Portofino Sun Centers

Very pleased with Portofino Sun Center! Great machines I could see the amazing results right after the first time! Johanna is amazing, very helpful, very sweet, she will tell you about all great deals that they have and give you an advice what machine and what lotion will be good for you! Will definitely send all my friends there!!!

I went here last weekend and it was amazing. There was a really nice cute girl who gave me a tour of the whole place and got me a good deal on their first time special offer. I did a stand up and everyone’s been complimenting my color. Really good clean place I definitely recommend it! Plus the music was sickkk

SPRAY TAN BOOTH, NOVEL:
Just to start off, the spray tan machine works well (they have one machine), and it is somewhat decently priced? I never have the time or patience to search for living social deals, but they are priced about 159 $/​10 pack, which seems fairly standard.
HOWEVER:
Very disorganized. If you don’t make an appointment, you will be waiting at least 45 minutes for the 2 – 3 people ahead of you who did make one. When you do make an appointment, you will be waiting at least 30 minutes because they are behind.
The spray tan room and booth are very dirty. They use the spray tan booth to airbrush people in, which is weird. There are wires and outlets coming out of the wall, and dirty towels on the ground. I would be very interested to watch what they do to «clean» the machine. I normally try not to pay mind to these type of things because lets be serious, as a NYer I ride the subways which are disgusting. But this room is legit FILTHY. I have to wonder how no one at this location seems to care how dirty it is? Not the staff members, the NYS DOH, or the other customers (maybe they do, but just suck it up and try and get in and out asap).
FYI: Their «drying room» is a small attached room with a fan propped up on a chair: #straightupghetto.
The worst of it all, is that the staff members are RUDE. Just as an example from tonight, which is what ultimately pushed me over the edge to write this review: I went in to tan, and there were 2 post-​college aged girls working the front desk. They gave me an attitude from start to finish for coming in 45 minutes before the closing time. They made it VERY clear that I was holding them up from hitting up the club tonight… well…excuse me. I was reminded by one of them to make an appointment next time. Luckily, tweedle dum then turned to her to let her know that I actually did call to make one before I came in. Unfortunately, as expected, no apology or acknowledgement afterwards.
These girls were exhausting. And this salon is gross. Buyers beware.

I commute to the city for work, and have been struggling to find a REALLY good airbrush technician downtown that doesn’t cost a fortune. I bought a Groupon for a 29 $ airbrush session at the Chelsea location and was honestly a little nervous at first. I have airbrushed many times before, and have some bad experiences at a few places, so it always worries me to try a place I am not familiar with.
I called at 10:45 this morning and Patrice (I think that was her name) was SOOO helpful squeezing me in today. My appointment was at 12 pm, and although I ran a little late to the appointment, she set me up quickly and efficiently. While I was filling out forms, she made genuine conversation and was overall just a very sweet girl! She also had the cutest outfit on :)
The airbrush tech (Julia or Julie) was superb! She came into the waiting room and personally walked me through the hall and to the airbrush room. She asked a ton of questions about past experiences, my tanning and color preferences, and my skin type to ensure that she provided me with an excellent tan. Her tan was flawless, and her technique was beyond any other airbrush tan I have had in the past. She instructed me to pose in new ways, not just the basic positions, to truly coat my entire body evenly. She made sure my face, hands and feet weren’t overly tanned. I asked her to put a medium coat on my face so that i could avoid using bronzer over the tan, and she was happy to accommodate that request… She clearly knew what she was doing.
Throughout the tan, she asked personal questions about where I’m from, why I traveled for the tan, and if there was an event this weekend that I was tanning for. We talked about makeup, and she gave me some great suggestions about makeup to use over an airbrush tan. Sometimes it can be awkward to stand in front of a stranger totally naked, but she made the experience so comfortable!
The solution smells great and although I still feel a little sticky, I have no complaints. My tan is even, natural, and isn’t at all orange! It looks like I just came back from a long weekend by the beach. I had an amazing experience at the Chelsea location and will DEFINITELY be back!

Walked past their 75^th St. location and decided to drop in because I had some time before an appt. I waited a bit for my preferred bed and was told the face bulb would go on after about a minute and a repairman was coming to fix it. It never went on. (Nor did 2 others.) I would have gotten out and let them know if I weren’t short on time but I waited until I was done and asked to be credited 1 point (the bed was 2 pts.) They would not comply. Instead, arguing that my face got plenty of exposure. I said if that’s the case, there wouldn’t be a bulb over my face in the first place and why do you have a repairman coming to fix it? How about getting what I paid for? Portofino is not cheap. They offered me 15 min on the face tanning machine. Really? I said why would you offer that if I got plenty of exposure? Portofino’s website claims unparalleled staff and beds in «tip-​top» working order. I think not.

