This week, the IHG brand unveiled what it claims is a “world-first hotel experience”: the Breakfast Alarm Clock, a bedside device designed to waft scents like coffee or blueberry muffin into guestrooms across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.By Justin Stone, HTN staff writer – 9.25.2025
The hospitality industry is not exactly known for subtlety when it comes to breakfast promotions. Free eggs and endless coffee have long been paraded as the great equalizer of budget and midscale lodging. But Holiday Inn Express has decided the standard buffet isn’t enough. Now, apparently, it’s your nose that needs convincing.
This week, the IHG brand unveiled what it claims is a “world-first hotel experience”: the Breakfast Alarm Clock, a bedside device designed to waft scents like coffee or blueberry muffin into guestrooms across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. Forget the shrill beep of your smartphone. Instead, guests are promised the comforting aroma of breakfast delivered by diffuser.
One wonders how many guests will actually be charmed versus how many will stumble into the lobby wondering why their room reeks faintly of synthetic muffin.
According to research the company commissioned from YouGov, nearly six in ten Asia Pacific travelers say a pleasant smell would help them wake up in a better mood. More than half named coffee or tea as their preferred morning motivator. Holiday Inn Express has dutifully bottled these into “deliciously familiar wake-up scents” and is offering them for trial starting October 20.
The corporate spin is predictable. Dean Jones, Vice President of Commercial for East Asia & Pacific, dutifully linked the initiative to the brand’s hallmarks: “a proper night’s sleep” and a “free hot breakfast.” The Breakfast Alarm Clock, we are told, ensures guests “never miss brekkie again.” Because nothing says “guest-centric innovation” like an aroma machine tricking your brain into thinking someone’s frying bacon in the next room.
To be fair, hotels are scrambling for novelty as travelers grow numb to blackout blinds and USB ports being marketed as cutting-edge perks. In that sense, Holiday Inn Express has found a quirky differentiator. Whether it meaningfully improves sleep, guest satisfaction, or brand loyalty is another matter. One wonders how many guests will actually be charmed versus how many will stumble into the lobby wondering why their room reeks faintly of synthetic muffin.
Still, the move says something about where hotel technology is headed. While competitors chase AI concierges and robot bartenders, Holiday Inn Express is betting on the oldest of human senses. At worst, it’s a gimmick that fills a press release quota. At best, it’s a reminder that guest experience doesn’t always have to be digital to be memorable, even if it smells a little manufactured.
Source: hoteltechnologynews.com
