Adding Saunas to Stand Out in a Crowded Market

Two of my cabins have struggled a bit on revenue the last couple of seasons. Both are a little more secluded than the most popular part of Hocking Hills — about 30 minutes from the state park, but further from Logan and the main highway than the properties that tend to book first. Seclusion is still a genuine selling point for a specific niche of guests who want that. What's changed is the competition around it. Less than five years ago, there were roughly half as many cabins in the area, so guests had far fewer alternatives in more convenient locations. Now that the total number of rentals has grown so much, guests who don't specifically want seclusion have plenty of better-located options to choose from instead, which has narrowed my two properties down to a smaller, more specific audience than they used to draw.

This winter, I'm adding saunas to both of them to see if it helps. Here's the thinking behind it, and the research that got me there.

The Market Data That Convinced Me

Before committing to anything, I looked at what the actual competitive landscape looks like for this amenity. There are roughly 2,200 vacation rentals in the Hocking Hills area today. Of those, fewer than 200 currently list a sauna as an amenity. That's under ten percent of the entire market.

What caught my attention even more was the growth curve. Three years ago, there were only around 30 rentals in the area with a sauna. Going from 30 to under 200 over three years is real, sustained growth — this isn't a passing trend, it's a category that's clearly gaining traction with both hosts and guests. I'd guess a few things are driving that: rising interest in wellness-oriented travel generally, guests who've experienced saunas at spas or gyms wanting that same feature on a getaway, and hosts watching early adopters see results and following suit. Whatever the exact mix of reasons, the direction of the trend is unmistakable.

It's also still early. Getting in now means getting in on the ground floor of something that's likely to keep growing, rather than trying to catch up once it's already the expected norm. In a market where over 2,000 properties are competing for the same pool of guests, that kind of early-mover positioning is worth something on its own, separate from whatever direct booking lift the sauna itself provides.

Why the Airbnb and VRBO Sauna Filter Matters

Both Airbnb and VRBO have added sauna as a specific, filterable amenity in their search tools, right alongside categories like hot tub, pool, and fireplace. That's a meaningful detail, because it means guests who specifically want a sauna can toggle that filter and immediately narrow the entire market down to a small pool of qualifying listings.

With fewer than 200 qualifying rentals out of roughly 2,200 total in the Hocking Hills area, a listing with a sauna shows up in a dramatically smaller, more targeted search result the moment that filter gets checked. For guests who have that specific preference, my properties go from being one of thousands of cabin rentals to being one of a couple hundred. That's a real, structural search-visibility advantage that doesn't depend on outbidding anyone on price, having the flashiest photos, or ranking especially high in a platform's default sort order. It's simply about being visible to the right search in the first place, and in a market this saturated, visibility is half the battle.

This is also a good example of why it pays to pay attention to which amenities platforms are actively building filters around. When a booking platform adds a new searchable category, it's usually a signal that guest demand for that feature has grown enough to justify the product investment. Hosts who notice that shift early and adapt tend to benefit more than hosts who wait until the amenity is already common and the advantage has eroded.

What I'm Actually Installing

I'm going with modular electric saunas that run on a standard 110-volt outlet, which makes the installation straightforward. No special electrical work, no major site prep — I already have easy spots for them at both properties. In fact, my plan is to install them myself with a friend, and make a weekend out of it staying at the property while we do the work. If either property needed additional site prep or dedicated electrical work to support the unit, the cost would climb from there, but that's not the situation at either of these two cabins.

Each unit runs about $3,000. There are fancier options out there — the kind that run on 220 volts, similar to a hot tub, and land somewhere in the $5,000 to $7,000 range. Those typically offer more features: higher heat ceilings, sometimes steam functionality, and a more premium look and finish. I'm holding off on that tier for now. I'd consider a higher-end unit like that for one of my higher-revenue properties down the road, but for these two, the goal right now is simpler: get a decent-looking sauna in place that checks the box for guests searching that filter and photographs well in the listing.

Why a Sauna Beats a Hot Tub on Maintenance

One other advantage worth mentioning: a modular electric sauna has no moving parts. Compared to something like a hot tub — pumps, jets, water chemistry, filtration, the whole maintenance load that comes with it — a sauna is about as low-hassle as an amenity upgrade gets. Heat it up, guests use it, turn it off. There's no water to test, no chemicals to balance, no circulation pump that can fail mid-turnover, and no risk of the well capacity issues that come with a water-heavy amenity like a hot tub.

That simplicity matters when you're testing whether an amenity is worth the investment before scaling it up. If this experiment works well, I can add more units with a lot more confidence, knowing the ongoing maintenance burden is minimal compared to other guest-facing upgrades I could make instead.

Where I See Rental Sauna Trends Going

My guess is that saunas follow a similar trajectory to what hot tubs went through over the past decade or so. Years ago, a basic hot tub with a handful of jets was enough to stand out in a listing. Now guests expect more — multiple jets, larger capacity, specific brand names, extra features — and a bare-bones hot tub doesn't carry the same weight it used to in a crowded field of listings that all have one.

I expect saunas to follow that same path. Right now, simply having one, and having it look decent in photos, is a real differentiator given how few properties in the Hocking Hills market currently offer it. Over time, as adoption grows and the amenity becomes more common, I'd expect guest expectations to rise too — more heat range, steam options, better design, maybe infrared alongside traditional heat. If these two installations perform well, that's the direction I'd look at for future upgrades, similar to how I'd approach a higher-end hot tub for a premium property rather than the entry-level version.

How I'll Know If It's Working

I'm treating this as a genuine test, not a guaranteed win. Over the next couple of booking seasons, I'll be watching a few specific things: whether occupancy improves at these two properties relative to their recent trend, whether the sauna gets mentioned specifically in guest reviews, and whether it shows up as a reason guests give for choosing the property when they reach out with questions before booking. If those signals are positive, it justifies both keeping the units long-term and considering the investment at additional properties. If they're flat, I'll have learned something useful at a relatively contained cost, which is exactly why starting with the more affordable 110-volt option made sense before committing to anything more expensive.

The Bigger Lesson: Don't Get Complacent

The real point of this post isn't really about saunas specifically. It's about paying attention to how quickly a market can shift under you.

A property that was performing well two or three years ago can quietly become less competitive without anything about the property itself changing. The market moves — new competitors enter, guest expectations shift, amenities that used to be rare become common. It can happen gradually enough that you don't notice until the numbers start telling you something's off.

This has happened to me before, and I'd guess it happens to most hosts at some point. It doesn't mean the property stops making money — these two cabins are still profitable. But there's a real difference between "still working" and "as competitive as it could be," and closing that gap requires actually looking for it rather than assuming things will keep performing the way they always have.

The off-season is the right time to do this kind of thinking. Look at what's changed in your market. Look at what nearby competitors are adding. Look at search filters and amenity categories that didn't exist a few years ago. Not every improvement needs to be a $7,000 sauna — sometimes it's a $500 fix. But the habit of actively looking for ways to stay relevant, rather than waiting for bookings to tell you something's wrong, is what keeps a property performing over the long run instead of slowly fading into the background of a crowded market.

Greg Myers is the founder of CabinHost Consulting and operator of Red Oak Retreats in Hocking Hills, Ohio. He works one-on-one with rural vacation rental hosts to improve their listings, pricing, guest experience, and operations.