure out how to search for two appointments at once, so I called.
— Phone call was a terrible customer service with Kimior: I told him I wanted two massages and was having trouble with the website, so just wanted to schedule with him. He said he couldn’t schedule for me, that I had to go through the website. After a little back and forth, since I couldn’t believe he couldn’t/wouldn’t just schedule our appointments for us over the phone, I asked if he could at least look at their schedule, and help me find concurrent appointments. He said they don’t have any. I pointed out the promise on their website that they do have them. He said it’s a scheduling issue; they just don’t have the availability. I said that we’d be willing to go a couple months out, we didn’t care. He said that didn’t matter. I said, trying to get him to admit how crazy he was sounding, «So are you really saying that you will never, ever, ever have two appointments available at the same time, ever again?» He said yes, that was true. Which I felt was probably a dang lie. Especially since I kept asking if he would please at least look at his schedule, and he REFUSED to. The call ended when I said, «I feel like for some reason that I’m not understanding, you are simply unwilling to even check the schedule for possible appointment times.» He said, not too nicely, «Ma’am, I don’t know why you’d have that idea.» I laughed and hung up.
— So back to the website. Fueled by my outrage, I took the time to figure out their dumb system, and SURPRISE, found concurrent appointments a couple months out. Booked them, but UGH by having to create separate online accounts/​profiles for me and my husband. Too much work for a dang massage. Anyway, I scheduled our appointments, specifying that mine would need to be a prenatal massage, and could they please verify that they’d be set up for that.
— Within a day or so, I received our two confirmation emails. Progress… except that they didn’t confirm that they’d be set up for my prenatal massage.
— A few days ago, time for our massages: I called the day before (during business hours) to confirm the prenatal question. Left a message. No one called back.
— I called back the morning of our massages, talked to Lance, said I was coming in that evening for a massage with Julie, and wanted to confirm that it would be set up for prenatal. He said, sure, Julie is fine with prenatal. Sounds good, right…
— Husband and I took the D5 bus from Foggy Bottom to their Georgetown location. D5 dropped us off right there, but I had previously imagined them being in the main part of Georgetown, and FYI they’re on the faaar side of the campus, not walking distance from our offices in Foggy Bottom.
— We got there early, and my husband’s masseuse greeted us. But she was confused when I mentioned I was also there for a massage with Julie. After what looked like a stressful few minutes for her of checking what was going on, she came back to tell us that something must have gone wrong, because Julie doesn’t even work on Mondays. That’s right folks, I showed up for a massage but there was no masseuse. I don’t necessarily blame Julie; I think I blame their crappy scheduling system? (And also maybe Lance, who didn’t think it was odd that I’d called that morning about a massage with Julie, who was not going to be there that evening.)
— We ultimately decided that my husband would just get his massage since we were already there. His masseuse (Marquita, who was extremely nice) tried to help us find upcoming concurrent appointments but there was nothing that worked for our schedules. (Hey Kimior, note that SHE had no problem looking at the schedule for us?) Plus I had already decided that I’d be getting a refund on my LivingSocial voucher, because I was OVER it.
— Long story short, my husband said his massage was good, and Marquita was extremely nice and apologetic, but there is no way I’m going back over there and give them a second chance on me. Totally not worth it, after dealing with their terrible scheduling system, dealing with Kimior’s terrible attitude, going a little farther than we’d expected, and the scheduling snafu.
PS: I was also grossed out to observe one of the personal trainers come out to greet a client, and I’m almost positive the trainer had a mouthful of chewing tobacco. That’s disgusting and not at all appropriate for a health/​fitness center.

