Scent Of A Hotel

The trend of adopting a signature scent is not as new as we may think.

- L. Aruna Dhir

Perhaps because hotels have to be enticing enough to have guests really wish to visit them and choose them over another, there must be facets that are distinguishing. Also, hotels are really an experience-based industry; hence they must be able to ensnare all the five senses of the guest, smell being no less important.

Tycoon Steve Wynn set the tradition, as early as 1990, for casinos by using the vents at The mirage to release a scent. Today, the Wynn Las Vegas boasts its very own olfactory logo in Asian Rain.

Hotel literature has it that, The Westin was the first major hotel brand to globally announce a signature scent for its hotels back in 2005.

Fragrance Experts Are the Secret

It is not uncommon to see hotels contract well-known fragrance experts, perfume inventers and perfumers to develop bespoke house fragrances. La Mamounia in Marrakech and Hotel Costes in Paris have employed celebrity noses to do a bit of sniffing for them. “Here at La mamounia the unique fragrance has been developed by Olivia Giacobetti. It is an intriguing mix of dates, rose and cedar that rises up to define the essence of the legendary hotel almost seraphically, “offers Pierre Jochem, the General manager.