How to start – Rent out a sauna with self-service booking
With Rentalbuddy, guests book, pay and open your sauna with their own code – nobody has to be there. Each booking gets its own code for a key box that holds the sauna key. The key box runs on batteries, with no power or Wi-Fi, so it works on a raft, by a lake or on a trailer. Rentalbuddy costs from 299 SEK a month excl. VAT, with no commission – and a three-hour session often sells for 600–1,000 SEK.
Bastuflotten Mariestad runs its floating sauna on Lake Vänern this way, all year, with nobody on site. Watch how
- Free for 30 days – or until your sauna opens, up to 180 days
- No credit card
- Setup help included
- No commission, cancel any time
For sauna owners
Start a self-service sauna business in four steps
Already running a sauna? See how the sauna booking system works
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Pick the spot and the sauna
Choose a visible, easy-to-reach spot and agree it with the landowner, campsite, marina or municipality – and ask the municipality early whether a raft or a sauna by the shore needs a permit. Rentalbuddy works with saunas on a trailer, on a raft and in a cabin, wood-fired or electric.
No sauna yet? Ask us – we put you in touch with sauna builders we work with.
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Create your account and add the sauna
Sign up in a few minutes – the free trial runs 30 days, or until your launch date, up to 180 days. A step-by-step guide helps you add the sauna, session lengths, prices and extras such as firewood and towels, and connect your own Stripe account for payments.
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Fit the key box
Put an Igloohome key box with the sauna key by the door, where waves and spray can't reach it, away from the stove pipe, and pair it in the Igloohome app. From then on, every booking gets its own code for it. Have a Harvia heater on a Fenix control panel? Rentalbuddy can start it before each booking (beta). About the digital locks
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Share your booking page and open
Add the booking button to your website, or put up a sign with your QR code by the sauna. Make a test booking yourself, then open – paid bookings come in while you're elsewhere. How to start a self-service rental
For your guests
How guests book, unlock and leave
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Guests book and pay online
On your website or from the QR code by the sauna – by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, plus Swish and Klarna if you switch them on. The money goes straight to your own Stripe account.
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Their own code opens the key box
The button in their confirmation email opens their unlock page, where the code appears 15 minutes before the start – it's never sent by email or text message. Before that, they can accept your sauna rules and watch a short video.
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They lock the key back in
Then they confirm their return on the unlock page – with a photo of how they left the sauna, if you ask for one.
What it costs
What one self-service sauna costs – every fee counted
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Rentalbuddy plan
299 SEK a month excl. VAT
One sauna with its key box is one lock, so it fits Starter – a woodshed with its own lock counts as one more, still Starter. 248 SEK a month paid yearly. No commission, no setup fee, cancel any time.
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Stripe, per payment
about 14–27 SEK per 800 SEK session
Paid by card – or 7 SEK by Swish. No monthly fee. The money goes straight into your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to your bank.
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Igloohome key box
about 20 SEK a month
Igloohome's code fee per lock, billed by Igloohome. The key box is bought once – Igloohome's EU shop lists the Keybox 3 at €159 (October 2026). About the digital locks
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Free trial
30 days
Or until your sauna opens, up to 180 days from sign-up. No credit card.
Example – one month, every fee counted: one sauna booked 3 times a week, all year, at 800 SEK a session
- Your customers pay, incl. VAT
- 10,400 SEK
- VAT (25%)
- −2,080 SEK
- Rentalbuddy Starter
- −299 SEK
- Stripe's payment fees, about
- −231 SEK
- Igloohome's code fee, about
- −20 SEK
- Commission to Rentalbuddy
- 0 SEK
- Left for you, about
- 7,770 SEK a month (≈ 93,000 SEK a year)
Before your own costs, such as firewood, cleaning and site rent, and the key box you buy once. Try your own sauna in the earnings calculator
Prices exclude VAT. Businesses in the EU enter their VAT number when they subscribe. No VAT number, as a small sole trader or an association? You can subscribe too – VAT may then be added to the invoice. 299 SEK is about 285 NOK, 200 DKK, €27 or $30 a month. All plans and prices
Customer story · Bastuflotten Mariestad
From a mini model to a floating sauna that opens every day with nobody on site
“We’re extremely satisfied with Rentalbuddy and also grateful for the support from our local municipality that helped make this idea a reality.” – Bastuflotten Mariestad
Local entrepreneurs built Bastuflotten Mariestad step by step: first a mini model to test plank types, then the raft itself, crafted locally and anchored near Mariestad's guest harbour on Lake Vänern in Sweden. Today it's open all year, every day from 7 in the morning to 10 at night, with nobody on site: guests book at least three hours for up to six people – 600 SEK for the sauna for three hours – pay online and open the key box at the jetty with their own code.
