How to Build a Profitable Bathhouse: MEP, Laundry Throughput, and Dynamic Pricing Explained

STARRCAST IS BACK for Season 9! We are thrilled to return to bring you more insights and fresh perspectives to help your spa business thrive!

Thinking about opening a sauna or bathhouse, or scaling the one you’ve got? 

To kick things off, we’re replaying an incredibly informative webinar that unpacks the operating math behind the hydrothermal business: capacity planning, MEP-first (“engine room”) design, admissions-led pricing, and the real bottleneck no one budgets for: laundry throughput. 

Expect candid lessons from operators and designers shaping the U.S. market, including Bathhouse (NYC) and leaders from the Global Wellness Institute initiatives.

You’ll learn how to right-size back-of-house, choose between open-ended admission vs. timed sessions, and design people-flow, so staff can manage more guests with less friction, all while protecting margins and guest experience.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why bathhouses are surging now: the shift to social wellness, accessible pricing, and admissions-first business models.
  
  

• MEP > “wow rooms”: how an engine-room-first approach (ventilation, filtration/sanitation, drainage, electrical) prevents constant firefighting.
  
  

• Capacity & pricing mechanics: choosing dynamic pricing, timed sessions, or walk-ins based on footprint, software, and throughput.
  
  

• Back-of-house math: planning for ~⅓ non-guest area, with laundry and storage sized to daily towel turns and peak flow.
  
  

• Revenue mix that actually works: admissions as the margin engine, treatments as add-ons, and F&B designed to extend dwell time—not clog operations.
  
  

Episode Highlights (Chapters):

• 00:52 – Why “social wellness” is driving the U.S. sauna/bathhouse wave—and how this model differs from appointment-led spas.
  
  

• 06:18 – The hydrothermal specialist team you need on day one (designer + MEP) and why wet areas blow up naïve $/ft² assumptions.
  
  

• 12:40 – “Start with your engine room”: air changes, filtration, drainage, and electrical that determine guest comfort and uptime.
  
  

• 18:55 – Lessons from Bathhouse NYC: designing around laundry first (thousands of towels/day) and keeping sightlines open to reduce staffing.
  
  

• 25:03 – Admission strategy: open-ended stays with dynamic pricing vs. timed sessions in smaller/hotel footprints—software and UX trade-offs.
  
  

• 33:27 – Lease vs. buy: why most startups lease to preserve capex for fit-out; right-sizing scope and contingency.
  
  

• 41:42 – What really makes money: admissions > treatments; F&B for physiology and community, not margin.
  
  

• 49:58 – Guest norms & flow: no-photo policies, wet-to-dry separation, and the contrast-therapy circuit (hot → cold → rest).
  
  

Meet the Guests

• Don Genders — CEO, Design for Leisure; Chair, GWI Hydrothermal Initiative (global authority on thermal & wet-area design).
  
  

• Lynn Curry — Principal, Curry Spa Consulting; member, GWI Consulting Initiative (concept-to-opening spa development).
  
  

• Travis Talmadge — Co-founder/operator, Bathhouse (NYC: Williamsburg & Flatiron), a high-volume, admissions-led urban bathhouse.
  
  

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Engine-Room-First Design: lead with MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing), ventilation/air changes, filtration, drainage, and storage.
  
  

• Capacity/Throughput Modeling: people-flow tracking, dynamic pricing, and sightlines to manage density with fewer staff.
  
  

• Contrast-Therapy Circuit: hot → cold → rest cycle embedded in layout and wayfinding.
  
  

• CFO Lens for Scope: capex vs. opex trade-offs, contingency, and location-first site selection.
  
  

Closing Insight

“We design around the laundry first.” The margin lives or dies in the back-of-house—build the plant right and the guest magic follows. If this episode helped, follow/subscribe and share it with a developer, hotel GM, or wellness entrepreneur planning a hydrothermal project.

 

Looking for expert advice in Spa Consulting, with live training and online learning?

 

Spa Consulting: wynnebusiness.com/spa-management-consulting

Live Training: wynnebusiness.com/live-education

Online Learning: wynnebusiness.com/spa-management-courses

 

Other Links:

Contact Dr. Gerry Bodeker: https://my.linkedin.com/in/gerrybodeker

Contact Trent Munday: https://my.linkedin.com/in/trentmunday

Follow Lisa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisastarrwynnebusiness,

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