Hotel Scentvertising - Scent Marketing at the Holiday Inn

Trend Hunter has featured quite a few scent marketing posts in the last few months, but this is the first time we’ve seen the hospitality industry incorporate the advertising tactic.

Though there isn’t much information available yet, the Holiday Inn hotel chain has revealed their latest marketing tactic.

The hotels are owned by InterContinental Hotels Group, the CEO of which, Andy Cosslett, revealed their “scent and music strategy” which is geared at enhancing overall customer satisfaction. 

“We’re creating a Holiday Inn scent. It’s going to be very subliminal. You’re not going to walk in and find it hits you between the eyes. It’ll be very subtle,” Cosslett said.

The hotel is looking at redoing the entire brand image, and even has plans to redo the classic logo which has remained the same since its debut in 1952. Cosslett is hoping for a “refreshed and contemporary brand image” and is doing a lot of market research to figure out how best to meet customer demands.

Well, he’s definitely onto something about the smell. No one likes staying overnight in a smelly, musty, smokey or sweat-scented hotel room… no body!

For more on scent marketing, check out the Trend Hunter top list:

Scentvertising - Top 10 Scent Marketing Campaigns

Incorporating the sense of smell into advertising is a new marketing phenomenon that is starting to see larger corporations catch on. At Trend Hunter, we’ve kept our eye on what’s been dubbed as “Scent Marketing” for some time now, watching it evolve from smaller companies promoting scratch ‘n’ snif… [More]