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Best Hotel Fragrances 2024 – Forbes Reviewed


Best Hotel Fragrances 2024 – Forbes Reviewed

Luxury hotels not only offer chic accommodations and cozy robes, but go the extra mile to make guests feel at home the moment they check in at reception. The best hotel scents are developed in collaboration with perfumers and capture the essence of these elegant lobbies and hotel properties. These exclusive scents include a citrus candle from Flamingo Estate, available at JW Marriott hotels, and a green tea-inspired perfume from Bulgari, popular at the brand’s resorts.

To create a unique scent that will leave a lasting impression and hopefully attract guests back, hoteliers typically work with fragrance houses to capture the atmosphere of the space they want to convey. “Scents evoke memories and literally transport you back in time,” says Bruce Rohr, vice president and global brand leader of JW Marriott. “That’s why scent is such an important part of the guest experience at a hotel.” The good news for What we like is that we don’t have to check into a fancy penthouse suite to enjoy a bespoke fragrance; with each of these hotel scents, we can take home an element of quiet luxury.

JW Marriott has partnered with Los Angeles-based lifestyle brand Flamingo Estate to create their zesty, herbal Expansion candles that pay homage to the hotel’s gardens. “When guests arrive at the JW Marriott, they’re likely exhausted from a long flight, so we created a scent that would enhance your sense of calm,” says Richard Christiansen, founder of Flamingo Estate. The brand chose ingredients like rosemary and basil for their aromatherapeutic benefits, then enhanced those herbal notes with a splash of uplifting bergamot and some creamy woods to create a scent that’s meant to make you think fondly of Mother Earth.


Hotelier Ian Schrager’s ever-stylish Edition Hotel turned directly to Le Labo, creators of the cult Santal 33, to create a similarly unforgettable scent. In it, invigorating black tea and bergamot balance earthy notes of cedarwood and vetiver, creating a beguiling blend that is simultaneously uplifting and calming. Guests can take the intoxicating scent home in the form of a candle, room diffuser, rattan stick diffuser or a range of bath products.


Each 1 hotel, located in cities like San Francisco and Brooklyn, is designed as a nature retreat, so it makes sense that the chain’s first scent would feature notes of woodsy greenery. Fabrigas, whose company Scent Marketing Inc. developed the scent, says the natural beauty and tranquility of Central Park served as inspiration for the scent. The result? A blend of cedarwood, sandalwood, eucalyptus and oakmoss that evokes a mind-clearing walk in the great outdoors.


Bulgari Au Green Tea

What does a luxury stay smell like? According to Bulgari Hotels, it’s something like the brand’s Au Thé Vert, a scent inspired by Japanese tea ceremonies. Created in 1999 by master perfumer Jean-Claude Elena, Au Thé Vert was groundbreaking at the time as it was the first fragrance to use tea as an ingredient, says Amandine Pallez, global creative director at Bulgari Parfums. It combines earthy and uplifting green tea with bright, lemony bergamot – two notes that embody a warm welcome – and dries down to a powdery finish that evokes a clean, relaxing feeling after a spa visit.


When the creative minds behind the posh Dominick Hotel were looking for a fragrance partner that could capture the excitement and allure of New York City, they turned to Diptyque and its exclusive New York City fragrance. It combines warm woods like cedar with smoky notes of incense, patchouli and tobacco in a scent that exudes a sophisticated, sexy energy (so typical of the city that never sleeps). Julien Gommichon, President of Americas at Diptyque Paris, says that “the composition evokes the lively atmosphere of New York’s historic underground bars.” While you don’t have to book a suite to get it, you might want to pay the city a visit, as it’s only available in the brand’s New York boutiques.


While you may not be able to take the stunning sandstone vistas or swirling desert sunsets home with you after you check out of Amangiri—a modernist retreat in Canyon Point, Utah—you can bring the hotel’s signature scent home in your carry-on. Master perfumer Jacques Chabert looked to the ancient red rock landscape of the hotel’s desert setting as his muse when perfecting Sei’s wild aroma. Its notes of pine needles, cedarwood, sage, juniper and lavender capture “the daily rhythms of renewal and rebirth that define the ancient landscape,” says Kristina Romanova, the CEO of Aman Essentials.


Why trust Forbes Vetted?

At Forbes Vetted, the beauty and grooming team regularly tests all kinds of skincare and fragrance products and stays up to date to make sure we bring readers thorough, well-researched recommendations.

  • The author of this story, Tina Chadha, has ten years of experience writing about all areas of the beauty market, including a recent series on fragrances that includes the best perfumes for women and the best hair perfumes.
  • This story was commissioned and edited by Deputy Editor Jane Sung, who also helped curate the featured signature scents. She is a fragrance fanatic with over 15 years of experience covering all things beauty and travel.
  • We also asked a handful of experts for their comments on the above fragrances: Bruce Rohr, Vice President and Global Brand Director of JW Marriott; Richard Christiansen, Founder of Flamingo Estate; Caroline Fabrigas, CEO of Scent Marketing Inc.; Amandine Pallez, Global Creative Director of Bulgari Parfums; Julien Gommichon, President of the Americas at Diptyque Paris and Kristina Romanova, CEO of Aman Essentials.

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