Miami's New Night Out Is a Sauna: Inside the Bathhouse and Wellness Hotel Boom
Two Wynwood bathhouses are selling memberships from $225 to $995 a month, Delano swapped its nightclub for a spa, and a Brazilian wellness hotel just opened in South of Fifth. Here's what each is offe
MIAMI — For years, a big night out in Miami meant a rooftop, a bottle and a DJ. A wave of new businesses is betting that plenty of people would rather spend the evening moving between a 185-degree sauna and a 45-degree plunge pool.
Two bathhouses are about to open a few blocks apart in Wynwood. A storied Miami Beach hotel has replaced its nightclub with a spa. And a Brazilian hotel group just opened its first property outside Brazil in South of Fifth with wellness at the center. Here’s what each is offering, and what it costs to get in.
Grotto: a phone-free, alcohol-free social bathhouse
Grotto, at 325 NW 28th Street, calls itself a social bathhouse. It is built for groups of friends and regulars, not just solo recovery. The 7,500-square-foot venue includes a 2,500-square-foot outdoor lounge, according to SaunaNews.
The circuit includes a ceremonial sauna that runs up to 185 degrees with guided Aufguss sessions, an infrared sauna, a steam room at 104 to 113 degrees, a thermal pool, a mineral pool and cold plunges kept between 40 and 50 degrees. Phones are banned in the thermal areas and locker rooms, there is no alcohol, and guests must be 21 or older. A café serves small plates, juices and zero-proof drinks.
The opening date has slipped. Grotto’s membership page now says it is “on schedule to open at the end of November of 2026.” In October, founding partner Antoinette Marie Johnson told SaunaNews the saunas, pools and bathhouse were complete and that the opening depended on a temporary certificate of occupancy and final city approvals.
Pricing is public. The Circuit plan costs $225 a month for three bathing sessions, the Ritual plan is $315 for five, and a third tier is listed at $400 a month for unlimited sessions, subject to booking availability. Enrollment fees are waived for a limited time, and memberships carry a two-month minimum.
The project is led by five founding partners: Nathan Kaplan and Nick Anselmo on development and strategy, hospitality veteran Darryl Gibson, Tender Greens co-founder Erik Oberholtzer on food, and Johnson on brand. As SaunaNews noted, capping visits and requiring reservations keeps the locker room from overflowing on Saturdays.
Sensa: the big production
A short walk away at 2830 NW 5th Ave., Sensa is going for scale. The nearly 20,000-square-foot venue combines a thermal bathhouse, massage and body treatments, a medspa and a blow-dry style bar, PROFILEmiami reported.
Sensa’s website promises eight pools, six saunas, a rain room, an ice cave, a cold plunge and a 120-minute circuit, plus more than 30 medspa services. The second floor medspa menu includes injectables, microneedling, IV therapy and longevity programs that incorporate GLP-1 medications and peptide therapy, according to PROFILEmiami.
It is also the priciest option. Gold Coast Wave reported founding bathhouse memberships starting at $495 a month, with higher tiers at $795 and $995. Sensa says founding prices are guaranteed for the first 24 months of continuous membership, with a five-month minimum commitment. Planned hours run from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The site still says only that Sensa opens “this fall.”
Delano trades the nightclub for a 22-person sauna
The shift isn’t limited to stand-alone bathhouses. In Miami Beach, Delano’s relaunch replaced the hotel’s nightclub with a spa built around a 22-person sauna, chief brand officer Ben Pundole said, as reported by Luxury Miami Magazine.
Pundole said guests increasingly look for wellness and don’t want a nightclub inside their hotel, though Delano still plans parties and music. The brand’s wellness platform, The Source by Delano, varies by location; Pundole said a social sauna and a Rollerblading club suit Miami.
Reserva Miami Meridian: Brazilian wellness comes to South of Fifth
The newest arrival opened Nov. 6. Reserva Miami Meridian, at 418 Meridian Ave. in South of Fifth, is the first property outside Brazil for Rede Reserva, a hotel group from Ilhabela, São Paulo, Hotelier News reported. Miami-based At Mine Hospitality, led by Matteo Soldatini, operates the hotel, while Rede Reserva handles the brand, wellness programming, marketing and digital strategy.
The 73-room hotel occupies a renovated 1930s building near the beach and Ocean Drive. It offers a Jungle Spa, yoga and wellness classes open to outside visitors, a Kava Bar, an outdoor pool, workspace for remote workers and loaner bikes, with service in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Rede Reserva founder Marcio Franco told Hotelier News that Miami fits the brand largely because of the presence of travelers interested in wellness and technology (translated from Portuguese).
The hotel is also a tech test. It is the first U.S. property to run the group’s Smart Hotéis platform, which bundles an AI guest-service agent, CRM, email and WhatsApp follow-ups, and digital check-in and keys. The group says more than 50% of its hotel bookings in Brazil come through its own channels.
The business case
These operators are selling the same thing in different packages: recurring, reservation-based visits instead of one-off bar tabs. Membership models give bathhouses predictable revenue before the doors open, and wellness amenities give hotels something to sell to locals as well as guests.
The open question is demand at these prices. Between Grotto’s $225 entry tier and Sensa’s $995 top tier, Miami is about to find out how many people will pay for heat, cold and a phone-free room.