I redeemed my massage voucher for a 60 min massage at the Georgetown Foundation Fitness last night:
Julie, my masseuse was so great! First, I showed up 15 min late and judging from previous Unilocal entries about this place and their cancellation policy, I thought I was going to have to reschedule or pay additional. I called her to let her know and she said it was no problem. A lot of previous entries mentioned lack of front desk staff, but she was waiting for me at their front desk… so not sure about that concern. In fact, Julie was really nice about me being late and stayed later than she should have to make sure I got the full 60 min (This massage was scheduled at 8:15pm — so pretty late). She even helped me get the basics of my paperwork done (which was just that standard one sheet asking if you had any medical issues) so that we wouldn’t waste much time.
The room is nicely decorated, ambient (zen sounds and dim lighting), and it’s very quiet despite the fact that it is inside a full working gym. Julie targeted my problem areas from our initial discussion and was very cognizant of discomfort or being ticklish (I wish I wasn’t!). She only talks in the first minute about levels of pressure and then stays quiet thereafter so you can relax.
Everything was as professional as you would expect from a massage in a 5 star hotel. Completely up to standard.
After the massage, she broke down the reasons for my problem areas and explained how I can work on fixing them. I assume her chiropractor background gave her the clinical knowledge she provided me. She never once tried to rush me out of there even though we ended close to 10pm. There was only a 2 min talk about possible interest in gym membership — which I’m really thankful for.
My only cons are location and contact info. They are not on the main Georgetown strip; they’re past the University. Further, their direct 202 line on Google is more likely to be answered than the phone number on their website that makes you dial in a bunch of codes to get to them.
I was really worried about this entire massage because the many negative entries below but it seems that this place pays attention to Unilocal and has improved in every way that it can. I genuinely enjoyed my massage (I was suffering from a ton of knots in my shoulders). I’m happy to say that the knots are gone and I feel very renewed today. I’d go back if they are on Groupon or Living Social again.
Thanks Julie!

Lance, the owner, scheduled me for a free massage with Julie. She was decent with identifying trigger points and working on my hamstrings. Her technique didn’t help my foot much. Generally speaking, I enjoyed the massage.
Afterwards, Lance repeatedly followed up to see how things went. He asked me to update my review multiple times. When I didn’t respond fast enough, he provided a response to my original review. I don’t have any hard feelings about this place but I’m still wary of Mitchell as he still works there.

After working out with Alex and Lance, and after receiving a massages from Nguyen and others, I’ve decided to update my previous rating. This place is great for both training and for massage treatments. I’ve since moved from the area and miss working with these guys.

Just started boot camp here and it is better than I hoped for: a monthly fitness assessment, a total body workout for 45mins (I think — can’t keep track because it is fun and constantly being worked) 3x a week and small groups. Plenty of parking out back (rare in the Georgetown/​Foxhall/​Palisades area) and everyone is really friendly so far. For those in Rosslyn and downtown – it is quick access via Whitehurst or Key Bridge where Canal and MacArthur meet.
It is more like 4.5 stars — I do wish there was more time spent outside on the nice days.

I had a great massage at Foundation Fitness on August 4, 2012. There was plenty of parking in a lot behind the building. Location was easy to find. I worked with Andrew J. and he was amazing. He was very professional and gave me exactly the type of massage I asked for. I will definitely be going back!

It seems like I may be the odd one out here, but to my surprise (after all the bad Unilocal reviews), I enjoyed my service. I usually Unilocal a deal before buying, but it was the last one available and I went for it. I bought the 50% off deal about a year ago from Home Run and waited until the last minute (i.e. the day before it expired) to use it. I booked my service online about 2 weeks ahead, no problems, and received a phone call from my masseuse Jessica the morning of the appt. to confirm. I’d recommend booking in advance as it seems they have specific times when you have to use the deals and if you’re trying to get a specific masseuse it could be a wait. I arrived early to fill out the form as a new client and since I’d been in a rush to get there on time from across town, Jessica helped me print out my deal without any problem. The massage itself was probably medium touch, since it was a swedish, but it was exactly what I needed. It took me a while to settle in, but eventualy I fell asleep and woke up just in time for the end of the session. Jessica did a thorough massage overall and of the areas that I specificied. The only thing that I didn’t like was that the massage ended about 10 – 15 minutes early, even though we probably got started right on time. It was just the thing I needed after the stressful vacation I had. It’s a bit out of the way for me, but I would definitely come back.

I was drawn to Foundation Fitness through their groupon. My massage was very relaxing and peaceful, however my back felt sore the next day. I am not sure if that is normal, or if my muscles were so tense that relaxation is a new and uncomfortable sensation.
I give this place two stars just because it is out of the way. It’s not exactly in Georgetown, so when I got to Georgetown I had to grab a cab. It is no big deal, I definitely planned for the cab, but it is not as convenient as I would have hoped.

Terrible massage! I had a big burly guy massage me. He was the only person there and it totally freaked me out. There was nothing relaxing about the massage at all nor the atmosphere.