For the past 6 years, Float Tank Solutions has released the State of the Industry Report for the float industry based on a survey we release each year at the beginning of summer. Over the years, we’ve refined the process and adjusted the report, making it more robust, thorough, and accurate. It has expanded every single year, sometimes adding entire sections to the report.
This year has been the largest expansion since the report’s inception and putting it together was no small task.
You may have heard about the online discussion we hosted about the report this year. The full video is linked below, but first, I’d like to go over some of these changes.
Cross-Year Analysis from 2014-2019
Since we now have industry data for every year going back to 2014, we decided to try out a cross-year analysis for some of the most 
common questions we’ve asked over the years. While we didn’t get to dive too deeply into this data, we did get to look at several questions and it has shown some really interesting trends across the years.
This data is useful for a few reasons. Most significantly, the responses that remain consistent year over year provide us with much better confidence in those results. This is particularly exciting because our survey has a relatively small sample size to begin with, so there’s already uncertainty baked into our responses. Inversely, when the data makes a huge shift, we can recognize that because the rest of the data remains pretty normal. We may not know why exactly infrared saunas have gained so much popularity in conjunction with floating, but we can see that it’s not just a one-off trend year over year.
Real World Data Pulled Directly from HelmBot
Undoubtedly the most exciting addition to the report this year is the inclusion of data from HelmBot customers. Since this information is pulled directly from their operating software, it removes a lot of the issues of personal bias or confusion from the regular survey.
It was important to us that we respect Helm users’ identities throughout this process. When requesting the data we used a double opt-in method so we couldn’t get any false positives. Through our collection process, each center’s data was randomized and assigned a number code, making the information useful, without being recognizable. From here we could safely aggregate the data like normal and turned it into the colorful, pleasing graphs that you’ve come to love (let Graham know what you think of them, he worked hard to make them look good while keeping them informative).
Finally, we wanted to include the video from our chat with the industry. It’s a lengthy discussion for sure, but definitely worth the review. Graham and I could easily talk for hours on this report and it was exciting getting to see where people’s focus landed with the information we presented.
If there’s something not covered here, please reach out to us, we love talking about this information and we want to make sure that it’s as useful as possible.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #9
The Float Tour makes a stop in Tulsa, OK to visit Dr. Justin Feinstein’s Float Clinic and Research Center at the Laureate Institute of Brain Research (LIBR).
Rather than following the usual path of incremental progress with its research, LIBR is tasked with pursuing alternative treatments that have a chance of “shooting the moon” and making potentially large leaps in medical progress. Float tanks are just the kind of technology they’re looking to explore.
Float Tank Centers for Sale
On our journey we found at least three owners who are actively looking to sell their float tank centers, and in all three cases the centers are doing well. Life often calls us in different directions than we expect.
In case you’re in the market for a pre-established business, without all the trials and tribulations of starting from scratch, here’s information on two centers that are, for the moment, available to swoop in on…
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #8
The desert is vast and the sun is harsh, but it doesn’t deter floating. We’re officially off the beaten path. From here, the float centers have become a bit more spread out. Everywhere we go, however, the people continue to be kind and eager to see us.
Everything in between Arizona and Texas is nestled in between some of the major manufacturers in the United States, providing some resources that other areas just don’t have. Areas that might find building out a center prohibitively expensive due to additional shipping costs, not to mention that real estate is cheaper than in major metropolitan areas, can save a bit of money when planning their buildout.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #7
As we move further into the desert lands of America, we find that while the temperatures outside are downright unbearable, people seem to fall in love with the warm salty sensation that is float therapy.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #6
San Diego, Palm Desert, and Landers California wrap up our visit of Float Tank Centers in California. We were fortunate to visit old friends, make some new ones, and even go to Float Camp!
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #5
As you may have read in Issue #4 of The Float Tour Blog, we began diving into the Los Angeles area float centers and visited the current largest float center around as well as the freshly opened second location of a long time float center owner.
There were so many to cover that we decided to split this into two blogs. In this issue, we round out our L.A. journey as we begin to head further south toward San Diego.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #4
Los Angeles is a major hub for almost every industry in the world in one way or another. Building on the foundations of Hollywood and their harbor, it’s the 2nd largest city in the United States.
Given its population density, it’s large enough to support almost any industry, which for a burgeoning niche like float tanks is especially beneficial. Also, if you’ve ever experienced rush hour traffic on the I-405, you’ll know this city deserves to float.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #3
Our travels brought the weary Minnie Winnie (our Winnebago, who we call the Minister Winchester for long), to beautiful San Francisco. The culture of floating is much more embedded in this city than many others.
There are nearly a dozen centers in the Bay Area, each one with its own personality and its own path to success. It certainly helps that Steph Curry uses a float center in San Francisco, even making a video endorsement of floating at the Reboot Float Spa which has generated a huge amount of public exposure for the local and even international industry.
In fact, let’s start there.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #2
In this issue of The Float Tour Blog, we visit the first manufacturer stop on the tour. We then end this stretch of the journey by visiting the first manufacturers ever and float legends, Glenn and Lee Perry.
Floating While Pregnant
Upon gaining a doctor’s approval, there has been a growing trend of floating during pregnancy. Some take on floating to help reduce back pain while others just love to hear their baby’s heartbeat underwater. The following are some suggestions based on experience on how to comfortably float while pregnant.
