There’s something special about the scent of luxury hotels. Now you can take it home with you.
As you arrive at your hotel and the doorman welcomes you – opening the doors and inviting you in – take a deep breath through your nose. There’s a subtle olfactory signal that your time of rest and relaxation has begun.
But that scent of relaxation doesn’t have to end when your holiday ends: hotel brands are increasingly bottling the scents of their five-star resorts, making them available to visitors via fragrances, candles and diffusers. Here’s why you should get on-board with the trend.
Why does the scent of a luxury hotel hold such appeal?
It’s widely acknowledged that scent is one of the most powerful senses when it comes to our emotions. That’s why some fragrances feel so comforting, wrapping you up in a cossetting hug when you spritz them, or after lighting a candle at home. Others have the ability to evoke powerful memories and to transport you back in time to happy times, perhaps your first holiday abroad or special adventures with loved ones.
“Sense of smell is the sense most linked to memory and emotion,” explains the team behind Hotel Collection, a brand that aims to bottle the smells of your favourite hotels. “When you walk into a five-star hotel and take a breath of their unique scent, you instantly link that scent to the hotel. [Fragrances can] not only link the scent to the location, but also tie together the scent with all the memories associated with your time at a five-star hotel, so the next time you smell it you’re instantly reminded of your stay.”
It’s no surprise then, that hotels want to tap into scent’s olfactory power to remind you of a positive, happy experience – and hopefully get you to book with them again. A fresh and vibrant scent in the lobby can make guests feel immediately at ease, subconsciously suggesting a clean and well-run establishment. A retreat can feel that little bit more cosy with the right, warming aroma in the drawing room, and relaxing accords in the bedrooms can help ease guests into a peaceful slumber.
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Why are luxury hotels making their scents available to buy now?
Many hotels have long provided high-end bathroom amenities – the Bulgari Thé Blanc line in the Bulgari Hotel London, for example. Now, beyond soaps and shampoos, the next step up in a hotel’s luxury offering includes candles, diffusers and fragrances; something guests are increasingly demanding as they seek unique, interesting fragrances for their own homes.
Sales of holiday fragrances and those echoing the scent of relaxing stays skyrocketed during the pandemic, helping us escape through the vehicle of scent. And, while luxury hotel fragrances hold the key for reminding us of good travel memories, they also encourage us to book future stays at the places they evoke.
“We wanted to create a range of sophisticated scents that echoed the character and environment of our hotels, to create a sensory and highly personal way for our guests to revisit their much-loved Aman experiences,” explains the CEO of Aman Essentials, Kristina Romanova. “Influenced by our resorts’ natural surroundings, we launched a range of seven gender-neutral scents that evoke the spirit of Aman – an emotion that can be felt at each of our properties. For those that have not yet travelled to an Aman destination, our Aman Fine Fragrances offer the chance to experience the essence of Aman through the most powerful sense.”
“We launched a collection of exclusive fragrances to celebrate the sensory experience of the One&Only resorts,” adds the CEO of One&Only Resorts, Philippe Zuber. “Each scent combines a blend of natural ingredients inspired by its location, personality, and flora and fauna to encapsulate the essence of the resort, from the wilds of Rwanda to the shores of Boka Bay. The inaugural fragrance line allows guests to take home the spirit of One&Only, evoking their most captivating travel memories through the power of scent long after their stay, as well as introducing new destinations before they’ve visited.”
As both Zuber and Romanova infer, there’s a growing awareness that any luxury hotel should feel attuned to its location. After all, you want to experience the country you are visiting through your hotel, rather than feeling like you could be anywhere else in the world. To meet guest desires, luxury hotels are increasingly making the most of their natural landscapes with cuisine, spa treatments and beauty amenities being sourced from local suppliers. Fragrances using the natural ingredients found nearby have a particularly special power to bottle the very essence of specific locations, too – one with more vibrancy even than the hundreds of photos we may snap while visiting.
“Our scent is so well-liked and is part of the resort’s DNA; it’s another way to define Rosewood Baha Mar’s brand,” explained the Rosewood team in the Bahamas. “The resort creates a sensory experience with the sounds of the waves, the friendliness of the Bahamian associates, as well as the beauty of the resort’s surroundings. The scent adds another layer of elevated discovery and evokes a memory instilled in our guests minds. At times, the Bahamar scent is the catalyst of why many guests return – it soothes and relaxes them and takes them on a sensory vacation.”
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How does a hotel develop its fragrances?
“For me, a luxury hotel should smell both indulgent and welcoming, and be a scent which you can form a personal connection to,” says Romanova. Aman has seven signature scents that are designed to evoke its leading properties, and even the design and aesthetic of the bottles reflects its associated Aman destination. For example, Zuac the fragrance inspired by Amanjena has a deep red glass bottle to reflect the pink city of Marrakech.
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, unsurprisingly, use Bulgari scents across their properties, specifically Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert to promote relaxation and wellness. While, as mentioned, Rosewood Baha Mar in the Bahamas diffuses a scent inspired by the resort’s island location using real fruit, grasses, leaves and bulbs, in line with the hotel’s environmental impact policy.
