Having conquered taste (celebrity
chef-led restaurants), touch (pillow menus), sight (mood lighting)
and sound (custom playlists), three hip hotel brands have ventured
into previously uncharted sensory territory: smell.
Westin Hotels & Resorts lends its
lobbies a touch of its signature White Tea scent, a geranium- and
freesia-tinged aroma designed to create a soothing atmosphere.
Indeed, the fragrance has proved so popular that Westin rolled out
a line of White Tea products for purchase.
Omni Hotels has a lemongrass and green
tea aroma in its lobbies, yet, like a socialite who won’t divulge
the name of her perfume, the chain seems to want to keep its scent
(and, by extension, its hotel experience) unique. “Traveling to a
meeting can be arduous,” notes an Omni spokesperson, “so when you
walk through the door, there’s a real chance for the ‘wow’
factor.”
Meanwhile, Morgans Hotel Group has
taken a different tack in its campaign for haute hotel guests’
hearts and noses: Each of its 10 boutique properties (in tastemaker
locales such as New York City, Los Angeles and London) features a
specially blended scent that can’t be found anywhere else. One of
Morgans’ three Big Apple properties, the Hudson, features a blend
of cassis, raspberry blossom, red magnolia, blooming peony, jasmine
and sheer musk -- a concoction meant to conjure up the notion of
“Manhattan cool.”