We’ve written elsewhere about how scent is deployed by hotels to subtly impress guests. It’s a fine art, of course, but big business for hotels - Bloomberg reported that in 2015 the hotel scent-branding industry was worth an estimated $300 million.

And Forbes, as we noted previously, wrote that many in the hotel industry are using scent as a “secret weapon... capitalising on smell’s ability to instantly cue memories and conjure up certain emotions, and turning that moment into a branding opportunity.”

Top of the line chains as Le Meridién and The Ritz-Carlton, among others, have formal strategies to incorporate scent into their overall experience. And not just to mask unpleasant smells, but to produce positive impressions.

Okay, you might not be the Ritz-Carlton. But your guests are still as sensitive to smell as the Ritz-Carlton’s guests are. Not as picky, probably, and while not all guests expect fancy fragrances as part of the experience a hotel offers, few to none are indifferent to bad odours.

Smell is a powerful sense, capable of conjuring up instant - and lingering - memories. “That place smelled bad” is an impression that doesn’t go away. And guests aren’t just aesthetically offended. Bad odours are usually a sign of the presence of diseases, or general scumminess leading to disease.

Ozone Deoderisers

Ozone room deodorisers are designed to be able to be placed on the floor of almost any room, and can effectively destroy bad odours, kill airborne viruses and bacteria. Good ones are effective against cigarette smoke as well.

Generally the way they work is by drawing in air at one end, forcing it over an ultraviolet lamp before expelling clean, odour-free air back in the room. Most units plug into a standard power outlet and are compact enough to be easily moved.