In the UK, Cowdray House in West Sussex offers a truly British-feeling affair, using a scent inspired by vintage champagne with notes of strawberries, jasmine and vanilla. It’s available to buy as a hand-poured candle, made on the estate. And, at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, a Belmond Hotel in Oxfordshire, all the scents are inspired by leading chef patron Raymond Blanc’s experiences growing up in his grandparents grand château. There are six main scents available to buy at reception, alongside a lavender scented diffuser in the reception designed to extend the effect of the lavender-scented footpath paving the way for guests to enter the hotel.
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How are hotel scents actually created?
As you may expect from luxury hotels, their extension into fine fragrances isn’t being done by halves: their perfume creations are the result of collaborations with leading names within the fragrance space.
“We worked closely with Jacques Chabert, a fragrance expert with over 50 years of experience in the industry and a master of the art,” reveals Romanova about the Aman fragrances. “It was a natural choice to work with Jacques, given his expertise and shared passion for transporting clients to another place, so he really understood the ambition of the project and the collections we were looking to create.”
Similarly, “Montroi’s shared passion for travel, culture and nomadic adventure, coupled with their expertise as a perfumier, meant they were the ideal partner for this collaboration,” says Zuber, referencing the One&Only fragrances. The renowned perfume house, known for quality and sustainability, handcrafted the fragrances in Grasse and each scent features hand-sketched artwork inspired by each resort.
If you’re intrigued by the trend for luxury hotel scents, its never been easier to recreate your favourite five-star hotel experience and transport yourself to your favourite destinations.
Our favourite luxury hotel scents:
1. AMAN
The finishing touch to a stay at an Aman property should be a trip to the resort’s store; to pick up the scent that is specially designed to bottle the memories you’ve had there. Each scent is all-but-guaranteed to transport you back to your holiday, whenever you spray it back home.
By choosing one of the discovery sets, you can experience two hotels at once, with the Adventure duo inspired by the desert environments of Amangiri and Amanjena. The former is an earthy scent of sage, cedar wood, pine needles and juniper, while the latter brings the spice of pink pepper, clove and saffron.
2. Bulgari Hotels & Resorts
When you enter the hotel lobbies at Bulgari properties, there’s a reason that you feel instantly relaxed; they are filled with the brand’s Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert, used to promote relaxation and wellness.
The unisex eau de parfum is similarly revitalising when worn on the skin, its blend of Italian bergamot and earthy green tea accord combining with the cossetting warmth of beeswax and tonka bean.
3. One&Only
Inspired by their hotels all over the world, One&Only has collaborated with renowned perfume house Montroi to bottle the full range of their resort offering through scent. The luxury fragrances were developed in Grasse – the leading location for luxury fragrances – and also ensure to combine a blend of natural ingredients inspired by its location, personality and flora and fauna.
A classic One&Only resort – The Palm in Dubai – is brought to life with particular energy, through a fresh and punchy citrusy blend of mandarin, lemon, jasmine, tea and sandalwood. It’s our recommendation for your next summer scent.
4. Pan Pacific London
When you walk into the Pan Pacific London, you’ll be greeted by the scent of Philosykos by Diptyque – a classic woody green scent, with notes of fig leaves, fig tree sap and wood, and the spice of pepper. It makes every room smell instantly fresh and clean.
The hotel has an ongoing partnership with Diptyque so you can also enjoy the brand’s little luxuries in the bathrooms when you stay. Plus, if you host an event in the building, you can choose your own favourite Diptyque fragrance to scent the space.
5. London EDITION
The London EDITION smells so uniquely divine because the EDITION has a bespoke fragrance in all its properties – a one-of-a-kind fragrance made by Le Labo that smells like cosy nights-in, due to a blend of black tea, chocolate and florals.
The scent is now available in candle and diffuser forms available for purchase, so you can recreate the smell of a luxury sleepover feel at home too.
6. Hotel Collection
Proof that you’re not alone if you love the comforting, holiday-inspiring scent of a hotel stay, Hotel Collection is a brand dedicated to recreating the smells of classic hotels. Our recommendation: Cabana, which transports you to an ocean-surrounded cabana at a Ritz-Carlton property, with fresh marine notes, bergamot and jasmine.
The brand also supplies innovative scent diffusers and technology for scenting larger spaces, so you’ll be able to notice your chosen aroma wherever you are in your home. The fragrance oils can be bought on a subscription every month too.
7. Le Manoir
Le Manoir have six main scents that are used throughout their rooms and suites. That includes a lavender scented diffuser in the reception and lobby area, which continues the experience of walking through the beautiful purple haze of a lavender-scented footpath that paves the entrance.
The scent, which can also be found in guest bathrooms, is as warm and sunny as Provence with the lavender elevated by amber, vanilla, lemon leaf and musk.
8. Cowdray House
While it takes a visit to Cowdray House to purchase the exact hand-poured candle that is used to scent the hotel, it’s worth it as the burner smells good enough to eat – mirroring the culinary delights you’ll be served there.
The more-ish, gourmand scent of strawberries, jasmine and vanilla is a lovely home-warming gift. Plus, there’s now a broader range of candles, inspired by the estate that are easier to buy online. That means there’s a scent to suit all homes, from soft florals to warming vetiver, even if you haven’t made it to Cowdray just yet.
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