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A new era of business opportunities has opened up with relatively low investment, high returns, and an in-person service that makes it enjoyable to operate. Here I’m going to lay out my framework for how we started from scratch and started turning over $3,000/month in just a couple months.
There is a lot of growth you can have – you can run public events, private rentals (birthdays, Valentines day), corporate/business events, retreats, sell, and even become an affiliated sauna tent vendor. Earnings can multiply, fast. I now have 3 sauna tent systems, with more on the way!
I created a Best Sauna Tents guide which cross-compares all the top brands on the market currently so you can start a sauna business. There are sections on North American Sauna Tent brands, the European Sauna Tent brands, and UK Sauna Tent brands.
It’s not easy. But it’s not too difficult either. You certainly need the physical gumption to move the equipment efficiently though. I’m 190cm/85kg or 6’3″/185lb and athletic. It’s always a good workout and challenge hauling the gear through sand or uneven terrain, believe me.
First I’ll say it’s pertinent that the following is met:
- Are a sauna enthusiast
- Able to move ~100kg/245lbs of bulky equipment regularly
- Around $2000-$3000+ to invest
- A place/location to setup the tent
- The legal possiblity of doing it
- A vehicle
- Another person (helps a lot!)
Once those are checked and you’re sure you can commit to it, then lets get down to the details.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Market Analysis
Do the people around you enjoy sauna? No sense running a wellness business if people just don’t come! Check to see if there are local spas or saunas, the services they offer at what price, and if the culture of the locals is there to make it a viable business. Is there a gap? Are there too many saunas already? Can you offer something unique?
In North America, sauna culture is only just catching on thanks to the influx of influencing. People are interested but just like cooking a good lasagna – many people don’t know how it really should be. In Europe most everyone has been to or at least been to a quality sauna and familiar/more enthusiastic about it. Both markets have a lot to tap into though.
Also there are corporate/B2B possibilities – you can rent sauna tents for events, functions, retreats, and even sell/affiliate promote sauna tents and get a slice of the sales pie.
Once you deem the idea that you can fill 8-15 seats a session for $15-30 a session, then you can proceed to the next phase.
Step 2: Buying The Sauna Tent & Stuff
You want a high-quality sauna tent directly from a reputable manufacturer. One that handles warranty claims with grace, provides support, and uses higher-quality materials. Trust me.
While many of the sauna tent brands look like they use the exact same product, let me tell you – this is far from the truth. There are certainly differences in material type, stove specs, durability, and reliability.
The Best Sauna Tents guide cross-compares all the top brands on the market currently so you can find the right pick. Skip to the sections on North American Sauna Tent brands, the European Sauna Tent brands, and UK Sauna Tent brands to find a local supplier.
It is possible to even do a DIY Sauna Tent system which will be cheaper, but at risk of cheaper quality materials, slow shipping times, poor/no warranty support, and other. Personally, it’s best to offer your clients the best of the best, so don’t cheap out here.
Here’s a list of the things you’ll need:
- Sauna tent (8+ people size)
- Sauna benches (double-level preferred)
- Sauna stove & stones (20kg minimum)
- Wood + firestarters (20kg per ~1.5hrs burn time for me, for 2 sessions I bring 40kg)
- Water & bucket (for löyly)
- Aromas or whisks (optional)
- Other accessories (thermometer, refreshments, broom, gloves, fire poker tools etc)
Usually, the whole setup is around 120-160kg which I divide into multiple trips. Stove 20kg, tent 20kg, stones 20kg, wood 20kg/session, benches 20kg+, water 6L+/hr on average, other accessories another 10kg. It’s an excellent workout and you won’t need the gym afterwards!
The Best Sauna Tent for Rentals/Events
You’ll want a sauna that can host a minimum of 8 people.
Each head is money. If you charge $15-$30 for a session at only 6 people, thats only $90-$180. If you double that to 12 people, well now it’s $180-$360 for a 1-1.5hr session. Run 2 of those in a night and you’re clearing around $300-500+. This is before expenses of course.
With too small of a tent/too low of earnings, it’s simply not worth the time, money, & energy investment to do this as a business.
Personally, I use the Bast Björk sauna and had a great experience with the company for service, and the Hott Flamman is also a good pick for EU market. North Shore and Overland Saunas are good options in the US, and in the UK I know PortaSauna has a good reputation.
Once again, my Best Sauna Tents guide pits the brands against each other to help you find the right system. Skip to the sections on North American Sauna Tent brands, the European Sauna Tent brands, and UK Sauna Tent brands to find a local source.
