Our Story
The Massage Experts® at Zeel
Zeel® is not only the first mobile Massage On Demand company, with a network of over 9,000 therapists in 85+ cities (and counting), we’re the largest too. Zeel connects you to the best licensed massage therapists available on-demand at your home, hotel, workplace, or event. Book your massage through Zeel's network as little as an hour ahead of time, or up to a month in advance. With Zeel, you get everything you want in a massage: quality, convenience, access, value, and security. Massages from therapists in the Zeel network are the best massages.
2010: Zeel, the Origin
Back at the turn of the decade, entrepreneur Samer Hamadeh and his founding team wanted to make wellness services accessible and easy to find. Samer had developed an interest in the area after finding it nearly impossible to locate licensed, experienced alternative wellness professionals to treat a variety of sports- and age-related aches and pains. Samer assembled a team of top professionals from his previous startups and set about revolutionizing the wellness space.
The Zeel team carefully curated and vetted the largest national network of wellness practitioners, and set about connecting customers with the services they were searching for. As it turned out, what Zeel customers wanted the most were massages – often a massage at home or in a hotel room – and most often they wanted a same-day massage.
2011: The Big Idea
The Zeel team worked hard to fulfill the same-day massage requests. Back in 2010 and 2011, however, the massage industry was not prepared to accommodate last-minute, large-scale in-home massage booking. It was true that many massage therapists worked independently and visited customers at their homes or hotel rooms, but these massage therapists were understandably reluctant to accept new on-location customers without a reference or other security check. Samer and his team’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked into high gear. They had a problem to solve. Customers wanted a same-day massage delivered to them. Massage therapists wanted to do more in-home massage and get more control over their income and careers. Both needed security.
The light bulb went off. It was time for a new category in the massage industry – Massage On Demand. Zeel was going mobile with massage.
Several things needed to happen to make Zeel Massage On Demand a reality.
- Zeel massages would be enabled for booking by both app and website.
- Zeel would be available in as little as an hour; 365 days a year, including holidays, for start times as early as 8am and as late as 10:30pm.
- Zeel customers would be able to book massages when they wanted them – that is, when you have back pain and neck pain, or sore muscles, or you have a free hour.
- Instead of having a physical location, massage therapists would travel to customer locations, with a portable massage table and other massage supplies.
- To add a layer of security for customers, all therapists available through the Zeel network are carefully vetted, including verifying license and insurance, before joining the Zeel Massage network.
- Zeel would have best-in- class security for massage therapists by requiring all its customers to verify their identity through Zeel tech partners – a step that no other on-demand companies were taking (and still aren’t taking, except for AirBnB), due to difficulty and expense.
- Zeel would ensure that massage therapists were paid the greatest share of the price of the massage.
- Pricing would be affordable and transparent. Not only would massages be priced below equivalent top spas, all payments would be seamlessly handled through the Zeel app, with tip and tax auto-added and clearly indicated on the receipt.
Zeel created and launched Massage On Demand in 2012, thereby bringing the wonders of a same-day, on-demand, in-home massage to grateful customers and happy massage therapists alike. It was the start of the massage revolution. No more searching fruitlessly online for “massage near me” or booking at spas days or weeks in advance. Top-quality massage had become on location and on demand, 365 days a year.
2012-Now: On Demand Innovation
After the launch of Zeel Massage On Demand on zeel.com, Zeel brought the first mobile massage app to the market in early 2013 putting same-day in-home massage at the fingertips of customers. First offering deep tissue massage and Swedish massage, Zeel later expanded its massage techniques to include prenatal massage and sports massage.
In 2013, Zeel introduced the first in-home on-demand massage membership, Members enjoy a massage a month, plus a free massage table, at special Zeel member pricing. Zeel’s premium massage membership quickly became a must-have for lovers of relaxation, wellness, and convenience.
Today, Zeel leads the mobile massage revolution it started, bringing Massage On Demand to 85+ cities and regions. Zeel continues to be the largest, most reliable, most secure, and highest-quality mobile massage available anywhere.
Zeel Investors
Zeel is proud to have a top team of investors, including:
Along with top angels, including, but not limited to:
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