Nov 26: VACATION SCENTSATION?

Remember your trips to the movie theater when the smell of buttered popcorn made you gravitate to the snack counter? Or your grandmother’s lilac fragrance made you feel safe and loved? When the aromas of fresh pine needles and bayberry candles told you that Christmas was around the corner? Or how in that Al Pacino movie he identified different types of women by their scent?

I’ve always associated the smell of coconuts with beaches and vacations. I guess it’s that suntan lotion smell that triggers early memories of my enjoyable childhood trips to Florida.

It’s been said that the sense of smell of all the senses is the hardest to describe to someone else. Yet, also, it is the one sense that lasts the longest in memory and that brings back places or people otherwise forgotten.

An article in the HSMAI Marketing Review talked about “bringing scent into the marketing mix” for hoteliers – how to take advantage of that scent resonance. The idea being to subconsciously keep a hotel brand as a guest’s pleasant memory long after their trip is over. It was recommended that one chooses a scent that is uniform, pleasant, non-offensive or over-powering and gender neutral. Examples were given of some of the major chains who brand their hotels with an identifiable personality through the scent chosen.

I was in a Tampa hotel last year over Halloween and remarked that their cinnamon scented room amenities made me think of pumpkin pie. When I was back there again this year in September, I realized that their choice of scent hadn’t just been a seasonal extra. After speaking with the front desk staff, I learned this was chain dictated, used year round, and that the public could purchase these products if interested through their website.

So, what are our south Florida hoteliers doing with scent and marketing? Do you have a signature fragrance? Are all your products blending for a pleasant and memorable experience?