If I run 2 sessions back-to-back at 1.5hrs long, that’s 3 hours hosting time, 1 hour to setup, 1 hour to teardown, and an additional 1 hour to clean it all (if it’s been dirtied by sand or muck). That’s 5-6 hours of work. Evening/sunset is usually best so you’ll be working 17:00-22:00 usually.
If you’re solo, you keep all you make that day (around $400+) which is great. Halve that if you have a partner that you split it 50:50. Now, $200 for 5-6 hours of work ain’t too bad still, but there are hidden costs you may not have considered and suddenly your margin isn’t as good.
First: The wood. Depends where you are of course the prices vary. Each hour I burn between 15-20kg of wood (eucalyptus). 100 hours (3 hours a day for a month) means 2,000kg of wood. Sometimes I was running 3 saunas simultaneously and went through a whopping 3,000kg of wood in one month!
This price varies heavily on the local market for you. For me there are places that sell for $100-$200/1000kg. It can certainly be more than that. I’ve seen an egregious $500/1000kg before, which would be a nasty $10 in wood just to run the sauna per hour.
You want your wood to be no thicker than your forearm, and very dry. Kiln-dried is highly preferable. Wood often gets delivered in sizes about the size of your thigh, so you better get chopping!
Trust me – lighting damp, thick wood was the bane of my winter. Level 99 firemaking definitely required for that. Nothing worse than people getting into the sauna and it’s barely lukewarm because the wood simply has different ideas on how fire should work that day.
I also use a couple bottles of essential oils/month and go through sauna whisks often – those are optional of course but add up.
Fun fact: The large Ikea bags make for excellent firewood carriers and 1 full bag is enough for 1 full session!
Second hidden cost: Wear & tear.
Zippers break, benches wear out, windows crack from UV exposure, poles bend and snap, rocks shatter, stoves rust and warp. You’re subjecting it to a high-heat and high-humidity environment. You can usually get 1-2 years of use maximum from a sauna tent system if you take care. UV/sun exposure will rapidly degrade the tent if you leave it standing all day in the sun for months on end. It’s unavoidable.
Again, this is commercial use. I’ve had clients break the zipper on my tent, support poles break, benches broke, glass firebox door broke, people flood the stove with water, it warps, rusts. Sauna tents are generally hardy but won’t last forever. If you only host 20 sessions before your tent & stove breaks and you paid $2k for that, then that’s effectively $100 per session. Not so good now. The Bast Björk sauna has stood up really well me through the abuse I’ve given it.
You gotta maintain your stuff. Rinse down with freshwater frequently, oil treat the benches, let system dry entirely to prevent rust, use weather cover to protect against UV exposure, don’t overheat the firebox, clean soot, etc.
There’s also the idea of Wood vs Electric vs Gas sauna stove. I’m getting my hands on a gas stove soon to try out. Electric is not wise for this use-case of commercial use (tied to a power outlet), so we’ll stick with wood for now. Overland sauna has a pellet stove – looks viable!
Step 3: Setting Up The Business
Pick a business name, make a website/social media, make it pretty and simple to navigate. Do basic SEO and all that jazz. You want to pop up when people search “Sauna London”.
Pick the place(s) where you’ll host the events. This could be at the beach, by a lake, near a river, at the trailhead, in a park, urban, or a backyard. The beauty in this is that it’s part of the client experience. At the beach or right beside a body of water means people get a cold-plunge included in their ticket price.
A good location is worth gold. Beside a noisy road? Not a nice experience for your guests. Scenic viewpoint in nature? Outstanding.
I’m no expert in branding or marketing so just use your favourite artificial intelligence to help you out on that! Now we move onto the legalities…
Step 4: The Legal Stuff
Are you even legally allowed to host a sauna? I don’t know where you live so that’s something for you figure out. Probably you need liability insurance or a lawyer to comb over things if you’re in North America or a place where litigation is a real possibility. You’ll definitely have to register a business activity and declare tax.
- Is there a fire ban?
- Are saunas or fires allowed at the beach?
- Are you technically a spa business now?
- Are you subject to health & safety codes/rules?
- Do you have a fire extinguisher?
Maybe you can pay a landowner to set up by his lake. This one again you’ll have to dig on your own to figure out. But it’s pertinent you cross your T’s and dot your i’s because last thing you want is to get shutdown mid-session by a local authority for violating a fire regulation and running a commercial operation at the same time…
Step 5: Hosting Your First Sauna Tent Event
Big day is coming. You’ve done a few test runs in the backyard. You’ve mastered your fire-building & management technique (very important!!!), and have everything ready. Made a checklist for all your items, made sure you have everything, and get ready to go.
