When you stay in luxury hotels a lot, you really notice the fancy bath products. It’s a way five-star hotels can differentiate themselves. I don’t know what it is, but something about being in a new city, having an amazing hotel room, and seeing a luxe set of beauty products just makes me happy. Combine that with a deep soaking tub? YES.
Disclaimer: I know it’s all the rage to stop providing single-use toiletries in the name of the environment. I think hotels are just doing this to save money rather than the environment, since it’s very possible to create biodegradable bottles. But even if this trend continues, I hope hotels will realize that luxury bath products are a big differentiator, and act accordingly. The ones listed here provide a lot more than just your soap-shampoo-conditioner sets, and it really makes a difference!
Without further ado, here are some of the top hotel beauty products I’ve come across in my travels:
1. Aesop.
Found in: Park Hyatt Tokyo (detailed review of the hotel included!)
Aesop, based in Australia, puts out some amazing (and expensive!) high-end bath products. They have small stores in several major cosmopolitan cities. A large Brazilian company called Natura took ownership of Aesop a few years ago, so it’s been growing pretty rapidly recently.
This brand focuses on herbal ingredients and smells very natural, not flowery or fake-fruity. It rinses away very cleanly. (I’m a guy who really likes nice baths, okay?) You’ll either love or hate this brand because it’s so herbal. Regardless, any hotel that stocks this is a winner in my book because Aesop’s body wash goes for a whopping $45 per 16.9 ounce bottle in stores!
2. Le Labo.
Found in: Fairmont hotels.
If you’re into high-end fragrance (and I am), you’re familiar with Le Labo. Their unisex scent Santal 33 is really popular in New York and Chicago. Fairmont hotels in San Francisco and San Jose (maybe more) stock Le Labo’s scent Rose 31. A woody mixture of rose, cedar, carrot, and cumin, this scent is more feminine than the herbal Aesop products. It’s not overly floral or “girly,” though, so you will end up smelling like a million bucks.
A bottle of perfume of Rose 31 is slightly less than a million bucks, at $275 for your standard 3.4 ounce bottle. When you stay at the Fairmont, this brand is high-end enough that it’s totally worth it to ask for a couple of extra little soaps.
3. Malin + Goetz.
Found in: Fraser Residence Nankai Osaka
Malin + Goetz has been around for a long time, since I first started my first career in investment management right after the Dot Com Bust. (I’m dating myself.) I remember thinking, “How on earth can a company charge $25 for a small bottle of liquid hand soap??!” Nowadays, that’s…. Nope, actually, that’s still pretty crazy.
Anyway, Malin + Goetz focuses on hypoallergenic ingredients, and their scents are very clean. In particular, their Rum body wash is killer, as is their $36 Peppermint shampoo.
Anyone know of other hotels carrying Malin + Goetz? I’ve only come across it at the Fraser Residence Nankai Osaka. If you’ve seen it somewhere else, drop me a line, I haven’t been able to find much of it and I’d love me some more Rum body wash.
4. Hermes
Found in: Sofitel – fanciest rooms only!
Yes, that Hermes. Sofitel hotels provide products with their classy scent, Eau d’Orange Verte, but get this: Only in the fancy rooms!
I know it’s ridiculous, but if you’re staying at a Sofitel without those bath products, you can and should ask Housekeeping to bring you some. I just love how realistic their orange scents are. Everything produced by Hermes looks like it’s made for a rich French person.
5. Shanghai Tang
Found in: Conrad Tokyo AND Conrad Osaka (check out my detailed reviews in the links!)
Shanghai Tang, who? Yeah, I hadn’t heard of them before either, but Shanghai Tang is a fashion house out of Hong Kong that makes clothing, home goods, and fragrance. At both the Conrad Tokyo AND the Conrad Osaka (click to see how I booked them both for free when I could’ve paid over $3,600), you can find their products in the rooms and also in the spas.
This Mandarin White Tea scent is phenomenal. It smells exactly as described, a lifelike orange scent paired with jasmine tea. If you like Killian’s Jasmine Tea perfume or the Hermes D’Orange line, you’ll love this scent. Fresh and juicy.
6. C.O. Bigelow
Found in: Eliza Jane New Orleans (click the link for my detailed review!)
C.O. Bigelow is based out of NYC and used to have stores all over the country. This is a brand with an amazing set of scents. Some of my favorites are their Lemon, Rosemary Mint, and Lime Coriander. As you can tell, many of their fragrances revolve around food. If you get a chance to visit NYC – perhaps while staying at the Conrad New York, which I got the chance to review – their original location in Greenwich Village is a must-visit destination. They collect some of the best beauty products around the globe.
Anyway, the C.O. Bigelow products provided at the Eliza Jane New Orleans were none of the original scents I’m familiar with. It was a much more herbal, almost masculine scent. I loved it though!
