In 1977, Alice Cunningham and her late husband, Blair Osborn, took a leap of faith. Leaving behind successful careers — Cunningham as a U.S. Department of Labor administrator and Osborn as a mechanical engineering professor — they founded Olympic Hot Tub in Seattle. With no business experience and little precedent to follow, they launched one of the first dedicated hot tub companies in the Pacific Northwest and helped create a new category in the American home experience.
Their decision was sparked by a visit to friends in Santa Cruz, California, who owned a wood hot tub. Enchanted by the experience and armed with conviction, they sourced custom cedar from a water tank maker in Bellingham, Washington, to build tubs and opened a shop on the Lake Union ship canal — without signage, parking or foot traffic. Still, they pressed on, inviting curious customers to test soaks and evangelizing the benefits of soaking under the stars.
The couple’s biggest turning point happened in 1982 when they became one of the first dealers of Hot Spring Spas. The manufacturer’s “sell, deliver, collect” model helped them grow exponentially, scaling from handmade cedar tubs to high-volume sales of factory-built spas. Eventually, Olympic expanded to five locations and over 35 employees.
Cunningham was the marketing engine behind the company’s growth. At a time when most industry ads focused on party scenes and bikini-clad models, she marketed hot tubs as vehicles for health, connection and personal restoration. She authored a quarterly newsletter, launched a blog with over 800 posts, hosted customer contests and even conducted a “nude or not nude” survey that generated hundreds of humorous responses. Her creativity extended to early adoption of technology: Olympic Hot Tub had a website by 1994 — two years ahead of Hot Spring itself — laying the foundation for high-performing SEO and online visibility.
Throughout it all, Cunningham emphasized integrity, education and gratitude. She trained employees to excel, treated customers with respect and developed systems to create a self-sustaining business. The company’s stellar service earned Olympic national recognition, including SBA’s Best Business in the Northwest and Arthur Andersen’s Best Customer Service, awards typically reserved for giants like Alaska Airlines.
Cunningham also used the company’s success as a platform for good, supporting the Arthritis Foundation and Dark Sky International. She often said the most rewarding part of the business wasn’t the sales, it was knowing she helped people feel better, reconnect with their families and rediscover the natural world.
In 2016, after 39 years, Cunningham and Osborn passed the torch to longtime employee Don Riling, a testament to the legacy they built.