THE TRAVELLING SCENT OF SUCCESS
Whether you’re spending time in a boutique hotel, superior apartment or having a meal out with friends, you need to feel good and enjoy the experience. Gone are the days of “making do” and accepting second best. Social media has given us a platform to view venues both inside and out, so hotels need to have a USP to make them unique.
Standards and level of service are key to a great establishment and in post-Covid times, expectations are high. Quite often people are at reception desks, tired after a long journey, so what they need when they walk into any hotel foyer is a wonderful calming scent. A great smell creates a positive first impression, predefining the customer experience and creating memorable pictures. It can also boost a guest’s behaviour increasing their satisfaction levels during their stay. If a good fragrance brand is chosen, the hotelier could have increased revenue, brought in by upselling opportunities, thus often providing more revenue. A win-win scenario.
People are reminded of places by what they can smell – so having a scent hand-picked for your hotel can transport someone back to the experience they had staying with you. The nose, it turns out, is the fastest way to your heart and smell is the second most influential sense in humans after vision. With this in mind, choosing a fragrance that is in keeping with your hotel’s personality, décor and overall feel is very important. Toiletries that look, smell and feel beautiful add an extra bit of luxury to a hotel experience. Gone are the days of just providing a little soap and unbranded tube of body wash. The contemporary hotel traveller experience requires stylish rooms with sophisticated branded products.
The quality of housekeeping services in a hotel are an extremely important contributor to a guest’s experience, so a hotel must have products that reflect this high quality. The visual image is first, in that people need to have an initial “wow factor” making them want to use stylish toiletries.
This means designs and colours are key, along with sophisticated display shelves or toiletry wall brackets and platforms. Get this right and the customers are already in a good head-space before they’ve even picked up the product. The next step is the physical feel of the product. Essentially the product packaging needs to be easy to use and the liquid inside must be kind on the skin with lasting scents that ensure you feel relaxed and calm. There is nothing worse than coming to a beautiful hotel after a long journey and using a body lotion that you can’t seem to wipe off your hands or worse, a shampoo that dries your hair for the week.
As such, it’s important to choose your toiletries’ fragrance based on the message you would like to send to your guests. H2k have over 30 fragrances to choose from, many combined for that added strength of perfume. From Black pepper and vanilla to the mischievous tones of eucalyptus and frankincense, there are room fragrances, creams, gels, candles and diffusers for every personality.
Another “must” is putting across that you are an establishment who considers the environment, veganism, animal welfare and keeping conscious of the fact some guests may struggle with skin sensitivities is very beneficial. Achieving this through using toiletries like H2k, showcase these very things.
Some trending products that are eco-friendly are things like Bamboo toothbrushes and eco-stylish packaging or perhaps shower caps that are made from corn-starch. Another option is to
consider refillable toiletry bottles, opposed to throw-away tubes. Many of the tubes nowadays are partly made from plastic and partly biodegradable, so whilst they might say biodegradable, there are often loop holes when you read the fine print in those special documents provided by the supplier. Refilling bottles from larger tubs is not only cost effective, but reduces waste and helps the environment. These bottles can be put in secure stylish wall brackets, so this is worth researching at the start of the buying process.
Some other things to consider are long lasting room diffusers and room sprays which compliment the toiletries. Many hoteliers, restauranteurs and conference venues now put beautiful room diffusers in bedrooms, washrooms and public areas, creating a great sense of well-being. The trick here is to choose warming scents such as Dark Amber and Sandalwood that work for your venue and stick with it. Designers and architects spend years training to ensure they turn hospitality venues into money-making platforms.
The scent you choose works with the same concept, so seek advice from your toiletries supplier. A good brand works with high quality fragrance houses, thus should be able to advise you on the scent for your customers, ensuring a long lasting customer experience.
At the end of the day, the customer who repeatedly returns to your venue, may tell ten people about you, so if the “nose is the fastest way to their heart” then the traveller is your scent of success.
Written by Hazel Barry
Contact: sales@h2kbotanicals.com
www.h2kbotanicals.com