Here’s how some hotels are leveraging guests’ olfactory experience.
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If you’ve spent time in a five-star hotel recently, you may have noticed that when you enter the lobby, you are not just assailed by visual finery, but also by a distinctive perfume. Having a signature scent is one of the latest ways luxury brands are strengthening their identity and building customer loyalty—about 46% now use them. They’re a powerful tool for the hospitality industry, which is all about creating memories and emotional connections.
With the global scent marketing market projected to reach $4.1 billion in 2026 and grow to $7.28 billion by 2035, you’re likely to come across some nice smells on your next visit to a premium property. Here’s how some hotels are leveraging guests’ olfactory experience.
The Rise Of The Signature Scent
The luxury hotel industry is now awash with signature scents that attempt to capture something of the property’s character or location. At Royalton Hotels & Resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, each brand features a distinct signature fragrance. Royalton Luxury properties welcome guests with an energizing blend of green moss, white tea, and bergamot, while the adults-only Royalton CHIC properties greet visitors with a romantic and passionate mix of white chocolate, anise, vanilla, cacao, sugarcane, and sandalwood. Diamond Club guests enjoy a bespoke fragrance crafted for sophistication and luxury, with citrusy and spicy notes.
The Pan Pacific London is scented with Mango Thai Lime, created by the renowned perfumer Jo Malone. It was reportedly inspired by Malone’s travels in Asia and pays tribute to the hotel group’s Singaporean roots. The fragrance incorporates vibrant tropical notes of mango, mint, black pepper, and freesia.
Take The Smell Of Your Hotel Home
You don’t need to pillage the in-room toiletries if you want to take a hotel’s scent home as a souvenir anymore. Many properties have now understood the commercial potential of their fragrances. Langham Hotels and Resorts were among the first to introduce a signature scent with their Ginger Flower, a blend of geranium, lily, musk and sandalwood. Flavors of Langham, the brand’s retail collection, now includes a candle, fragrance oil, room spray, a scented stone and diffuser.
Located in the heart of Dublin’s city center, The Shelbourne is perfumed by the Grand Dame Candle, available to purchase. Created in partnership with local perfumery Cloon Keen, its notes of black currant, mint, jasmine, cedarwood, and green fig are supposedly reminiscent of a spring walk through the nearby St. Stephen’s Green, a Victorian public park.
If you’re staying at The Palace Hotel Madrid, originally commissioned by King Alfonso XIII and opened in 1912, you can purchase the Palace Aroma Kit. It includes a candle and a home fragrance with velvety notes of tonka and amber, complemented by jasmine, geranium, carnation and cypress.
Hotel Scent Experiences
Another tactic hotels are using is to get guests involved in the creation of fragrances. At The Balmoral in Edinburgh, the Scent Butler experience allows guests to enjoy a private “scent masterclass” from any of the property suites. The session is like a winetasting for perfumes, led by Imogen Russon-Taylor, founder and owner of Kingdom Scotland. Guests go on an olfactory journey through Scotland’s landscape and nature through her fragrance collection.
At Masseria Torre Maizza in Puglia, guests can forage for their own personal perfume. Accompanied by a master perfumer, guests take part in a guided walk, gathering wildflowers, aromatic herbs and native plants along the way that they then transform into a fragrance in a hands-on workshop.
