Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

SaunaFriday is a sauna rental platform connecting guests with sauna owners and sauna masters. Compare saunas, see open times and prices, book and pay securely online - all in a few minutes. SaunaFriday is an intermediary: the services are provided, and the money for them is received, by the owners and sauna masters themselves - the platform just connects everyone safely.

For guests it is free: you pay only the listed price of the sauna and chosen services, with no extra fees at checkout. Listing is free for owners and sauna masters too - the platform keeps a commission only on completed bookings: on the sauna time and the programmes, but not on the owner's extras. See the Fees page for details.

SaunaFriday works without passwords. Enter your email address and choose what suits you on the sign-in page: a secure one-time sign-in link, or a 6-digit code you type in right there. Once signed in you can also enable a passkey - then you sign in with Face ID or a fingerprint, without waiting for an email.

We are just getting started and gathering the first saunas across Lithuania. In search, pick a city and a distance - you will see saunas both in the city itself and around it within the chosen radius. The list grows daily.

Yes - you can browse freely, and you can even book without registering first: just enter your email at checkout and we'll create access for managing your order automatically.

Yes - press the heart on the sauna page. Saved saunas appear on your bookings page in the saved-saunas section. Only currently bookable saunas are shown there - if a sauna is temporarily hidden or has no open times, it disappears from the list until it is bookable again.

A Lithuanian pirtis is a humid steam bath. Water is poured over the hot stones of the stove, so the steam is thick and the temperature is usually around 60 degrees, well below that of a dry Finnish sauna. A sauna is hotter and drier, and you sit in it for longer. In a pirtis what matters is not the temperature but the rhythm: a round in the steam, a procedure, cooling down and resting, repeated several times. The tradition of visiting the pirtis has been on Lithuania's register of intangible cultural heritage since 2019 - it is a living tradition, not an amusement.

The sauna master runs the session: they heat and control the steam, prepare the whisks and the other supplies, perform the procedures, watch how you are feeling and set the rhythm - how many rounds, and how much rest between them. They are responsible both for safety and for making sure everyone understands what is happening. This is not a massage and not a sauna rental but a guided session, so the experience differs greatly from going on your own. On SaunaFriday you book a sauna master's programme together with the sauna time.

A guided session usually has four parts.

The first round is the gentlest: the body gets used to the steam and the heat.

The second is for scrubbing, most often with salt, less often with clay or other natural materials.

The third is whisking with vantos, once the body is thoroughly warm.

The fourth closes the sauna with calm and rest.

After every round you cool down - a cold shower, a hot tub, a lake or fresh air - and rest while drinking water. When cooling down, pour over your legs and arms first and your head last. A group visit with a sauna master usually lasts three to six hours.

A whisk is a bound bundle of leafy branches, soaked in water before use. Whisking is not hard beating: the steam is gently driven and pressed against the body, alternating light strokes, sweeping and pressing. Each tree has its own character - birch cleanses, oak strengthens and gives the most heat, linden calms, while spruce or juniper whisks are used only on thoroughly warmed skin. Whisks can often be added as an extra to your booking.

Three towels - a large one to lie on and two smaller ones, slippers, a sauna hat to protect your head from the heat, and plenty of drinking water. The hat should be wool felt: a synthetic one does not protect the head from heat. It is worth removing make-up before the session. Some owners offer towels, whisks or tea as extras - you will see them on the sauna page while booking. Food and drink follow each sauna's own rules, which are stated in its listing.

Do not chase the heat. The first round lasts five to ten minutes and should not exceed fifteen; after that, rounds of eight to twelve minutes are usual. What matters is not the minutes but how you feel: if it becomes unpleasant, leave the steam room at once without waiting for the others, and stand up slowly so you do not get dizzy.

Drink plain water throughout the visit and avoid alcohol. Do not go to the sauna with a fever or an acute infection.

