Why hot tubs became the UK’s most wanted stay feature

Part of the reason hot tubs have become so sought after is because people are moving away from aspirational luxury and towards experiential comfort. Wellness no longer necessarily means booking somewhere with cucumber water and twelve treatment rooms. Increasingly, it looks more like slowing down outdoors with people you actually like spending time with, but don’t get nearly enough time to.  

This is also why features like saunas, outdoor baths and cold plunge set-ups are booming alongside hot tubs. They offer something that feels tactile and grounding rather than overly curated. You light the fire and wait for the water to heat, meaning the experience asks you to participate in your own relaxation a little, which weirdly makes it feel more satisfying. 

There’s also something deeply appealing about the simplicity of it all. A hot tub creates an entire evening of something to do with almost no effort. There’s no need for an itinerary or list of “activities”. You just need hot water and enough snacks on hand to justify staying in for another half hour.

Younger travellers have rewritten the definition of what counts as a luxury, as well as a great holiday. For many millennials and Gen Z travellers, wellness is not something reserved for expensive yoga retreats. Increasingly, features like hot tubs, saunas and cold plunges are becoming part of the decision-making process itself, viewed less as optional extras and more as part of the overall experience. 

Part of this is practical. International travel has become more expensive, while short UK breaks have become a popular way to squeeze more holidays into the year. A few nights away with friends or a partner can still feel indulgent without requiring annual leave spreadsheets, airport queues or a small financial crisis afterwards, especially when you’re splitting the cost between a group of you. Hot tubs sit neatly in that sweet spot, adding a sense of occasion to a stay without demanding the budget of a luxury resort. 

There's also a generational appreciation for experiences that are genuinely memorable. A hot tub beneath the stars is difficult to replicate in everyday life, which perhaps explains why it continues to hold such appeal. Younger travellers have grown up in an increasingly digital world, and while social media may appreciate a well-photographed soak, the real attraction is often stepping away from the screens for a while and sinking into an experience that feels pleasantly analogue. In many ways, hot tub stays sit at the crossroads of several trends at once: wellness, nature, affordable luxury and the growing desire to spend time somewhere that feels genuinely different from home.

One of the smartest things hot tubs have done is rehabilitate Britain’s reputation for terrible weather. Summer doesn’t really need assistance, but hot tubs have transformed cold, damp shoulder-season breaks into something people now actively seek out. 

Rain suddenly becomes atmospheric rather than inconvenient when you’re already wet, and wind through trees feels revitalising instead of irritating. There are few experiences more comforting than lowering yourself into steaming water while the heavens open around you. Human beings enjoy contrast.  

This is partly why hot tubs work so perfectly at Canopy & Stars places. Sitting in hot water beside a motorway would obviously feel less restorative, but tucked beside cabins, treehouses and hidden stays surrounded by woodland or open skies, hot tubs become part of the landscape itself, woven naturally into slower mornings and evenings outdoors.

Activities are great in theory, but adult life has a habit of turning socialising into tightly scheduled two-hour windows booked three weeks in advance and trying to remember whether you’ve replied to that message from February. Hot tubs solve that problem by creating a built-in social activity combined with the kind of unstructured time people rarely get anymore, where conversations wander naturally and nobody is checking how long is left on parking. 

At many Canopy & Stars stays, the hot tub becomes the centre of the stay. Someone lights the wood burner, somebody else brings snacks out, and people drift in and out wrapped in robes while the sky gets darker. Even silence feels companionable when you’re sitting in steaming water beneath trees. 

Hot tubs give people a reason to stay outside together a little longer than they normally would because warmth, fresh air and good company remain a pretty reliable formula for feeling like happy humans. And there’s no pressure to entertain each other because the atmosphere already does most of the work for you.

Majority of the hot tubs in our collection of places to stay are wood fired. Part of the charm of wood-fired hot tubs specifically is that they resist the instant gratification modern life usually runs on. You can’t press a button and immediately have perfect water temperature while standing indoors scrolling emails. Somebody has to light the fire, stir the water, and wait patiently until steam starts to slowly swirl upwards.  

That small amount of effort changes the experience entirely. You build the evening around it, adding logs, opening another drink and sitting outside in a jumper checking whether it’s warm enough yet. 

And because you participated in creating the warmth, the soak itself feels better. It’s a tiny return to the sort of rituals humans have always enjoyed around heat, water and firelight.

The reason hot tubs have become one of the UK's most sought-after stay features is probably much simpler than any trend report can fully explain. They solve several modern problems at once. They create an activity without requiring any planning, entertainment that doesn’t involve a screen, a gathering place without forcing conversation, a space to unwind from the stressors of daily life, and a reason to spend time outdoors regardless of the weather.  

At a Canopy & Stars stay, it becomes a natural meeting point, surrounded by woodland, lakes and open skies. Warm water, good company and nowhere else to be turns out to be a combination that's very hard to improve upon.