Sauna booking trends 2025 in housing companies
More than three million. That’s how many booking transactions were made in One4all’s digital booking calendars in 2025. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of approximately 700,000 bookings—an impressive annual growth rate of 30%.
Nearly 20% of sauna bookings were cancelled – one-time bookings are gaining popularity in housing companies
Out of three million booking transactions, 430,000, just over 14%, were related to sauna reservations. Of these, more than 75,000 were cancellations, meaning nearly every fifth booking was cancelled. However, cancellations are not a problem; they are a sign of a flexible and user-friendly service.
The ability to easily cancel a booking quickly frees up the space for the next resident and ensures that shared facilities remain in active use. When a housing company’s booking system adapts to residents’ daily lives, fixed weekly sauna slots no longer dictate schedules—instead, residents decide when they want to use the sauna.
“Sauna culture in housing companies is undergoing a transformation. In the past, life was structured around a fixed Saturday evening sauna slot. Now, more and more people want flexibility: the option to use the sauna when it suits them and to cancel easily if plans change. One-time bookings complement recurring slots and bring much-needed flexibility to everyday life,” Henry Hietavala, One4all’s CEO, says.
Modern booking practices are a competitive advantage for housing companies
Enabling one-time bookings is a clear selling point, especially for rental housing companies competing for tenants.
“With fixed recurring slots, new residents may never get access to the sauna at their preferred time, even if the sauna is heated but unused during someone else’s reserved slot. That serves no one—and it’s neither ecological nor economical.
One-time bookings make access fairer for all residents. They allow more people to enjoy the most popular time slots, instead of having prime time reserved by the same residents year after year.
Traditions are not disappearing, however. According to our data, the most popular sauna days are still Friday and Saturday. Certain rhythms remain, even as booking habits evolve,” Henry emphasizes.
A digital sauna booking system transforms the resident experience and improves space utilization
Henry explains that the transformation goes beyond booking types—it reshapes the entire resident service experience.
“Sauna usage is also becoming automated thanks to digitalization. Residents can book and pay for their sauna slot through the system, the sauna heater is activated automatically via relay control based on the reservation, and residents access the facilities using their own credentials.
This represents a complete shift in the service model. Automation reduces the administrative workload for property management and maintenance, as everything is handled digitally,” Henry notes.
Booking data enables data-driven property management
The benefits of digitalization extend beyond operational efficiency. When the process is digital, it also generates something highly valuable: data.
“The booking system provides essential usage data, enabling housing companies to make decisions based on facts rather than assumptions. Peak times can be priced according to demand, while quieter periods can be made more attractive with lower pricing. This increases utilization rates and ensures that shared spaces serve more residents. The same logic applies to other shared facilities, such as laundry rooms.”
When discussing data, it is also important to consider data protection. The booking system must comply with GDPR requirements, and access to data must be properly restricted.
“No housing company should use unencrypted and open calendar tools, as their data may be publicly accessible,” Henry warns.
Sauna booking analytics 2025
The most popular individual sauna days were St. Lucia Day (December 13), Independence Day (December 6), and November 15. These dates shared two factors: they fell on a Saturday and the weather was mild. This time, sauna enthusiasm was not driven by freezing temperatures.
- The most popular sauna days of the week were still Friday and Saturday, while Mondays saw the lowest usage
- Sauna usage peaked in October, November, and December
- The lowest usage occurred in July, when Finland was on holiday and many people enjoyed their summer cottage saunas