The Story

I just read an interesting blurb in National Geographic Traveler about hotels using the power of smell to brand their guests’ experiences. The new Cove Atlantis resort in the Bahamas created a “signature scent” of coconut, beach grass, and water lilies that wafts throughout the resort’s 300 lanterns. In Hong Kong, the lobby of the Langham Hotel smells like fresh ginger flowers.

These hotels understand that making a positive connection with their guests involves more than just good service and fluffy pillows – it permeates all the senses. A signature scent provides a positive association between guests and the hotel - think about it, every time a former guest of the Cove Atlantis smells coconut, they’re going to associate it (positively, we hope!) with their experience staying at the hotel. These hotels are truly speaking our language, using scent to create a relevant experience for their guests. Think about how powerful this could be for financial institutions – what if every time I walked into one of ING Direct’s Cafes, it smelled like freshly peeled oranges?

What scent would I associate with your bank or credit union?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Other, Bank Branding, Credit Union Branding, Bank Marketing, Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.