Introduction
Modern wellness is becoming increasingly experiential, social, and technology driven. Othership brings those ideas together through its modern bathhouses, combining performance saunas, ice baths, breathwork, music, and guided experiences designed to help people feel better and connect with others. With locations in Toronto, New York City's Flatiron District, and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Othership has built a wellness experience around both personal transformation and community.
Supporting a business model like that requires more than simply accepting a credit card. Customers may purchase individual sessions, multi-session packs, memberships, events, and other experiences, creating a need for flexible and reliable payment infrastructure.
In this conversation with Othership, Dimitri Akhrin, President of BAMS, discusses what businesses should consider when evaluating payment processing for saunas, how specialized spa payment processing can support a modern wellness experience, and why services such as next day funding and working with an experienced NYC local merchant services provider can give growing wellness brands greater financial flexibility.
Q1: Othership combines sauna, ice baths, breathwork, music, and community into a very distinctive customer experience. How should payment processing fit into an experience like that?
Dimitri Akhrin: Ideally, customers should barely notice the payment component. Othership has put a tremendous amount of thought into the journey, from booking a session to entering the space and participating in the experience. Payment acceptance should complement that simplicity.
That is why payment processing for saunas and wellness businesses needs to be considered as part of the entire customer journey. You may have someone purchasing their first drop-in session, while another customer has a multi-session pack or membership. You also have online bookings and transactions taking place at the physical location.
The payment infrastructure needs to make all of those interactions convenient for the customer while giving the business reliable processing, security, reporting, and visibility behind the scenes.
Q2: Othership offers drop-in sessions, memberships, multi-session packs, guided experiences, and events. What does that mean from a spa payment processing perspective?
Dimitri Akhrin: It means flexibility becomes extremely important. The traditional idea of spa payment processing as simply swiping a card at a front desk does not reflect how modern wellness brands operate.
A business like Othership has multiple ways for customers to engage. Someone might discover the brand online and book their first experience digitally. Another person might become a frequent visitor and purchase a membership or package. Others may attend special events or make purchases while visiting a location.
A strong payment strategy needs to support those different customer relationships while making the financial side easier to manage. Our philosophy at BAMS is that the processing solution should adapt to the merchant's business model, rather than forcing the business to adapt to the processor.
Q3: Othership operates in both Flatiron and Williamsburg. What can a wellness brand gain from working with an NYC local merchant services provider?
Dimitri Akhrin: New York is an incredibly demanding market. Customers expect convenience and businesses need partners who can keep up with the pace at which they operate.
Working with an experienced NYC local merchant services provider gives businesses access to payment expertise combined with an understanding of the local business environment. At BAMS, we believe that relationships matter.
When a merchant has questions about processing costs, funding, chargebacks, reporting, or how their account is configured, they should be able to reach knowledgeable people who can help. Technology is important, but having responsive expertise behind that technology is equally valuable.
For a customer experience focused business, you want your payment partner to solve problems quickly so your team can remain focused on customers.
Q4: Where does next day funding fit into the equation for a growing wellness business?
Dimitri Akhrin: Growing physical locations requires significant ongoing investment. There are employees, facilities, equipment, supplies, marketing, maintenance, and countless other expenses involved in creating a premium customer experience.
Next day funding can help by shortening the time between processing transactions and having those funds available to the business. That creates greater flexibility for managing everyday cash flow and reinvesting revenue back into operations.
For businesses processing significant transaction volume across sessions, memberships, and other purchases, funding speed can become an important part of the overall merchant services relationship. Payments should not only be easy for the customer, they should also work efficiently for the business after the transaction is completed.
Q5: Othership talks about creating spaces where people can connect meaningfully with themselves and others. Where do you see alignment between Othership's philosophy and BAMS?
Dimitri Akhrin: The industries are very different, but there is an interesting similarity in how we think about experience.
Othership takes things that can initially seem intimidating, like cold plunges, breathwork, or intense sauna experiences, and creates an environment where people have guidance and support. Customers do not have to be experts before they walk through the door.
We think merchant services should work the same way. A sauna or spa operator should not need to become an expert in interchange, payment security, settlement schedules, or processing technology just to run their business effectively.
Our responsibility is to make that complexity understandable and manageable. Whether we are helping with payment processing for saunas, building a better spa payment processing environment, providing next day funding, or supporting a New York business as an NYC local merchant services provider, the goal is to give merchants confidence in an area that might otherwise feel complicated.
Closing
Thank you, Dimitri, for sharing how the right payment infrastructure can support the evolution of modern wellness. Othership has created a distinctive approach to social wellness through sauna, ice baths, breathwork, guided experiences, and community. Behind experiences like these, businesses need payment systems capable of supporting equally modern customer expectations.
For growing wellness brands, choosing the right approach to payment processing for saunas and spa payment processing can help create a seamless journey from online booking to the physical experience. Combined with next day funding and the hands-on expertise of an NYC local merchant services provider, BAMS helps wellness businesses build payment infrastructure designed to support both the customer experience and long-term growth.