The complete guide to adding a sauna to your glamping site

Glamping lives and dies on the review. Guests do not write five paragraphs about the mattress; they write about the moment that made the trip feel different. A sauna glowing in a field at dusk is that moment, and it photographs itself.

It also changes booking behaviour. A sauna gives guests a reason to choose your site over the one two fields away, a reason to book the colder months, and a reason to come back. It earns twice: once in the nightly rate, and again as a bookable extra.

Most sites sell the sauna in one of two ways, and the strongest do both:

• Per-stay sessions. A private slot sold at booking or on arrival, typically priced per session per unit rather than per person. It is the easiest upsell on your site because the guest is already there, already relaxed, and already paying for experiences.
• In the nightly rate. Fold sauna access into a premium pitch or a winter package and the sauna lifts every booking it touches.

For sites that open the sauna up as a bookable amenity in its own right, our benchmark for a horsebox or 10ft container sauna in a rural or seaside setting, based on hours open each week:

• Around 10 hours a week: roughly £45,000 turnover a year
• Around 20 hours a week: roughly £65,000 turnover a year
• Around 30 hours a week: roughly £85,000 turnover a year

Where those figures come from: From our own operators. This is where we have by far the most data. Rural and seaside sites are the setting we know best.

Take-home after running costs is typically 60 to 70 per cent of turnover, and the sauna seats 8 people at a time.

We build three saunas: the horsebox sauna, the 10ft container sauna and the 20ft container sauna. For glamping the choice usually comes down to the landscape.

The horsebox sits beautifully on grass, moves with your seasons and needs no groundworks: it is towed in, positioned, and earning the same week. The containers suit sites with a settled wellness corner: they arrive built, sit on a simple level base, and are made for years of high-traffic use. All three are wood-fired or electric, and all three are designed to look like they belong in a field rather than beside one.

Most owners think about the cost monthly, the same way they think about the revenue. Financing spreads it over three years, and we can introduce you to a finance partner who will quote on your build and your trading history. Set that against per-stay sessions and a lifted nightly rate and the arithmetic is short.

You can buy it outright from your own funds, or spread the cost over three years with finance. We can introduce you to a finance partner, who will look at your build, your accounts and your trading history before they quote.

This is one decision inside the bigger picture for venues: our complete guide to adding a sauna to your business covers it in full.

Outdoor stays are where our saunas started, and they are all over our operator map: coastlines, farms and hillsides across the UK.

See what a sauna could add to your own glamping site.

The first step is a short call. Tell us about your site, your pitches and where a sauna might sit. On the call we work through the costs, the finance options and what a sauna could earn at your site, from your numbers rather than ours.

Everything you need is on our page for businesses, or start with the form below.