Try it yourself
Book a sauna like your guests do
This is the booking window your guests get on your website or booking page. Make a test booking at our example rental – a wood-fired sauna, a kayak, a boat or a trailer. Pick a time, add an extra and pay with the test card. No sign-up, and nothing is charged.
At checkout, use our test card:
Card number 4242 4242 4242 4242 – that's 4242 four times – any future expiry date and any three-digit CVC.
Liked it? Your guests can book like this on your own website – the booking button works on Wix, WordPress and most other website builders, in your colours. Set yours up in the free trial and make test bookings before you buy a key box.
FAQ
Questions about starting a self-service sauna
What do I need to start a self-service sauna?
A sauna, a spot you're allowed to use, an Igloohome key box for the sauna key, a Stripe account – and Rentalbuddy (from 299 SEK a month excl. VAT) to take the bookings and give every booking its own code. The key box runs on batteries and needs no power or Wi-Fi – Igloohome's EU shop lists the Keybox 3 at €159 (October 2026). Stripe is free to open, and a sole trader can open an account too. Still need the sauna itself? We put you in touch with sauna builders we work with, such as Bastuspa in Södertälje, which sells sauna trailers, sauna rafts and fixed saunas ready to rent out with Rentalbuddy. You don't need a website: every location gets its own booking page.
What should I charge for a sauna session?
Often 600–1,000 SEK for three hours in a sauna for 6–8 people, going by the public price lists of Nordic sauna rentals (October 2026). Bastuflotten Mariestad charges 600 SEK and Grebo Bastubåt 800 SEK; a large floating sauna for 15 takes 1,400–1,900 SEK. At a campsite, 400–600 SEK for two hours is common – Strandstuviken charges 400 SEK when guests light the wood-fired stove themselves. With Rentalbuddy you set your own prices and extras, such as firewood and towels, and Rentalbuddy takes no commission. What could your sauna leave you?
Do I need a permit for a sauna raft or a sauna by the shore?
Ask the municipality early. A raft, or a sauna that stands by a lake for a whole season, may need a building permit or a shoreline-protection exemption – a trailer that stays put for long can count as a building. For a raft, first agree the mooring with the marina or landowner, and ask whether it may stay in the water when the lake freezes. Check that your insurance covers the sauna and your liability towards guests, and tell your insurer that guests heat the sauna themselves.
How long does it take to open?
Setting up Rentalbuddy typically takes a few hours to a couple of days. Leave time on top for Stripe to check your business details and for the key box to arrive, and make test bookings before you buy it. Set your launch date when you sign up: the free trial runs until then, up to 180 days. Stripe's first payout to a new account usually comes 7–14 days after your first payment.
Will Rentalbuddy bring me guests?
No – Rentalbuddy is your booking system, not a marketplace, so the guests, your prices and the income stay yours, with no commission. Guests find you on Google (your booking page can show up in searches too), on your website and social media, through the campsite or marina you work with, and from a sign with your QR code by the sauna. A first season is often quiet while word spreads.
Read before you start
Let guests book and open your sauna while you're elsewhere
Unlock time and opportunity. While your customers book, pay and unlock on their own, you can be out skiing or paddling, home with your family or opening your next location.
- Free for 30 days – or until your rental opens, up to 180 days
- No credit card
- From 299 SEK (about €27) a month excl. VAT
- No commission, cancel any time
- Setup help included
Want to see it first? Book a free demo: a short video or phone call where Jesper from our team in Malmö shows you Rentalbuddy set up for what you rent out, or plan to – he usually gets back to you within 48 hours. Or call us on +46 10 516 46 26, 8:00–17:00 CET/CEST, in English or Swedish.
Opening later? Set your launch date in the admin, and the free trial runs until then – up to 180 days from sign-up. Not ready to start yet? Ask us to get in touch before your season
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