Smell has a surprisingly powerful effect on perception, emotion, and cognition. "The part of the brain where the conscious perception of scent takes place is the same part of the brain where the processing of emotions, memories, and associations take place: the limbic system," neuroscientist Rachel Herz explained.
All this explains why you might feel a sense of peace wash over you if you walk into a room and it smells of ocean spray or pine trees. Those aromas likely evoke fond memories of summertime, childhood, or happy times in nature.
Smells that connect us to memories have been shown to have powerful health benefits, including lower inflammation, improved mood, and deeper breathing. Because of all this, well-chosen scents that trigger positive feelings are smart marketing tools for hotels, and the data backs this up.
According to a 2019 report from Ambius, businesses that used scents in their physical locations saw a 38% difference in customers' emotional investment. The report also found that 91% of hotel guests said that a great smell positively impacted their stay.
This is why a hotel's decision to fill its lobbies and halls with comforting and familiar scents is highly strategic. These smells can help customers feel relaxed immediately upon entering the hotel, which might make them more inclined to purchase a room or to come back again. A well-chosen scent can also lead customers to associate a hotel with a positive feeling, thus making them more likely to rank it highly in online reviews.
Signature Perfume Blends
The majority of today's five-star hotels have signature scents designed to cultivate specific emotions in the people who stay in them. Luxury hotels typically hire custom fragrance companies to develop a bespoke scent based on the brand's aesthetics and the emotions they wish to evoke. Bringing a custom fragrance to life can often take six months to a year.
For example, the Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid sent a detailed briefing to a perfumer covering its architecture, guests, landscaping, and history, requesting "a unique, clear yet subtle aroma" to greet guests throughout their stay. The result was a blend of freesia, lemon, and mandarin on a base of amber, cashmere, patchouli, and musk.
Meanwhile, every Edition hotel in the world uses the same scent — called Black Tea — blending black tea, Sicilian bergamot, cedar, and musk into a highly recognizable fragrance. Las Vegas's Caesars Palace uses a blend of citrus, lemon, and mandarin with notes of jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, and cyclamen, plus hints of cedar, amber, and musk.
In general, perfumers recommend that hotels avoid scents that lean heavily masculine or feminine, and instead choose fragrances that subtly evoke positive memories. Citrus, cedar, vanilla, jasmine, coconut, patchouli, and lavender are all popular choices.
How Do Hotels Smell So Good?
High-quality hotels know that smell is important. Many use scent diffusers — small devices that attach to air conditioning and heating units — to send tiny amounts of fragrant oils floating through rooms, lobbies, and hallways, keeping the scent subtle and not overpowering.
Some hotels also make toiletries infused with their signature scents, and many sell scented products that guests can take home. High-end hotels often use ultrasonic diffusers and room sprays, and will lightly scent their sheets and towels as well.
Some hotels use different scents for different spaces: brighter, citrus-infused scents for the gym, richer and spicier scents for lobbies, and calmer lavender fragrances for bedrooms. Simultaneously, hotels use odor-neutralizing tools and careful cleaning to ensure only pleasant aromas come through.
Smell has been associated with luxury for a very long time, and today it is a key part of high-end hotel experiences. But fortunately, you don't need to book a stay at the Ritz-Carlton to enjoy a lovely scent that whisks you back to a beach you loved as a child. A simple candle and clean sheets at home just might do the trick.
And if you ever stay at a hotel without a signature scent, now that you know how much smell can influence your state of mind, you could always add a diffuser to your packing list.