If you have cardiovascular disease, high or low blood pressure, are pregnant or are taking medication, talk to your doctor before your visit; in those cases it is better to skip the sudden cold plunge - cooler air or a lukewarm shower is enough. If you are going with a sauna master, tell them about how you feel and any health limits before you start.

Always spread your own towel on the bench. Speak quietly in the steam room, do not open the door without reason, and leave phones outside. Alcohol and heat do not mix, and unfamiliar or imported plants should not be used for procedures. Honey masks can cause an allergic reaction in high heat, and salt is scrubbed gently rather than rubbed in hard. An old rule says that people who had quarrelled never went to the sauna together - it was a shared and calm space, and it stays one today.

The largest study comes from the University of Eastern Finland: 2,315 middle-aged men followed for about 20 years. Those who used the sauna 4-7 times a week, compared with once a week, died of cardiovascular disease roughly half as often, and their risk of sudden cardiac death was 63% lower. Longer sessions were linked to a bigger difference than short ones.

It matters what numbers like these mean. These are observational studies: they show an association, not a cause. People were not assigned to groups, so part of the difference may simply be that healthier and more active people go to the sauna more often. A sauna is not a treatment and does not replace a doctor.

In stricter randomised trials the effect is more modest but real: whole-body heating slightly lowers systolic blood pressure, most clearly in people who already carry cardiovascular risk factors. Regular sauna after exercise also improved fitness in trials.

Sources: JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015, Age and Ageing, 2017, BMC Medicine, 2018, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2018, American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2025.

Find a sauna you like, pick a date and time, add extras or a sauna master's programme if you wish, and pay by card online. The booking is confirmed immediately after payment and you receive a confirmation email. You can repeat a past visit with one tap from "My bookings".

You pay by bank card through the secure Stripe payment system - one payment for the whole booking (sauna, extras and the sauna master's programme together). Your card details never reach SaunaFriday, and the money itself never lands in SaunaFriday's company account - Stripe holds it and distributes it to the participants automatically.

Your chosen times are held for 30 minutes. If payment is not completed within that time, the reservation is released automatically and the times become available to others.

Extras are additional services or items offered by the sauna owner: whisks, towels, a hot tub, snacks and similar. You add them during booking and the price is included in the same payment.

A programme led by the sauna's own sauna master - very often the owner themselves. You book it together with the sauna time, and the price is either one price for the whole group or per person: in that case you state how many people are coming when you pay.

Some saunas are rented only with their own programme. These are the exclusive ones: the hosts built the sauna, heat it and know it best - the steam, the water, the rhythm - so they offer not just the room but the whole ritual they have prepared. Independent sauna masters are not shown at such a sauna.

If sauna master programmes are offered with a sauna, at checkout you will see the sauna masters available at your chosen time and their programmes. Choose a programme and it joins the same booking and payment. Some saunas do not offer visiting sauna masters at all - they are rented only with their own programme.

Yes. After you pay, the money is held in a secure account at Stripe, a licensed payment institution - it is not SaunaFriday's company account, and the platform never holds your money itself. A day after your session ends, Stripe automatically distributes the money to the sauna owner and the sauna master. If the service does not happen through the provider's fault, your money is refunded.

Yes. On your bookings page, request an invoice with one click - it is issued by the provider (the sauna owner or the sauna master), not SaunaFriday. For a business expense, tick "Invoice for a company" and fill in the details - the invoice will be made out to the company, whichever card you paid with.

After your visit, you can rate the sauna and, if you booked a programme, the sauna master on your bookings page. Reviews are public and help other guests choose.

Discounts are set by sauna owners, so they vary. There can be a discount for longer visits, an off-peak discount on selected days and hours, and a last-minute discount when booking shortly before the session. The percentage is shown next to the time and in the checkout summary. Only the single biggest discount applies, and it reduces only the sauna time price - add-ons and a sauna master's programme are never discounted.

We send it when you enter an email that already has an account. The code proves the mailbox is yours: entering it also signs you in, and the booking is attached to your account. It is single-use and valid for 10 minutes - just request a new one if it expires.