For me, my typical build-up time is +-1 hour. From arriving at the location, pitching the tent, starting the fire, deploying the benches, preparing the fine details I can have it all done and ready-hot in less than 1 hour, bit less with some help. This can be less or more, simply based on how far you need to move from vehicle to tent pitch location.
Now you welcome your first guest. Shoot, they’ve got questions:
- Where do they change and leave their stuff?
- Do they need flip-flops?
- Need to sit on a towel?
- Are they supposed to be clothed or nude?
- Is talking allowed or only silence?
- Is there a bathroom nearby?
- Is there an aufguss ceremony?
- Is there a shower?
- Pay by cash or card?
- Pay before or after?
- How does it all work?
All this you should establish in your media announcements/product page so everyone is clear on what to bring, what to expect, and how to behave.
In fact, your first event should be free! And the second one too. Literally our first ever event we had 1 person come, our seating was a bit jank, but it was free and we got epic photos. Second event 5 people showed up. By the third event it was fully booked out for 24 people over 2 sessions and paid. Since then we’ve never had problems filling seats.
Give people a stellar experience and they’ll bring their friends next time. This is fundamentally a spa–service you provide for people. Act and treat people according to spa industry principals and you’ll have many happy faces.
Once they’ve emerged from the second or third cold dip in the ocean or had their reset time in nature, they’ll definitely be grateful of all the effort you’ve put into making this work, happily pay for the service, and likely come back next week. All the smiles and familiar faces suddenly pays more than the money does and you yourself will be gratified. Time to move onto the next step.
Step 6: Refining
How to best get out the word and foster a community of enthusiasts? Keep recurring clients and elevate the experience? Improve the experience and comfort?
Simply, a direct line of contact on social media is best. You can either make a Facebook Group, Telegram Channel, announce on Instagram, WhatsApp Community, etc. It’s pertinent that you unite people, make a consistent community, and even have a waitlist because it’s such a sought-after service that people are clamouring to join. You’ll have regulars who love what you do and crave to come back time and time again.
Connect with local businesses. Run clubs, sports groups, retreat organisers, athletic events, charities. Do pro-bono work. Word spreads extremely fast in the health & wellness communities of any population. You refer clients to them and they’ll return the favour in double.
We hosted free saunas & plunges at a Hyrox event, a Surf n Sauna at the beach day, yoga & sauna day, rave birthday & sauna at a cave, etc. You can get creative and really go wild here with the unique events you put on.
Before you know it you’ll be downloading accounting softwares, tracking income and expenses, getting offers for collaboration, and more.
Start looking into advertising campaigns, featured positions in a local magazine for families in high-income, wellness-based areas, etc. Refine, grow, and diversify.
Step 7: Diversifying
You’ve nailed the solid income: sauna events. You run it a few times a week and make a few hundred per day. But a safety net in ways of diversity is smart.
Private rentals come in from time-to-time. Special corporate events as well. They pay about the same.
What about sales? Becoming an affiliate? Being a local distributor for a brand?
Once people find out that a high-quality sauna that they can pitch in their backyard is only $1500-$2500, they perk up. Private sauna all to themselves with a way lower invest than a typical wooden sauna? You can definitely make several hundred just being the middleman between buyer and vendor.
Either you can become a distributor and carry inventory and deal with that yourself and make the margins, or become an affiliated partner. Basically you get 5-10% from a sale just because you referred them.
Personally I found the affiliated partner route to be quite effective. That’s a whole other topic though but if you’re interested, just send me an entry on my Contact Form and I’ll connect you directly with some manufacturers and help you get started.
Step 8: Overview
In essence, running a sauna tent rental/event business can be lucrative, pay back fast, and be emotionally gratifying if you’re someone who likes putting on experiences and hosting events for people.
However it’s not without its physical demands. The gear is hefty, bulky, and more than just a dozen yoga mats, that’s for sure. There are logistics, legal things, and other challenges. But it’s well worth it and I love doing it!
If this Sauna Tent business guide helped you out, please show your support by using the purchasing links in my Best Sauna Tents guide as I get some affiliate commission from those at no cost to you. The info and framework I give you is all free, just shop through those links to help 🙂
Check my individual reviews on the Bast Björk sauna review, Hott Gnistan sauna review, and Telttasaana review!
Thanks and if you have any questions whatsoever please drop me a message and I’m happy to help out. Peace!