Spa & Wellness MexiCaribe 50, Verano 2023

SOCIAL WELLNESS &
Sauna Aufguss
The hydrothermal sector has experienced huge growth as the world has re-opened post-pandemic.
An interesting, and not so surprising, trend given the complex levels of societal loneliness and
alienation that Covid laid bare - is the adoption of more European-style, communal spa models
that encourage social gathering, resulting in a renaissance of both historical and modern communal
bathhouses and hot springs sites. One unique activity that is rapidly gaining in popularity is sauna
aufguss. Its original incarnation was utilitarian: sauna attendants (or masters) were positioned inside
saunas, waving a towel to help circulate heat, humidity and infusions. Today’s aufguss experience
can be anything from an elaborate show featuring mesmerizing towel work with audiences clapping
and singing along with the performance to a much quieter, almost out-of-body, meditative journey
or sound bath.
What makes aufguss so exciting is that it sits between encouraging rest and rejuvenation and acting
as a social gathering point for building community and bonding around a shared purpose. Demand
for event saunas, large-scale saunas that can accommodate at least 10 people (the largest in the
world hosts up to 300!) is surging across North America. Event saunas also need to provide enough
space for the attending sauna master to perform.
There are many design considerations that make event saunas fit for purpose:
• crucially, the focal point (center) of an event sauna is always the sauna heater, which should be
creatively clad, but also configured to rapidly reheat the sauna rocks after each dramatic infusion of
water or ice balls by the sauna master
• specialized theater-like seating,
• internal sound and lighting that can really ‘take the heat’
• an adjacent control room that includes the equipment required to run the audio/visual displays for
each performance
Once in place, event saunas provide a new way to connect with, and delight, current and future guests.
Another, more tangible benefit is an entirely new revenue stream: simply charging an additional $20
usd per performance, will reap a 100-person capacity spa running at 50% occupancy, approximately
$2,000 usd/day with just two daily performances. When not being used for a performance, these
saunas can also be operated as a traditional Finnish sauna.
Por Don Genders
CEO, Design for Leisure
www.designforleisure.com
www.spawellnessmexico.com