Your confirmation email contains a sign-in link - it opens your bookings. If you cannot find the email, check spam or sign in with the same email on the sign-in page - we will send a fresh link.

It depends on how the sauna is sold. Most often you rent the whole sauna: you pay for the time, not per person, and any size of group within the stated capacity comes for the same price. In a public session you buy a ticket for yourself - the price is per ticket. You will see which applies next to the time before you pay.

A programme led by the sauna's own sauna master - very often the owner themselves. You book it together with the sauna time, and the price is either one price for the whole group or per person: in that case you state how many people are coming when you pay.

Some saunas are rented only with their own programme. These are the exclusive ones: the hosts built the sauna, heat it and know it best - the steam, the water, the rhythm - so they offer not just the room but the whole ritual they have prepared. Independent sauna masters are not shown at such a sauna.

Each owner sets a free delivery radius and a price per kilometre beyond it. The listing has a “Will you deliver to me?” checker - pick your spot and you see straight away whether they deliver and what it will cost. The amount is added to the order and shown before you pay, and inside the free radius delivery costs nothing. Some owners also take a refundable deposit - that is paid in cash on delivery, not through the platform.

It depends on the owner. If they have requirements for the spot - level firm ground, access for a car with a trailer, a safe distance from buildings - they are listed under “Delivery conditions” on the listing, and you confirm them before paying. Many owners have no requirements at all, and then the step does not appear in your booking.

A session where the sauna is not reserved for one group: you buy a ticket for yourself, and other guests are in the steam room at the same time. Such a time shows the ticket price, how many entries to the steam room are included, and how many tickets are left. You buy as many tickets as there are of you. Ordinary sessions are unchanged - there you rent the whole sauna for yourselves.

Mobile saunas and hot tubs are rented by the day: one day is twenty-four hours from the handover time. Owners offer several handover times a day, so you can pick one that suits you. A single booking can run up to 7 days, and the owner may have set a discount for longer rentals.

The owner can state how long they need to get ready - to heat the sauna or to tow a mobile unit out, so the very nearest times are not shown. If the deadline passes while you are choosing, you will see a note that there is no longer time to prepare. Sauna masters also have travel time, so a programme may not be offered for a very near time.

Yes, on your bookings page. How much is refunded depends on the sauna's cancellation policy - each sauna owner chooses their own, so it can differ from sauna to sauna. You always see the policy before confirming the booking and on your booking card.

The refund is initiated immediately and automatically through Stripe. It usually appears in your bank account within 5-10 business days, depending on the bank.

You automatically get 100% of everything you paid back, regardless of the sauna's cancellation policy.

The programme price is refunded to you automatically, and the sauna booking remains valid. If the programme made up a significant part of the order, you have an extra 24 hours to cancel the whole remaining order with a 100% refund - the booking card and the email tell you right away whether this applies; if not, the sauna's usual cancellation terms apply to the session.

Write to us through the contact form - we reply within 1 business day. Your confirmation email also contains the sauna's details for direct contact.

No-shows are not refunded - the time was reserved for you. If you know you cannot come, cancel in advance on your bookings page: the refund depends on the sauna's cancellation policy and how much time is left before the session.

Register as an owner and create a listing with photos, a description and prices. An administrator reviews it, and once approved it becomes visible to guests. Listing is free.

Nothing. The platform keeps a commission only on completed bookings - it is deducted from your earnings, and the guest pays only your listed price. Commission is calculated on the sauna time and your own sauna programmes (and, for a mobile sauna, the delivery fee). Extras (whisks, hot tubs etc.) are commission-free - you keep them in full. The exact percentage is on the Fees page.

A day after the session ends your share is paid out automatically - the transfer usually reaches your bank account within a few business days. Commission is deducted from the sauna time, your own sauna programmes and the mobile sauna delivery fee, but not from extras. Until the payout the money is held by Stripe - not SaunaFriday. You can see all planned and completed payouts in your dashboard.

