Why a Hot Tub Could Be Your Holiday Let’s Best Next Investment

A cottage with a private hot tub offers guests something easy to picture: a day exploring the countryside, followed by a warm soak under the evening sky.

For holiday homeowners, that experience has a clear commercial appeal. Hot tubs are among the most searched-for property features on the Sykes website, according to its 2025 Staycation Index. Its 2026 Holiday Letting Outlook Report also reports that properties with a hot tub can earn, on average, 40% more per year.

Those figures make a hot tub an upgrade worth considering carefully.

Give guests something they are already looking for

Think about searches such as “lodges with hot tubs”, “cottage with a private hot tub” or “hot tub weekend away”. The hot tub is part of the holiday guests want to book.

Adding one gives you a new experience to show in your photographs, describe in your listing and include in relevant booking-platform filters. For a couple planning a quiet weekend, an inviting outdoor bathing space could be the detail that makes your property their first choice.

The setting matters too. Privacy, thoughtful lighting and somewhere convenient to leave towels help turn a garden feature into a memorable part of the stay.

The trend is visible in booking figures too. In its April 2026 Easter update, holiday rental group Awaze reported that almost all 4,000 Hoseasons lets with hot tubs were booked over the Easter weekend. It also recorded year-on-year growth in March bookings for hot-tub properties during the week before Easter: 25% at Hoseasons and 178% at cottages.com. These figures capture a specific booking period, but provide another clear sign of strong demand for hot tubs in the UK holiday rental market.

How quickly could a hot tub pay for itself?

Birchwells’ flat-pack wooden hot tubs start from £1,600, giving owners an accessible starting point for their calculations.

Suppose your hot tub allows you to achieve £50 more per booked night:

£1,600 ÷ £50 = 32 booked nights.

At that hypothetical premium, 32 booked nights would generate additional revenue equal to the starting purchase price.

That is a useful illustration of the potential, rather than a guaranteed payback period. Your full calculation should include installation and preparation, fuel or electricity, water, cleaning, maintenance and booking fees. If the extra contribution after ongoing costs were £25 per booked night, recovering the same £1,600 purchase price would take 64 booked nights.

Sykes’ revenue figures cover its wider property portfolio; they do not predict the return from a particular Birchwells tub. Compare similar local properties to estimate a realistic premium for your own accommodation.

A wooden hot tub that suits the setting

A wooden tub can look naturally at home beside a rural cottage, garden cabin or countryside retreat. With a wood-fired option, tending the fire can become part of the guest experience- provided guests understand the heating process and you have a suitable operating routine.

Prefer a hot tub without tending a fire?

If you would rather guests did not have to light and manage a stove, Birchwells also offers a heat-pump option. It takes the fire-lighting out of the experience and can maintain the selected water temperature automatically, giving guests less to organise before their soak.

With Wi-Fi and app control, you can also manage the heating remotely, adjusting the temperature and scheduling operating times around bookings—even when you are away from the property. Poolex describes these remote-control and scheduling features in its app information.

Allow plenty of time for the water to reach bathing temperature, particularly after draining and refilling. Heating time depends on the tub size, starting water temperature and outdoor conditions, so plan ahead of each arrival.

Narrow access? Consider flat pack

A narrow side gate or enclosed courtyard need not rule out a hot tub. Birchwells offers both assembled and flat-pack options. With flat pack, you can move the individual components into position before assembly—particularly useful where a complete tub would struggle to fit. Check your access route against the component dimensions before ordering. Explore the Birchwells range.

Make the upgrade work for your business

Before buying, confirm that the chosen model and water-treatment arrangements suit holiday-let use. Plan guest instructions, cleaning and changeovers, and review the relevant HSE guidance for hot tubs used in a business.

With realistic pricing and a well-managed setup, a hot tub could become one of your property’s hardest-working features: an experience guests actively seek and an investment with the potential to recover its cost quickly.

Considering a hot tub for your cottage, lodge or holiday rental? Talk to Birchwells about your property, access and intended guest use.