A Sauna at a Holiday Let: Nightly Rate and Bookings

A sauna in a holiday let works in two ways at once: it lifts the price per night and brings in bookings from months when nobody else comes. It also has costs and risks that guides rarely mention.

Why it works

On booking sites “sauna” is a filter. A property with a sauna lands in a quite different, much smaller list of results, and the competition there is far weaker than in the general search for holiday homes.

That is the core of it: the point is not that the sauna is attractive, but that it screens out the competition. Instead of competing with three hundred properties, you compete with twelve.

When it works best

In winter and autumn, exactly when the rest of the offer stands empty.

In places with no other attractions. By a lake, the sauna competes with the lake in summer and loses. In a forest in November it competes with nothing.

For weekend stays by couples, the most common guest profile choosing a property with a sauna.

Costs to bear in mind

Lighting the stove before every arrival, or automation with an electric stove.

Faster wear than on a private sauna: guests treat the equipment differently from the owner.

Cleaning the sauna and changing towels at every changeover.

Higher use of wood or electricity, because guests rarely economise.

Risks

Guests who use the sauna after drinking. This is the main risk: put the ban in the house rules and mention it at handover.

A wood stove left unsupervised. For rentals an electric stove with automatic switch-off is simply safer, even if it loses some atmosphere.

Damage: scorched benches, a broken thermometer, a flooded interior.

Insurance: check the scope before you start, not after the damage.

What really brings bookings

Photos. A sauna in a winter setting, with steam, snow and light from the interior, does more for bookings than the bare fact that it exists.

A photo session every few years at the right moment: at dusk, in snow, with the sauna heated. It costs little and works all year.

The second element is a concrete description. “Wooden barrel sauna, 4 people, 30 minutes to heat up” works better than “wellness area”.

Does it pay for itself?

As a stand-alone investment the sauna will not pay back in a year. It pays through higher occupancy and a higher price per night, spread over several seasons.

The most honest calculation: how many extra nights from November to March, and by how much is the price higher? If those two numbers cover the cost within three to four seasons, it works.