I've always been the type to completely eschew spas - growing up my family wasn't wealthy enough to even consider them, which I guess has carried on with me now that I can consistently afford travel to high-end hotels and destinations.

As a result, I have absolutely no clear idea what goes on inside spas. I only know that you pay money to get some service, such as massages or treatments, but other than that I'm fairly clueless about what goes on and the expected etiquette that one should behave under.

(I'm mainly talking about Hotel spas, if there's any difference between these and independent ones)

Things that I'm curious about: do these spas have open areas or are they a big maze of rooms and hallways? Do people ever see each other or are treatments done in complete privacy? Do spas contain pools, jacuzzis or saunas? Does one generally get stark-naked or keep their clothes on? (Or somewhere in between?) When someone goes in for a treatment or massage, do they shower first and get changed?

Forgive me if these questions seem very obvious, but I realized that I know absolutely nothing about these institutions even though I stay at their attached hotels extremely often.