Three things: an active listing with time slots, your tax identity (personal code and business form, or a company code; for UK residents a National Insurance number and UTR - required by law) and a Stripe payout account, set up in minutes from your dashboard. The “Getting started” section shows what is left.

The registration form is filled right in your dashboard, in the site's language. At the start Stripe will ask you to confirm your phone number in a separate window - after confirming you return and continue. If the form does not load, there is always a "Continue on Stripe's site" link below it - the same steps on Stripe's page, whose language follows your browser settings (often English).

You create the times and their prices yourself - one by one or for a whole week at once. Guests can book several consecutive slots for a longer visit. The dashboard calendar shows your bookings, and once you have a few weeks of history it also shows how your times sell by weekday.

Yes - that is a public session. When creating times you choose how they are sold: the whole sauna, single tickets, or both. An existing day's type is changed with the "Change session type" button under that day's times - only open times without bookings or tickets change. The price is per ticket; the number of entries and the ticket limit apply to the whole listing.

Yes - €5. Smaller amounts are not sold on the platform. The floor also applies to the discounted total, so for example a €6 time with a 50% last-minute discount will not sell. Extras have no floor - an extra can even be free, because it is always bought together with a session.

One of four: Flexible, Standard, Strict or Non-refundable. The policy is shown to guests before booking and covers the whole order. Changing it never affects already-sold bookings.

A commission invoice every month and an annual income statement after the year ends. If in some month refunds or corrections make the commission negative, that month's document is issued as a credit note - an amount in your favour. All documents can be downloaded as PDFs from your dashboard at any time.

Yes, under the EU digital platform rules (DAC7) platforms must report sellers' income data to tax authorities every year. The same income data is what your annual income statement in the dashboard shows. Your own taxes (e.g. income declarations) remain your responsibility, according to your business form.

Yes, any time - it disappears from search while existing bookings remain valid. You can unhide it again with one click whenever you want.

No - it is your choice. In the listing settings you can enable or disable the option for guests to add a sauna master’s programme to their booking. And if you only rent the sauna with your own sauna master, create your own sauna programme and turn on "Sessions run only with my programme" - visiting sauna masters are then no longer offered at that sauna.

In your dashboard you will find "Link to your listings" - a link to the page with all your listings. Share it anywhere, or send it straight from the system by entering a guest's email address. The number of invites per day is limited so they stay personal.

In the listing management page’s “Discounts” section you can set a discount for longer visits, an off-peak discount for selected days and hours, and a last-minute discount. Only the single biggest discount applies, and it reduces only the sauna time price. Once you have a few weeks of history, the dashboard shows how your times sell by weekday - it helps you pick where a discount pays off. Prices of already sold bookings never change.

On the listing management page every open time has a “Block” button - a blocked time is no longer shown to guests. You can block a whole day in one click, and unblock any time.

We email you about every booking right away. You can also turn on notifications on your phone or computer: in your account settings, enable "Notifications on this device". On an iPhone, first add SaunaFriday to your home screen (the "General" section shows how), then enable notifications.

In the dashboard's bookings list press “Cancel” next to the booking. The times reopen, the guest is notified, and if they paid online they are automatically refunded in full.

Yes - in the dashboard's reviews section you can write a public reply next to the review. It is shown under the review on your listing's page.

At the bottom of the listing management page choose removal - the listing disappears from search for good, while past bookings and their documents remain. Removal is blocked while the listing has upcoming bookings - cancel them first or wait until they pass. If unsure, hide the listing temporarily instead.

Yes - in the dashboard's “Sauna masters who have visited you” section you can block an individual sauna master: their programmes stop appearing on your sauna's bookings. You can unblock at any time.

On the listing you give a base address, the area you serve, a free delivery radius and a price per kilometre beyond it. The base address is never shown publicly - guests see only the city and the radius. The platform works the delivery price out itself from the distance to the guest's spot, so you never type it per booking. Commission applies to the delivery fee as well.

