You’ve come off a long flight, stepped out of private transport and entered the grand foyer of your hotel. Gentle light illuminates a glossy floor and calming music fills the space. There’s a subtle trace of vanilla, sandalwood and something you can’t put your finger on. The effect? You know your holiday has begun.

This is the power of hotel scenting. The delivery of carefully crafted cues and messages transforms a space into any desired atmosphere. In this guide, we investigate the art of establishing a unique experience through the power of fragrance.

Scenting the scene

When discussing the process of hotel scenting, it starts with creating a brand. A hotel is designed to welcome guests into a world of luxury lodging. The personality, experience, and offerings are bound together through brand consistency, tied off with scent. To understand this concept, explore our guide to the art of unlocking a branded experience.

The secret is in the scent

Scent encapsulates an atmosphere, the very essence of the brand’s identity wrapped up in an olfactory experience. To achieve this, hoteliers and scent specialists partnering to craft a signature fragrance require a few things. Firstly, they look into asking the intention of the scent. Is it to relax, energise, or emulate an escape? What does the hotel want to convey?

After establishing the intention of the hotel space, they then look at the dynamics of the space. They consider the amount of traffic, the activities that occur and unique factors that play into specific areas. To assess your specific needs, speak with our specialists to create a tailored scented solution. You may choose from a collection of population fragrances or have a specially designed signature scent. To get inspired by other well-known brands, explore our scent guides in our trending studies.

Scenting discreetly, effectively

Once you have decided on or developed your scent, it’s time to introduce the fragrance into the hotel. Implementing scent distribution can be done via an HVAC(heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system or standalone diffuser units. One thing to keep in mind, when scenting a space, it must be translated for a room.

This means it must be an integral part of the environment — not an overpowering waft that assaults the guests. While the typical concentration of a traditional body fragrance is 18%, the figure drops down to 10% for large spaces like hotels. It needs to be lighter, diluted and avoid seeming artificial.

Establishing the best scent comes down to:

1. Mass appeal 

Though you won’t be able to please everybody, some scents are considered pleasant for wide audiences that we can recommend.

2. Balancing between feminine and masculine scents

How scents are categorised depends on preferences, cultural upbringing and individual meaning. There are some universally identified scents that we can assist in reviewing and offer as part of your scent profile.

3. Reinforcing the experience

Some spaces enjoy providing additional scents in sprays and complementary toiletries. This assists in renewing and maintaining room fragrancing when housekeeping visits. Plus, guests can enjoy the scent in their rooms and take their memories home with them.

Tip: Choose different scents for the main hotel and toilet spaces. This helps separate the experience and avoids the possibility of associating the hotel scent with bathroom facilities.

Create a complete luxury hotel experience 

There are some tips on establishing the freshest atmosphere, such as: 

• Changing the air filters and cleaning HVAC systems regularly.
• Monitor for any signs of mould by cleaning and removing mildew.
• Monitoring product use, so there is a steady uninterrupted flow of scent for the hotel experience. Our scenting technology allows us to track, report and determine when your scent refills are due for a streamlined scenting solution.

For guests wanting to take the fragrance home, hotels offer guests their scent in bath soaps. Boutique hotels often offer specially packaged experiences. Guests continue the luxury when they light a candle or enjoy it in a custom diffuser set at home. Explore our sister company S.O.H Collections for further scented solutions.

Scent in style

Contact us for more information on crafting signature hotel scenting using expert techniques.