My name is Peggy Lee and you can call me the Chief Spa Gypsy. The concept of Spa Gypsies came to me in November 2001. I was attending an online travel industry conference in Miami when a hurricane was projected to hit South Florida. The combination of post-9/11 fears of travel and an impending hurricane made South Beach look like a deserted oasis with raving winds and ocean waves. I had flown in a day early, as I often tried to do, to have some R&R time and catch up on my work before the conference. I was staying at The Tides, which is a short walk to the Omni where the conference was, and also a short walk to The Delano, and the Aqua Spa. As was my custom, I called The Delano spa and made an appointment for a massage that Sunday evening.
I was the CEO of a dot com called b-there.com, and I traveled often and was required to be “on” most of the time. Either networking with industry executives at events like this Phocuswright Conference, meeting potential customers or press, attending functions, dealing with a 100+ staff, or dealing with investors and a Venture Capital controlled Board of Directors, I was always under the gun. Going to a spa while traveling became my sanctuary.
That night as I signed into the spa appointment, the typical “profile form” had to be filled out. They always ask you what your occupation is. At first, I put “Internet Company”. It being 1999-2000 then, I found that most of the spa therapists were eager to have a conversation with me about the Internet and my dot com. That was the furthest thing from my mind when I went into a spa while on the road. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, much less talk about the Internet, a topic that consumed about 90% of my waking hours every day. So I had started writing “Computers” or “Software” as my occupation. The response to this change was just as bad. Therapists would ask me questions like “Do you have email? “ , “What kind of computer do you use?” or want to tell me all about their experiences with email and computers. So as I sat there, it came to my mind that at the particular point in time my occupation was “Spa Gypsy”. So I wrote that down. No one ever asked me anything about my occupation any more. For whatever reasons, the therapists didn’t care to have a conversation about it. That was great. Mission accomplished. Peace and quiet and tranquility at a spa!
By the way, there was no one at Aqua Spa that night, just me, the massage therapist and the receptionist. It was pure bliss. So I book myself for services for the next morning. It was still deserted with the travel thing, the hotel was empty, and the hurricane—no locals where getting out. I was pampered and totally rejuvenated by the time my conference began that night!
Since I understand the web quite well, I quickly began to think about what I would like to do on the Internet realize to spas. At the time, only Spa Finders had any content about spas, and none of it was from people like me—Spa Gypsies. So I thought how wonderful it would be to build a place where like-minded people like me could congregate, communicate and collaborate about spa experiences—health and wellness et al. Back then, I was too busy with b-there to build it. After I sold
b-there to other company, I often thought about building SpaGyspies.com and making it a Community with information from sites like Spa Finders, but also where other Spa Gypsies could post spa reviews, tips , comments, and also educate others on the industry. I also wanted a marketplace for services and products to be available for buyers and sellers of the industry’s unique products and services.
I’m really glad I didn’t go out and build it myself. I had done the technology thing with b-there, and was not interested in doing that again. So time passed and I began to formulate a plan to build a “world-class” spa blog, with the intent to make it much more as time went on. Enter “MoonToast”! A platform that was built to meet most all the needs of Spa Gypsy—a Community with Commerce! What could be better.
So as you read this today, I have finally launched Spa Gypsies thanks to my friends at Moontoast.
Please join me and share your experiences, services and products with other Spa Gypsies!
Warmest Welcome!
Peggy Lee
Chief Spa Gypsy & Founder
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