LNE Issue #87 - Signature Scents

Signature Scents

By Andrea Cheng

Six years ago, Atelier Cologne founder, Sylvie Ganter was presented with a challenge by her business partner Christophe Cervasel: to create a signature scent for Majestic, a five-star hotel located in the heart of Barcelona, in celebration of its 100-year anniversary. She had six years of developing, conceiving, and perfecting fragrances for her consumers. But for a building? “I had no clue where to even start,” she recalls. “I had never done anything like this.”

The first step was immersing herself in the hotel. With her family, she stayed at Majestic over a long weekend, soaking up every detail, like the history (Hemingway and other legendary figures were, famously, longtime residents), the decor (intricate moldings, bold fixtures, Art Deco accents), and the overall aesthetic (luxurious but not ostentatious, traditional yet timeless). It crystallized what felt like an impossibly abstract task, allowing her a glimmer of how she could capture the spirit of the hotel and distill it into a fragrance.

Once she established the mood she wanted to evokemuted, masculine, chic, elegant, timeless, relevant - she turned her attention to the ingredients. In order to use elements from the hotel's surroundings to anchor the fragrance to the region, she landed on Mediterranean-grown clary sage, a form of musk, and fig leaf for a salty seaside note, before loading it up with Atelier Cologne's signature citruses like lemon and bergamot.

“I designed it like I would have for the skin because that's what I know,” says Ganter. “And then we adapted it so it could be diffused through air

conditioning by making it brighter and less concentrated.” She adds that the concentration of traditional fragrances is 18 percent oil, but for the hotel, it was diluted to less than 10 percent. “You want something that smells good in the space, not overwhelming, like you're swallowing it when you enter the hotel.”

Musc Imperial launched at the Majestic in 2015, and soon after, guests demanded it in perfume form. And then a candle. The hotel requested that it be made into an amenities line, ending Bulgari's reign as its sole vendor. In 2019, the scent was awarded Niche Fragrance of the year-the only hotel-inspired fragrance to ever win an award-by the Cosmetic Executive Women, a trade organization for the cosmetics, fragrance, and personal care industry.

But for the most part, Ganter believes the majority of Majestic guests probably don't even notice the scent. “It's subliminal,” she says. “Now that there are amenities and a candle in all the rooms, it makes it more official as the scent of the hotel. And if you bring home the shower gel, it transports you back to the place where you had a really good time.” Which is precisely the whole point of signature scents for hotels or any business, more imporrtantly Spas: creating an olfactory memory that, when presented again, can trigger nostalgia.

Rachel Herz, psychology professor at Brown University and Boston College and author of The Scent of Desire, says the use of a fragrance to achieve this effect can be traced to the late '90s with the launch of AromaSys, the first company to provide environmental scenting through the heating, ventilation,

and air conditioning systems at large resorts chains in major U.S. cities. As technology evolved and more companies began to tap into indoor-scenting machinery, the demand for a specific smell increased. Because unlike random fragrances or candles sold at boutiques, a scent that's specially designed for a business is intended to forge an emotional association and, ultimately, drive repeat business.

“Guests may not pay that much attention to the scent, but they're aware it's there when they walk into the busines,” says Herz, who has studied the psychological association with scent for almost 30 years. She says we adapt to smell within 15 to 20 minutes, which is why it's of the utmost importance to streamline the l scent with its toiletries. “It creates a memory trinket; the scent is a marker and a reminder for them to return to the business or spa for their next visit.”

The alignment between a business or spa's personality and the signature scent is an important one. When there's a disconnect, it could potentially lead to disastrous results, like repelling guests and, ultimately, hurting its brand identity. Offensive notes, too, don't help, such as artificial materials like peach or calone, or anything overtly feminine or masculine. It's much easier to harness one or two special characteristics and extract them into a scent.

No one will know for certain how a custom fragrance will be received, but when done right, it enhances the overall experience. For Ganter, it paid off when she dreamed up “Musc Imperial.” And when she stays at other hotels, she can't help but notice the scent or abscence of scent.

Les Nouvelles Esthetiques no’87