Aromatherapy – Elevate the Scent of Your Home and Office

Ambient aromatherapy has a spatial presence, like casting a unique glow over life. Externally, it blocks out noise and worries; internally, it serves as a vessel for people to express their emotions through scent.

This is why high-end hotels, designer hotels, and luxury shopping malls are paying more and more attention to the design of ambient scents. Some use memorable ambient scents to bring a sense of familiarity and warmth to guests, such as the white tea scent of a certain high-end hotel; others use distinctive and innovative ambient scents to arouse a sense of novelty and exploration. In general, they all use aromatherapy to endow the space with exclusivity and uniqueness, while allowing people in it to gain a more pleasant mood.

The biggest difference between ambient aromatherapy and perfume in use is that one cannot use multiple perfumes at the same time (even with perfume layering, three perfumes are a bit too many), but aromatherapy can create rich atmospheres in different living areas—office, living room, study, bedroom, beside the bathtub… Just like switching channels for your life, aromatherapy guides the subconscious into a specific state: focused and efficient at work, relaxed and unwound in leisure time, and joyful when gathering with friends; even when working overtime late at night, turning on a bottle of aromatherapy for company can alleviate anxiety.

There are also many differences between perfume and ambient aromatherapy in perfumery.

As perfume lingers on the skin, it presents a top-middle-base note structure. Therefore, perfume emphasizes a sense of layering, and the scent needs to change over time.

Ambient aromatherapy is emitted into the space simultaneously and generally does not have obvious three notes. Even if a perfume-structured formula is used for ambient aromatherapy, the top, middle, and base notes will blend and emit together. Therefore, aromatherapy requires a stable and uniform scent, and the blended notes need to be elegant and smooth, not like a messy stew; more importantly, it must not present a completely different scent in the first month and the last month after opening (that would be considered a quality issue).

Thus, perfume and aromatherapy differ in perfumery from raw material selection to blending logic, but this does not mean that aromatherapy perfumery is simpler. On the one hand, it is a great test of the perfumer’s skill to create as rich and delicate details as perfume on “linearly diffusing” aromatherapy products. On the other hand, in perfume, if a certain note is not elegant, it may gradually change or even disappear with the passage of top, middle, and base notes (for example, some people only like the base note of a certain perfume); while if an aromatherapy has an imperfect note, diffusing it into the space is equivalent to being amplified, which also tests the perfumer’s selection and control of raw materials.

With years of experience in designing ambient scents for large commercial areas such as hotels and shopping malls, oggne has sorted out a set of very classic schemes based on existing cases:

