What happens when a luxury hotel tries to channel the city into a massage? A stressed editor finds out.
The treatment room for Raffles’ “Boston Energy” massage is furnished with warm wood, modern tiling, a tub, and a private bathroom. / Raffles Boston
Let’s face it: Boston moves speedy. Between traffic-snarled commutes, interminable workdays, and packed schedules, it can be hard to find time to truly reset. Enter the Boston Energy treatment, a luxurious, city-specific massage at the Guerlain Spa inside Raffles Boston. Created with the pace and pressure of Hub life in mind, the massage promises to do more than just relax tight muscles—it’s designed to recalibrate your entire system.A couple of months ago, I was given the enviable assignment of determining whether the treatment lived up to the hype (tough job, right?). And my appointment couldn’t have come at a better time: Arriving at Raffles, I felt a little winded and stressed, having just received a text from my teenage son who needed a ride—immediately. Walking into the spa, though, felt like stepping into a different world entirely.
Located on the hotel’s fourth floor, the intimate space embodies the prestige of the legendary French beauty house known for its high-performance skin care, luxury fragrances, and nearly 200 years of Parisian heritage. Here, everything—from the soft lighting and blond wood interiors to the scent of Guerlain’s signature products—is designed to make you exhale the moment you arrive.
Before my treatment began, I was given a soothing cup of tea and invited to enjoy a hydrotherapy bath. I moved to the sauna, followed by the steam room, then alternated between warm- and cool-experience showers. By the time I settled into a heated lounge chair, the city outside felt a world away.
The spa’s facials in action. / Raffles Boston
The Boston Energy treatment, I learned from spa director Louise Amerine, is a signature treatment developed specifically for the city’s residents. Designed to ground and invigorate, it’s a nod to Boston’s balancing act—hard-charging ambition coupled with the need to decompress. Upon arrival, Amerine suggested pairing it with the spa’s signature “Tailor-Made” facial, customized based on your skin’s hydration and stress levels, and I gratefully obliged.
The massage kicked off with a short consultation, during which I pointed out two areas of tension: my screen-stiff shoulders and runner’s calves. I appreciated that unlike traditional massages, which focus on either relaxation or sports recovery, this one blended both, using warm stones along my spine and shoulders as well as rhythmic, precise strokes mapped to my body’s energy lines and delivered in a way that felt purposeful.
The facial—one of the best I’ve had—began with a rich cleansing cream, followed by a gentle exfoliation under steam to renew and smooth the skin. My favorite part, though, was the facial massage, during which my therapist rolled cooling globes all over my face to reduce inflammation and tension. By the end, I was glowing. It was rush hour when I left, and the ride home took forever, thanks to the city’s relentless Thursday traffic. But I wasn’t bothered by it—in fact, I felt looser, recharged, and more clear-headed than I had in weeks. Boston energy, indeed.
This article was first published in the print edition of the September 2025 issue with the headline: “Wicked Good Massage.”
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