My Guilty pleasure…
I have been going to this location as well as the UES location for about 3 years (sporadically) and I love this place. It’s not the cheapest option, but they have great beds (includes bronzing beds), a great selection of lotions and very nice and accommodating staff.
Every holiday they have some type of sale or discount so I would recommend buying a package around thanksgiving, xmas, valentines day etc. if you want to save a few bucks (and you get a free tan on your birthday!)

I was compelled to visit portofino sun for the first time a few weeks ago and purchased a first-​timers deal which was $ 99 for 10 points (5 sessions with a 2Point bed, which I recommend). The service was great at both their Murray hill and upper west side locations and once my deal was up, I purchased the student deal which is $ 79 for 10 points. I know what you’re thinking — summer is over, we’re in the middle of Football season, and the beaches have been closed since labor day, but I go tanning about once or twice a week. Just lying for 12 minutes under the lamps with the fan In your face is just the best stress relief either during your lunch break on a Wednesday or on a lazy Sunday afternoon. They sell sample packets of tan enhancing lotions for about $ 16 that leave your skin bronzed and incredibly smooth after the session. Try it out for fun, to beat the winter blues or just to imagine you’re lying under the sun at the beach a hundred miles away from the chaos and stress of city life. The staff is very courteous, very helpful and friendly and they keep their machines clean and sanitized. If it’s your first time tanning but you’re not sure which location to try, check out Portofino Sun. I do recommend that first timers take advantage of Lifebooker or Groupon deals, and I don’t believe there are online deals out there for Portofino (besides its past tanning season anyway…).

Not that I ever go tanning ;) but this salon has awesome beds and very friendly staff. The pricing is reasonable too which is a rare find when it comes to tanning salons in the city.

I go here because it’s nearby, but I find they’re very expensive for most beds. Today I paid $ 38 (including tax) for a high pressure bed. The person who helped me was on her cell phone on a personal call with her parents the entire time. I specified that I needed the bed for only 10 minutes — it was a 15 minute bed. She definitely didn’t program it correctly and left it for the full 15 minutes — luckily, I realized this and shut it off in time. Her response when I complained — «you won’t burn in this bed anyway, so don’t worry.»
Another girl was with her who was doing her job, cleaning the beds, etc. and I felt bad she was doing the work of her freeloading coworker. I will be contacting the management about this.

This review is for their California Tan (not Mystic, by a mile!) at the Murray Hill location. Never again! The spray tan booth was way in the back in a dark closet area, and there looked like there had been a fire — the vents were hanging down from the ceiling, and black, and the carpet was nasty. There was a towel on the floor of the booth that was torn and tattered. The whole thing was just plain gross.

Great student discount deal!

This review is for their business practices and not their beds. On friday i went to portofino exactly at 9am but they were not open yet even though thats the hour they are suppose to open. After waiting 20 minutes the girl finally comes to open the shop and does not even apologize for being late or inconviencing me! I let it go bc it was the first time this has happened but then on sunday i went at 10am and waited 30minutes with two other customers and they were not open AGAIN! I couldnt wait bc i had plans so i left after waiting half an hour in the rain. This place has great beds but what good is that if you cant get INSIDE to use it.

I came here every week during last summer to get my spray tan. It’s right across the street from where I live, so it’s insanely convenient. This place is small but very clean — which is very very important to me. I never had to wait for my spray tan but I’d suggest to call ahead of time just to be safe. Sometimes it could take several mins for the spray tan machine to be ready.

Totally cheap especially if your a student –
it’s $ 59 for 10 points on off peak hours which is before 12 pm or after 8.
I never had to made an appointment but always go before 12, I don’t think i ever had to wait for a bed either.
I use a high pressure bed I think it comes out to like 8 dollars and change per session if you divide it up. mind you I only need to go every week or week and a half which is amazing
:)

Pretty good tanning place — they have a buy one get one free for first time customers. The place is pretty small but clean. The only complaint I had was I had to wait about 10 minutes for a high pressure bed during peak hours. Not bad but I never really need to wait at City Sun.
I actually got color that was noticeable which is awesome. Everywhere else in Murray Hill kinda sucks and I feel like I’m just throwing my money in the garbage.