What’s That Hotel Odor? It’s the Sweet Scent of ‘Unattended Service.’

Rudyard Kipling famously remarked, “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” Branding experts hope the same can be applied to hotels—and, more importantly, guests’ memories of their stays in hotels. Early last year, we noted Westin’s efforts to establish a memorable scent reflecting its brand, highlighted by its advertising campaign: “White tea. The calming new scent of Westin.” Now the publication Hotel & Motel Management, which I always start my day with, reports that other hotel chains, from Marriott to Park Hyatt, are spritzing their own branded scents. Sadly, there’s no indication that their approach includes the handy Vend-A-Scent machine pictured here.

A Westin exec says the scent-branding effort is all part of “unattended service—service being provided to guests without staff; that also includes music and lighting.”

It wasn’t at a Westin, but I wonder if the broken lamp and industrial cleaner scent in my Guadalajara hotel room recently might also be considered “unattended service.”

Anyway, Hotel & Motel Management reports there are other benefits to scent programs beyond creating brand loyalty:

Executives at chains and individual hotels have decided that creating and deploying a signature brand scent will drive positive memories, loyalty—and, as a bonus, retail sales of candles and other products that allow guests to take the scent home.

That last bit about freshening up the guest’s home is important.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”

 

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