You decide - your listing sets how long you need between an order and the start of the rental. When you create a listing we suggest a value from your service radius: it covers loading and driving. If you would rather arrive early and heat up in advance, simply pick a longer time; you can change the value at any time when editing the listing. A stationary sauna has the same setting on its listing - the minimum time between an order and the start of the session.

Register as a sauna master, fill in your profile, describe your programmes with prices, and set your address, service radius and when you work. From then on guests can choose you when booking a sauna.

Guests add your programme while booking a sauna - a sauna master is never booked separately. You are visible in saunas that lie within your service radius of your address and where your calendar is free at that time.

In your dashboard you set your working windows, your address and a service radius (how many km around it you work), and can block out personal time. Your address is never shown publicly - guests see only your city and radius. The system automatically keeps gaps between bookings for travel - larger ones when bookings are farther apart - and prevents double bookings across saunas.

Nothing. The platform keeps a commission only on completed bookings of your programmes - deducted from your earnings, while the guest pays only your listed programme price.

Same as for owners: after the guest pays, the money is held by Stripe (not in SaunaFriday's account). A day after the session your share is released automatically, and the transfer usually reaches your bank account within a few business days. The payout schedule is in your dashboard.

A completed profile with at least one programme, available working time, your tax identity (personal code and business form, or a company code; for UK residents a National Insurance number and UTR) and a Stripe payout account. The "Getting started" section in your dashboard shows the remaining steps.

The registration form is filled right in your dashboard, in the site's language. At the start Stripe will ask you to confirm your phone number in a separate window - after confirming you return and continue. If the form does not load, there is always a "Continue on Stripe's site" link below it - the same steps on Stripe's page, whose language follows your browser settings (often English).

You can cancel the session in your dashboard. The guest is automatically refunded the programme price right away, and the sauna booking remains valid; the guest is informed by email. If the programme made up a significant part of the order, the guest also gets 24 hours to cancel the whole order free of charge. Every cancellation is recorded and visible to the administrator, so cancel only when you truly cannot come - frequent cancellations hurt guests and your standing on the platform.

Yes - your programmes are shown on the listings of saunas within your service radius. The system automatically prevents a double booking and leaves travel time between bookings at different places: you can only be booked in one place at a time. You set the minimum gap between bookings yourself, in the Availability section of your dashboard. Your number can only add time - it never shortens a journey.

In your dashboard you will find "Your link" - a link to your personal sauna master profile. Share it anywhere, or send it straight from the system by entering a guest's email address. The number of invites per day is limited so they stay personal.

Yes - in the dashboard's reviews section you can write a public reply. It is shown under the review on your profile.

In your programmes list you can hide a programme any time - guests stop seeing it, existing bookings stay valid. A programme you no longer need can be deleted for good once it has no upcoming bookings; past bookings and documents remain.

Yes - €5. Smaller amounts are not sold on the platform. The floor also applies to the final discounted booking total.

We email you about every booking right away. You can also turn on notifications on your phone or computer: in your account settings, enable "Notifications on this device". On an iPhone, first add SaunaFriday to your home screen (the "General" section shows how), then enable notifications.

Yes. Payments are handled by Stripe - one of the largest payment networks in the world, serving millions of businesses. Card details go directly to Stripe and SaunaFriday never sees them, and the money itself never enters SaunaFriday's account - Stripe distributes it to the service providers automatically.

The name, phone number and email address you enter with a booking are visible only to that booking's sauna owner and the booked sauna master - so they can host you. Read more in the Privacy policy.

In your account settings press "Delete account". The account is deactivated immediately and after 30 days your personal data is removed permanently. Financial records (invoices, paid bookings) are kept as long as the law requires - they retain only the data legally required in accounting documents, such as the name on an invoice.

Yes - in account settings, in the “Data copy” card, press “Download data” to get everything we store about you in one file (the GDPR right to data portability).