Welcome to Issue #020 of Sojourn. Each week, I share two original essays to help you slow down, reconnect, and rebuild with intention (hence ‘sojourn’), in a private community that uses travel as a path to reinvention.
Most people leave a hotel remembering the view, the linens, maybe the breakfast.
But not me.
This week, I left with the scent in the hallway.
I was staying at The Longfellow in Portland, Maine, a SLH collection hotel, while my son was on a college recruit trip. A beautiful boutique hotel—warm, intimate, personal. Everything I hoped it would be.
But it was the scent that got me.
Clean, subtle. Almost jasmine-like—but not fake, not perfumed.
Just… calming. Like the elevator doors opened and the atmosphere exhaled.
It stopped me in my tracks.
And I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
WHERE FEELING BEATS FEATURES
The scent felt like a small gesture. But it wasn’t small at all.
It changed how I moved through the space. It made my days happier.
It made the hotel feel personal, intentional, like someone had thought about how a guest might feel the second they returned from a long day.
In that moment, I realized:
What stays with us isn’t what’s marketed. It’s what’s felt.
And not the offer. The emotion.
THE TRUE OFFER IS INTIMACY
In a sea of hospitality perks, intimacy is the real differentiator.
→ A plate made from someone’s grandmother’s recipe.
→ A window cracked open to let in the air.
→ A hallway that smells like care, not chemicals.
→ A website that feels like someone wrote it, not generated it.
These aren’t features.
They’re signals.
They say: someone thought about this moment for you.
And that’s what makes us remember.
WHY THIS MATTERS FOR CREATORS, TOO
That hallway taught me something that applies far beyond hotels:
Whether we’re building brands, writing words, or sharing our voice with the world, the real value we offer isn’t in what we say. It’s in how we make they feel.
People don’t remember your CTA.
They remember the ‘intimacy in the hallway’.
In a world that’s louder and faster, emotional resonance truly is the new edge.
→ Bain & Company found that emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable.
→ Virtuoso’s Luxe Report says travelers are loyal to brands that make them feel known, not just rewarded.
→ Psychology Today shows scent is the sense most deeply tied to memory and emotion.
So whether you’re a brand, a creator, or someone simply trying to build a meaningful life…
Ask yourself not just what you’re offering, but how it lands.
THE ECONOMY OF EMOTION
In hospitality, we spend millions optimizing offers, perks, tech stacks. But how about the hallway scent?what traveled home with me.
Because the most powerful moments aren’t the loudest.
They’re the quiet ones.
And often, they don’t announce themselves.
They surround you.
They reach you where your guard is down.
And they linger, long after the room is cleaned, the key card dropped, the elevator closed.
WHAT THIS TAUGHT ME ABOUT CREATION
The most memorable brands, just like the most moving pieces of art or writing, aren’t trying to impress you.
They’re trying to reach you.
That scent reminded me that intimacy is the offer.
That emotion is the strategy.
And that resonance will always outlast reach.
PROMPTS FOR THIS WEEK
→ What would someone feel in your hallway: your brand, your space, your work?
→ Where are you over-optimizing for attention instead of emotion?
→ What “scent” are you leaving behind in the minds of those you serve?
THE SHIFT
We think loyalty is built through offers and features.
But it’s not. It’s built in the quiet moments where someone feels seen, soothed, safe.
Because what people carry isn’t the pitch.
It’s the memory.
And sometimes, all it takes is a jasmine-like scent in the hallway.
~Ana
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