Space Area	Scent Positioning	Core Notes (Wooden Base + Exclusive Features)	Concentration Recommendation	Diffusion Method	Emotional Goal
Main Entrance/Drop-off Area	Welcome · First Impression	Cedarwood + Bergamot + Pink Pepper	0.8-1.0 mg/m³	HVAC + Floor Diffusers at Entrance	Instantly refreshing, conveying a bright “welcome” vibe
Lobby/Reception	Brand Core Impression	Guaiac Wood + Sandalwood + Iris Root	0.6-0.8 mg/m³	HVAC + Hidden Diffusers Under Reception Desk	Calm, professional, warm, relieving waiting anxiety
Lobby Lounge/Rest Area	Social · Relaxation	Cedarwood + Fig Leaf + Benzoin	0.4-0.6 mg/m³	Desktop Ceramic Aromatherapy Stones	Comfortable, slightly sweet, encouraging stay and communication
Elevator Hall/Corridor	Transition · Continuity	Vetiver + White Musk + Cypress	0.2-0.3 mg/m³	Wall-Embedded Diffusers	Invisible guidance, reducing the sense of oppression in enclosed spaces
Guest Room (Standard)	Home · Sleep	Sandalwood + Lavender + Light Cedarwood	0.1-0.2 mg/m³	Bedside USB Aromatherapy Machine or Optional Spray Upon Check-In	Relaxing, sleep-aiding, free from any irritating scents
Guest Room (Suite)	Private · Luxury	Mysore Sandalwood (Compound) + Ambergris Ether + Vanilla	0.05-0.1 mg/m³	Mini Aromatherapy Wood/Aromatherapy Stones	Deep sense of wrap-around, like the lingering note of a high-end perfume on the skin
All-Day Dining Restaurant	Appetizing · Non-Intrusive to Food	Citrus + Mint + Very Light Cedarwood	0.2-0.3 mg/m³ (Breakfast/Lunch Only)	Aromatherapy Chips at Air Conditioning Return Vents	Fresh and clean, not masking food aromas; can be turned off during peak dining hours
Chinese Restaurant/Specialty Restaurant	Cultural · Ritual Sense	Incense + Osmanthus/Tea Scent + Sandalwood	0.1-0.2 mg/m³ (Entrance Area Only)	Diffusers at Entrance, No Diffusion in Dining Area	Creating an oriental charm without interfering with taste experience
Executive Lounge	Exclusive · Business	Amyris Wood + Leather Notes + Saffron	0.3-0.4 mg/m³	Independent Cold Air Diffusers	Low-key luxury, enhancing the sense of noble identity
Banquet Hall/Meeting Room	Focused · Formal	Galbanum + Rosemary + Cedarwood	0.2-0.3 mg/m³ (Turn on 30 Minutes Before Meeting)	Portable Diffuser Columns	Improving alertness and concentration without being strong
Gym/Swimming Pool	Energetic · Purifying	Eucalyptus + Cypress + Lemongrass	0.4-0.5 mg/m³	Diffusers in Changing Rooms and Entrance	Eliminating odors, refreshing the mind, sports-friendly
SPA/Water Therapy Center	Healing · Deep Relaxation	True Lavender + Frankincense + Sandalwood (Very Low)	0.1-0.2 mg/m³	Independent Essential Oil Diffusers (Adjustable by Guests)	Meditation-level tranquility, to be used with music
Restroom/Changing Room	Clean · Deodorizing	Green Tea + Cypress + Trace Citral	0.5-0.7 mg/m³	Wall-Mounted Automatic Sprayers	Quickly eliminating odors, leaving a fresh woody scent

Key Design Details and Notes

Guest Room Scent: Most Prone to Over-Design

• Wrong Practice: Continuous diffusion in guest room air conditioning ducts → Guests may experience headaches or olfactory fatigue after staying for two nights.
• Correct Practices：
  • Standard Room: No active diffusion, only provide sleep-aid spray (containing sandalwood/lavender/chamomile), which guests can spray on pillows as needed.
  • Suite: Place aromatherapy stones (lasting about 7 days) upon check-in, with a card stating “You can contact the front desk to adjust the concentration or remove them.”
  • VIP Reception: A light scent can be briefly created with a portable diffuser 1 hour before the guest arrives, and stopped immediately after the guest enters.

The Relationship Between Restaurants and Scents: Restraint is Elegance

Never allow continuous diffusion above the dining area. Scents can interfere with the taste buds’ sensitivity to salt, sweetness, and sourness.

Recommended Practice: Use scents only at the restaurant entrance/waiting area and restrooms, and ensure the dining area is clean and free of odors.

Scent Transition in Circulation

From Lobby (Strong/Warm Wood) → Elevator (Very Light/Clean Wood) → Corridor (Very Light/White Musk) → Guest Room (Almost Scent-Free or Optional) — this is a “sensory decompression” process, allowing guests to relax gradually.

Conversely, when going from the guest room to the SPA or gym, the corresponding functional area’s scent prompt should be released in advance at the end of the corridor (e.g., frankincense starts to drift 5 meters before the SPA area), playing a hidden guiding role.

Seasonal Adjustments

• Spring and Summer: Increase the proportion of top notes (citrus, cypress, mint, green tea) in all spaces, and reduce the base wood by 20%.
• Autumn and Winter: Increase the sweet and warm base notes (amber, benzoin, vanilla), and increase the base wood by 15%.
• Two sets of formulas can be designed, switched in April and October each year.

"The best hotel scent is one that guests start to miss only after they leave."

Do not “fill” the space with scent; instead, leave pauses like a high-end piece of music — the absence of scent in the guest room is precisely to make the warm cedarwood scent in the lobby the most profound olfactory memory of the journey.