Zeel

On-demand Massage (at-home)

2018: Zeel Massage App Expands Sleep Massage Therapy Nationwide

"Over 30% of all Americans report having trouble getting to sleep at night,"

expanding its exclusive in home massage technique - the Sleep Massage - to more than 85 cities in the country

For a customized at home massage experience, customers select their desired time, length, and location for the massage; the preferred gender of the massage therapist; and a massage technique including Swedish, deep tissue, sports, prenatal, couples, or sleep massage with the option to add special requests such as reflexology and scalp massage.

vetted more than 10,000 licensed, insured, and experienced massage therapists

The sleep massage modality is also available through Zeel's in home massage membership – for those looking to take advantage of Zeel's unmatched value month over month. Benefits include regular discounted massages to soothe muscles at home, a free professional Zeel massage table with a deluxe sheet set, no initiation fee to join, and access to a 90-day trial option. Plus, membership benefits can be shared within a household.

Zeel is also home to Zeel Spa, the on-demand staffing solution for spas; Zeel Concierge, which enables hotels to provide in-room massage bookings for guests; and Zeel Corporate Wellness, which brings chair massages to companies, events, and workplaces.

2015: On-demand massage service Zeel launching in Chicago

The company, which already operates in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, says it has a network of nearly 4,000 vetted and licensed therapists nationwide.

It is not Chicago's only on-demand massage service. Los Angeles-based Soothe launched here last month, and Windy City Massage has been dispatching therapists to people's homes on short notice for two decades. Zeel bills itself as the first of its kind and the largest, ensuring there is almost always someone available when the knots in your neck are in need.

Prices start at $99, plus an automatic 18 percent tip.

The massage therapists in the network see the data on where and when orders come in and plan their schedules to make themselves available, he said. In New York, for example, therapists drive to the Hamptons on weekends and wait for a booking, he said.

Zeel's massage therapists are independent contractors who get 75 percent of the total price a customer pays, Hamadeh said.

2013: Zeel Relaunches As The Uber For Massage With New On-Demand, Mobile Booking Service

many in-home and that over 55 percent of those requests were for same-day service.

all of its therapists are vetted (in person), licensed, certified, insured and own their own portable massage tables.

there are currently over 290,000 licensed massage therapists in the U.S., 73 percent of whom are solo practitioners

appointments booked more than a day in advance on the old Zeel system tended to get cancelled or changed. And, on the therapist’s side, 30 to 40 percent of their day is free, and the average therapist has to work two or three jobs and doesn’t have health insurance — so even if an appointment means traveling far (and is inconvenient) most therapists will take it anyway.

same safety issue applies for therapists, too. When customers sign up for Zeel, the startup uses a “major identity verification agency” to confirm their legal name, birthday, location, legal home address and so on. If things don’t check out, no massage for you.

Zeel is initially only available in the New York City area, where the base price of a massage in Manhattan will costs $130 (and $120 in the outer boroughs) before tax and tip. While this seems high, Hamadeh says that it prices Zeel’s service favorably compared to spas like Equinox, Bliss, Four Seasons, Exhale as well as other in-home solutions in NYC