One king bed, double occupancy, nonsmoking, with jasmine scent
Aromatherapy has reached hotel lobbies. Chains are concocting signature fragrances, spread throughout the lobbies or rooms, the New York Times reports:
Omni Hotels is using scent machines to send a bouquet of lemongrass and green tea wafting through its lobbies, a whiff of mochaccino or sugar cookie in its coffee shops, and coconut sunscreen smells near the pools. Langham Hotels spritzes rooms with a ginger fragrance. The scents are designed to evoke specific emotions from guests. Westin hopes a whiff of white tea will help calm guests down and diffuse stress from their trips. Sheraton’s fragrance [fig, clove, and jasmine] is supposed to make guests feel is if they belong. And soon, Starwood’s Four Points brand will use the tang of cinnamon to help guests feel comfortable. The company is also considering changing the scents to reflect each season.
Smell is of course a powerful memory trigger, and a pleasant smell sure beats the odor of cleaning fluids, smoke, or the chlorine from the pool. I just hope they don’t overdo it.
Introducing a smell is a greater risk than upgrading the beds. Cloves or white tea aren’t everyone’s cup of tea taste preference, and you risk alienating the guest with a scent that’s too overpowering.
What’s next? Will there be scented and unscented rooms?
tags: travel | air travel | hotels
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March 6th, 2007 at 11:17 am |
[…] Power up with pie Normally I don’t like to pass along press releases or stuff that the PR firms send to me. It makes me feel dirty, and it makes me want to freshen up at the conversation-stoppingly clean airport bathroom in the Fort Smith Regional Airport. But this one was just too silly to pass up: Starting tomorrow, Four Points by Sheraton hotels will be offering pie in their hotels — free to guests celebrating their birthday, as well as to platinum members of Starwood Preferred Guest. Tomorrow, the pie is free for everyone, it seems. Guerilla marketing hits the streets tomorrow as well, with free pie in New York City. And joining the trend of hotels pumping scents into the air, the chain will start misting their public spaces with the scent of baking apple pie. Why apple pie? They did a survey, and found that it “will spur thoughts of childhood (27 percent), home (39 percent) and holidays (48 percent).” As much as I like apple pie, do you really think it’s a good idea to make road-weary business travelers think longingly of home and carefree youth? Polls that aren’t about pie Brown is the new black. And drunks are the new babies. Drunk passengers now eclipse screaming babies as the most hated flying companions. Congratulations, drunk flyers! […]
March 26th, 2007 at 6:34 am |
[…] rooms: Hypoallergenic rooms. Sure, fine. Of course, it could be directly canceled out by all the scents that hotels are pumping into their public spaces. Can we maybe get some quietly-closing doors […]
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:17 pm |
[…] scents to their advertising pages. Hopefully these odors won’t interfere with the whiff of lemongrass and green tea that’s being pumped into lobby spaces at the chain. What’s next, pay-per-view […]