First published 15 July 2026. Updated 15 August 2026 with a second commercial data pull.
Sauna Dekor Wellness Demand Report, August 2026. Sources: Google Keyword Planner (UAE), DataForSEO AI search-volume (US and UAE). Compiled by Sauna Dekor from 40 years of thermal-facility manufacturing. Publishers and journalists are welcome to cite these figures with a link to this page.
Wellness demand is splitting in two. On classic Google search, attention still concentrates where people want to visit a spa. On AI assistants, a different and larger conversation is happening about how wellness actually works, what it costs, and how to build it. This report puts real numbers to both, using data most of the industry does not publish.
Headline finding: the wellness conversation has moved to AI
The clearest signal in our data is the scale of AI search. “Red light therapy” is asked of AI assistants over 40,000 times a month in the US, against a few thousand classic Google searches for the same term in the UAE. The questions people once typed into Google, and increasingly the ones they never typed at all, now go to an assistant. For any wellness brand, being the source an AI cites is becoming as important as ranking on Google. For context on the modality itself, see our guide to red light therapy.
What people ask AI about wellness (US, monthly)
Monthly AI search volume for wellness topics, meaning the questions people put to AI assistants rather than to a search box:
| Topic | AI searches / month (US) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Red light therapy | 40,426 | Dominant, rising |
| Float tank / sensory deprivation | 2,810 | Strong |
| Sauna cost | 2,271 | High buyer intent |
| Hyperbaric oxygen therapy | 1,241 | Rising |
| Biohacking | 1,060 | Rising |
| Banya (Russian bathhouse) | 976 | Niche, steady |
| Thermal suite | 733 | B2B, rising |
| Best sauna brands | 435 | Buyer research |
| PEMF therapy | 456 | Emerging |
| Contrast therapy | 343 | Steady |
| Longevity center | 89 | B2B, emerging |
August 2026 update: the business question has left Google entirely
In August we ran a second pull, this time on the commercial vocabulary, the words a hotel owner, a developer or a spa consultant would use when looking for a supplier. The result is the most striking figure in this report, and it is a row of zeros.
Ten commercial search terms returned no measurable volume at all, on Google or on AI, in either market:
| Commercial term | Google (UAE) | Google (US) | AI (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| sauna manufacturers in dubai | – | – | 0 |
| sauna companies in dubai | – | – | 0 |
| sauna installation dubai | – | – | 0 |
| sauna suppliers uae | – | – | 0 |
| spa contractors dubai | – | – | 0 |
| spa fit out companies dubai | – | – | 0 |
| commercial sauna suppliers | – | – | 0 |
| steam room installation dubai | – | – | 0 |
| hammam builders | – | – | 0 |
| sauna price dubai | – | – | 0 |
Meanwhile the consumer vocabulary for the same city is very much alive: moroccan bath dubai 1,900/month, sauna dubai 880, ice bath dubai 720, all on Google UAE.
This is not a data gap. It is a behaviour change, and it has a practical consequence for anyone selling into hospitality: procurement research is now invisible to keyword tools. A developer specifying a spa does not search “spa contractors dubai.” They ask an assistant a long, specific question, they ask their consultant, and they ask the operator down the road. The only two commercial terms with real volume are brand-comparison questions, best sauna brands at 435 AI searches a month in the US against 260 on Google, and generic sauna manufacturers at 390 on Google US.
For suppliers this reframes the whole marketing question. You cannot buy your way to the top of a search term that has no volume. You can only be the source that gets named when someone asks the question out loud, which means publishing the specification detail, the cost ranges and the comparisons that an assistant can actually quote. That is why we published our own Dubai sauna cost ranges and a full commercial specification guide rather than a brochure.
What the UAE searches for on Google
On classic Google search in the UAE, demand tells a different story, concentrated in visit and retail intent:
| Term (UAE) | Google searches / month | Intent |
|---|---|---|
| Swimming pool | 18,100 | Visit / build mix |
| Moroccan bath | 12,100 | Visit |
| Sauna | 4,400 | Visit / build |
| Jacuzzi | 3,600 | Visit / retail |
| Red light therapy | 2,400 (+81% YoY) | Retail / interest |
| Hammam | 1,600 | Visit |
| Ice bath / cold plunge | ~1,900 / 1,000 | Interest, rising |
| Infrared sauna / Steam room | 720 / 720 | Visit / build |
Three patterns worth knowing
1. The build-versus-visit gap. In the UAE, search volume concentrates in visit and near-me intent, moroccan bath 12,100 and swimming pool near me 12,100, while design, cost and build terms sit near zero. The people who build spas and wellness spaces do not announce themselves in Google volume; they ask detailed questions, increasingly of AI. For that audience, see how we approach a full wellness centre.
2. Recovery and longevity are the growth cluster. The fastest-rising demand, on both Google and AI, sits around the build-a-recovery-space idea: red light therapy (+81% year on year in the UAE, 40,000+/month on AI), biohacking, longevity, contrast therapy and the thermal suite. Wellness is shifting from visiting a spa occasionally to building the tools into a routine.
3. Authenticity is an underserved niche. Traditional bathing cultures still command real demand, moroccan bath 12,100 a month in the UAE and the banya nearly 1,000 a month on AI, yet few builders deliver them authentically. Cultural depth is a differentiator, not a commodity.
What it means for operators and developers
For hotels, developers and wellness operators, three takeaways follow.
First, the audience researching how to build and cost a spa is now largely on AI assistants, so publishing genuinely useful, detailed content is how you get discovered by the people who make the decisions.
Second, demand is moving toward recovery, longevity and authentic bathing, exactly the modalities that define a modern thermal suite and wellness facility.
Third, if you are choosing a supplier, the absence of search volume in your category means you will not find the shortlist by searching. Ask for duty ratings, continuous-operation hours and commercial element warranties in writing, and compare on that, not on visibility.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI search volume? It is an estimate of how often a topic is asked of AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini in a given month, as opposed to typed into a search engine. It is measured separately from Google search volume and, for several wellness topics, it is now the larger of the two.
Which wellness topic is asked about most on AI? Red light therapy, at 40,426 AI searches a month in the US as of July 2026, an order of magnitude ahead of any other thermal or recovery modality we measured.
Why do commercial spa search terms show zero volume? Because business-to-business procurement research has moved off the search box. Buyers ask long, specific questions of assistants and of their own consultants. Ten commercial terms including “spa contractors dubai” and “sauna suppliers uae” returned no measurable volume in August 2026.
What does the UAE search for most in wellness? On Google UAE, swimming pool at 18,100 a month and moroccan bath at 12,100 lead, both dominated by visit intent rather than build intent.
Can I cite this report? Yes. Journalists, publishers and consultants are welcome to quote any figure here with a link to this page. Contact us if you would like the underlying breakdown for a specific modality or market.
Methodology
Google search volumes are from Google Keyword Planner for the United Arab Emirates, July 2026. AI search volumes are monthly figures from DataForSEO’s AI search-volume dataset for the United States, the largest AI-assistant market, July 2026, with a second commercial pull run on 10 August 2026 covering 25 terms across AI and Google in both the US and the UAE. A dash indicates no measurable volume returned. Figures are indicative and rounded. Compiled by Sauna Dekor Spa Solutions.
Sauna Dekor has manufactured saunas, hammams, thermal suites and complete wellness facilities since 1987, for clients including Hilton, Emirates and Ritz-Carlton. To discuss the data or a project, contact our team. Journalists and publishers are welcome to cite this report with a link to saunadekor.com.
