Growing up, my parents would always delight in purchasing a “trip scent” while we were on vacation—sometimes a bottle we’d pick up on our travels, other times a last-minute perfume we’d scoop up at duty-free before taking off. Regardless of provenance, its purpose was always the same: a smell that—once we’d returned home to suburban Maryland—would transport us speedily to sun-soaked terraces in Capri or cloudy afternoons spent wandering the Louvre. As scent is so intertwined with memory, it worked: even now, when I smell vacation fragrances from over a decade ago, I’m right back in Rome, Hong Kong, or Buenos Aires.
Of course, it’s not just travelers who employ this trick but hotels as well. While it’s not uncommon for chains to employ a signature scent at their properties across the world, lately, boutique hotels have also been crafting bespoke fragrances to help shape their identities.
“It really expresses their brand,” said Jill Fetsch of Candlefish, a Charleston-based candle company that creates custom scents for dozens of properties, including Montage Palmetto Bluff and Zero George. “Maybe you’ve gone to the hotel for a birthday or an engagement, and you want to take something home to remember it. It’s huge to then have that scent always around you.”
Read on to discover some of our favorite bespoke scents from boutique hotels around the world.
&Beyond
This luxury lodge and camp brand created a signature scent that can be found at all of the company’s African properties. As a member of highly selective Beyond Green, a sustainable portfolio of hotels, choosing an eco-friendly partner to craft the fragrance was paramount. &Beyond found the perfect fit with Healing Earth, which fashioned a lemon verbena-argan oil made from African indigenous botanicals. The unisex fragrance is an uplifting scent designed to mimic how the African sun feels on your face.
Adare Manor
Adare Manor, an estate hotel in County Limerick, Ireland, drew on native flora to create its bespoke fragrance, which includes notes of fig leaves, blonde wood, and parched earth. Available to purchase on-site or online in candle or diffuser form, “the scent has added a magical detail to the Adare Manor guest experience,” said Deirdre Buckley Moore, the boutique manager at the hotel. “Our visitors time and time again share how the scent brings back fond memories from their stay, teleporting them to that exact moment in time.”
Casa Polanco
Perfume connoisseurs are probably familiar with Mexico City’s Xinú, one of the country’s finest artisanal shops. For their neighbor, Casa Polanco, the house created the exclusive Flor de Musgo scent which carries notes of lime, tuberose, moss, and cedarwood. In addition to perfume, it’s available in body lotion, shampoo, and conditioner. Guests of the hotel can also visit the perfumery for a unique olfactory exploration, complete with a mezcal tasting.
Cheval Blanc St.-Barth
At one of the toniest hotels on the toniest of islands, it’s little wonder that Cheval Blanc has a bespoke fragrance created by LVMH’s sister brand Guerlain. The result is as elegant as you might expect: the scent has top notes of bergamot and fig and is finished off with floral notes of iris and white blossom. With its gold-and-blush-pink stopper crafted in the hotel’s signature color, the bottle itself is also worth collecting. Don’t leave the hotel before purchasing: it’s only available at the Cheval Blanc spa.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo
Lake Como’s most famous property is known for its manicured grounds, which inspired its signature scent, Aqua Como 1910. The floral fragrance also carries notes of lake breeze and is available in perfume, diffuser, and candle form, among others. “Our intention was to seamlessly weave Lake Como’s natural beauty into a scent and for our guests to connect to these elements during their stay for a memorable experience,” said CEO Valentina De Santis.
La Mamounia
This grande dame property in Marrakech, Morocco, also boasts one of the more famous signature hotel scents. Created by storied luxury perfumery Fragonard, it has a top note of orange blossom, an ode to the orange trees scattered among the expansive gardens. Guests can bring it home in candle or soap form to keep memories of the 100-year-old-plus property alive long after departing.
The Maker
Owned by Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, co-founders of the beauty brand Fresh, it’s perhaps little surprise that The Maker has a bespoke fragrance. The spicy, woody Spiritus scent with notes of frankincense, cannabis, and vanilla bean was crafted with Robertet perfumer Jerome Epinette to evoke the bohemian vibes of this Hudson Valley destination. “Guests love this fragrance,” said Glazman. “It’s our top-selling candle.”
