Customer Story
Leeds Community Sauna
After outgrowing their previous booking system, and with a need for Membership plans, Leeds migrated to Session
Leeds Community Sauna is a not-for-profit workers' cooperative tucked amongst the trees alongside the river Aire.
They run two wood-fired saunas alongside cold plunges, bucket plunge, showers, and a natural glade area for relaxing around the fire between rounds.
Their ethos is built around people over profit — making sauna culture genuinely accessible to all, with concessionary pricing, an active accessibility policy, and a programme of community-focused events. Any surplus goes back into the business or funds social prescribing and community group partnerships.
They opened in late 2025 and have quickly built a loyal following in Leeds, offering a mix of regular sessions and a rotating programme of special events — from herbal saunas to sauna singing to book club.
How they use Session
Leeds run a busy schedule of recurring and one-off sessions. Their core programme — Sauna & plunge and a longer-session variant — runs Thursday to Sunday. Alongside that, they host a rotating programme of community events: women's sauna, trans & non-binary sauna, non-clothed sessions (mixed-gender and women-only), sauna sing sessions, plant folk herbal sauna, a poetry evening, and a sauna book club.
Volunteer days run as hidden sessions — not publicly listed, managed internally.
Across their 12 session types, capacity is capped at 15 for most sessions and 10 for smaller events.
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We wanted a booking system that reflected our values — accessible pricing, a welcoming experience, nothing that gets in the way. With Acuity, we were always working around the tool. With Session, the tool works around us. The migration was easier than we expected, and the difference for our customers was immediate. We'd recommend it to any community sauna looking to move.
Ollie - Leeds Community Sauna
Switching over
Leeds were using Acuity Scheduling before moving to Session. Like a lot of operators, they'd got it working — but the limitations were always there. Acuity is a generic tool owned by Squarespace, and its structure was never designed for the way community saunas actually operate. Getting sliding-scale pricing to work properly was a constant workaround, and the booking experience for customers felt clunky compared to the quality of the space itself.
When the opportunity came to move to a platform built specifically for saunas, it was an easy decision.
Existing bookings and user data were imported directly via CSV, so customers carried over with no disruption. Gift vouchers were also migrated — voucher holders were emailed with their new redemption code so nothing was lost in the transition.
From the customer's perspective, the only thing that changed was a better booking experience.
Advice for other saunas
Secure your site first — ideally somewhere with reliable electricity, water, and drainage already in place or easy to install. Everything else follows from that.
Consider registering as a co-operative society or CIC if that's the direction you're heading — it shapes your funding options and your relationship with the community.
Join the Community Sauna Network and connect with others doing similar work. The community is genuinely generous with knowledge.
When it comes to your booking system: choose something that works the way you do, not the other way round. Focus on making the space feel safe, welcoming and accessible — that's what keeps people coming back and sharing it with others.