There are only a handful of true resort spas in the Tampa Bay area, icons such as Safety Harbor Resort & Spa and Innisbrook. Guests staying at these spas are in for much more than a quick massage or facial at a strip mall. Instead, they experience a true resort where they can relax by the pool, eat lunch on the terrazzo and get away for complete rejuvenation.
Now, Wesley Chapel’s only resort spa is open once again at Saddlebrook Resort, thanks to Kyymara Rosey Scott, owner of Esthetics813.
After the Saddlebrook spa closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it sat motionless for almost four years. That was until September of last year, when Kyymara reopened the 7,000-sq.-ft.. space, now known as Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook, located at 5700 Saddlebrook Way, a short drive from S.R. 54 near Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. through the Saddlebrook neighborhood.
Local residents and resort guests alike can experience a variety of luxurious spa services, including massages, facials, skin treatments, waxing, microdermabrasion, brow sculpting, spray tans and more in one of the spa’s 14 treatment rooms.
“We’ve been able to make the spa super cozy and intimate,” says Kyymara. “Every person who works here knows the clients come first. We stay on top of our game as far as how we make people feel, helping them improve themselves esthetically, and how they feel inside.”
She says that in addition to spa treatments, she also offers workshops and events to help people truly experience wellness. “It’s not just applying lipstick,” she says. “It’s everything, feeling whole on the inside and the outside.”
Kyymara explains the spa’s slogan, “Look Great Bare-Faced Naked.”
“When you’re not wearing makeup, you don’t have to put up walls and barriers and filters,” she says. “Who you are is enough to make you great.”
Often, she says, guests look in the mirror after a treatment and say, “What did you do? I look so beautiful!”
But Kyymara insists all she does at the spa is reveal someone’s natural beauty. “This is you,” she says. “That glow is your happiness.”
The Move To A New Location
Kyymara opening her original location of Esthetics813 in the Windfair Professional Center in Wesley Chapel in 2013. As her business grew, she needed a larger space and, in 2019, Esthetics813 moved to a storefront on BBD at County Line Rd.
Just a few months later, she had to close the doors and wait out the pandemic.
Although she was able to reopen Esthetics813, Saddlebrook struggled to do the same. Kyymara had had her eye on the resort and knew that if anyone could make the most of the spa’s potential, it was her.
Walking into that long-dormant space was emotional for Kyymara.
“It was like going into a museum,” she explained. “Everything was the way it was when they told them to close. There were rooms with bowls set up for facials and manicure materials that had sat there for four years.”
She was thrilled when she was able to come to an agreement with Saddlebrook to reopen Esthetics813 at the resort, which finally happened in September of last year, after months of updating and refreshing the space.
Although Kyymara was originally hoping to keep the location on BBD open, she ended up closing it, acknowledging it was too hard for her personally to run both locations.
She says the Saddlebrook location offers much more for her guests anyway.
“In terms of space and privacy, it’s totally different,” Kyymara says. “We have different types of saunas and a wet room where we can do true body scrubs and wraps. I can give my guests everything they need in terms of wellness — massages, body scrubs, facials and more — whether they come in for an hour or the whole day. It’s so versatile.”
The staff includes senior spa coordinator, Valeria Medina, and spa manager, Arely Rosas, plus four massage therapists, four estheticians — including one who specializes in both makeup and permanent brow makeup, a manicurist and a cosmetologist.
While Kyymara’s husband, Kurt Wickiser, isn’t technically on staff, she says he is hugely supportive of the business, including serving as the de facto maintenance man, fixing anything that breaks or needs attention.
Kyymara says that most of her clients from the previous location have moved with her to Saddlebrook. Although it’s a little harder to get to, they love it once they try it.
“It’s a gorgeous drive,” she says. “You get through that gate and it’s a beautiful two and a half minutes until you get to the spa and hand over your keys.”
The spa is valet only, with Esthetics813 paying for the valet service with any spa service of one hour or more.
Once you enter the spa, your treatment begins with 30 minutes in the sauna to just relax.
“Slow down, put on a robe, and sink in to the sauna,” she says, “then come in and get your service.”
While this level of luxury may seem out-of-reach for some, clients say the prices are extremely reasonable. Kyymara offers discounts and contests for free services on social media, and also offers a program to give bonuses to guests who refer friends.
Melissa D. is a client who started at Esthetics813 in 2015 and moved with Kyymara twice.
“When I leave, I feel absolutely gorgeous,” Melissa says. “You feel like you’re in the lap of luxury for a reasonable price.”
She says the drive is farther than the previous location, but it’s quicker than you think.
“And then, when you get there, it’s just a beautiful place,” Melissa says. “You’re by the golf course, you can go swimming in the pool, you don’t have to worry about parking. You just go down the steps and it feels like a grand experience.”
She says her facials are always customized just for her, with remarkable results.
“When you feel good,” Melissa says, “it really does affect all of the areas of your life.”
Nathan Erickson got his first facial when a girlfriend gave him a gift certificate as a gift.
“Now I go every month,” he says. “It’s always a great experience. Kyymara is so easy to get along with, and the results are amazing!”
In fact, he says, sometimes he doesn’t even book a specific facial. He comes in and lets Kyymara suggest the best treatment for his skin.
“It was already awesome,” he says, “and the new location is even better.”
Esthetics 813-The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort is open Mon., Wed., Thur. & Fri., 10 a.m. –6 p.m., and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sat. & and Sun. For more information, follow “Esthetics813 – The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort” on Facebook or Instagram, call (813) 474-4486, visit Esthetics813TheSpaAtSaddlebrook.com.
