She traded in the cubicle for spas and stuffed monkeys

Phoebe Song used to be an analyst at Citi Group before joining LW Asset Management Advisors in Hong Kong as executive director. She quickly worked her way up to the COO position. Outside observers would likely assume she was a lifer in the finance game. But then in February this year, something strange happened. Phoebe’s career took an unexpected turn. She walked away from her secure job to build Spa Monkeys, a quality control service and marketplace for the spa, beauty, and wellness industry in Asia. She reflects on how that happened.

Phoebe Song, founder of Spa Monkeys

“A large part of my role was due diligence and research. So quality checking is something I am very familiar with,” she explains. “When I first moved to Hong Kong, four years ago […] the first thing I did was look for good places to get my skin, hair, and workouts done. I was horrified by how unpredictable the service quality in the industry was. Staff were constantly pressuring me to sign up for packages that were expensive, I had allergic reactions to bad products – I was even injured once when a nail technician cut me by accident because she wasn’t trained well. Everyone I knew or spoke to had the same issues, so we decided to create a system that would help everyone.”

Spa Monkeys only databases high-quality merchants and products, Phoebe says. This means whenever someone in Hong Kong goes to a gym, hair salon, or spa, and sees a Spa Monkey logo on the door — imagine the TripAdvisor owl, replaced by a monkey with a pink face — they know the business will not pressure them into buying packages, is well documented, and has good customer service.

The service is useful for folks who are looking for good quality — and, ahem, family-friendly — spa experiences in Asia.

See: Spavista gets $160,000 in seed funding so Indonesians can go to the spa more often

Slappin’ monkeys on windows

As an independent blog and watchdog portal, Spa Monkeys uses a team of mystery shoppers to go around assessing spas in Hong Kong. This team makes sure standards are up to scratch. If Spa Monkeys continuously approves of things, the logo may remain in the window. If not, it can be revoked at any time. Phoebe says spa-goers in Hong Kong already know and “trust the monkey.”

Apart from quality monitoring, Spa Monkeys also sells products that Phoebe claims “don’t exist anywhere else in Asia.” Current products include stuff like Olavie, a wine therapy that otherwise could only be found in boutique vineyard resorts in California. Spa Monkeys also offers natural flower remedies, including Calm-a-Mama, an organic alternative to pharmaceuticals – supposedly so gentle, babies and breastfeeding moms can use it (or at least that’s the way it’s marketed).

On the ecommerce side of things, brands don’t need to pay Spa Monkeys for warehousing, Phoebe says. Her firm claims to cut down the normal import premium for quality overseas brands. This means if a customer buys a product from America for US$50, it would cost roughly US$53 in Hong Kong through Spa Monkeys. Other marketplaces like Amazon charge the full shipping premium, she says, on average US$10 to US$30 per package from the US.
For foreign boutique brands wanting to make the big scary jump to Asia, Spa Monkeys also provides distribution, business support, warehousing, and logistics services for a monthly fee.

See: The Amazon Locker for Indonesia, PopBox locks in seed funding from East Ventures

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