12. Sense and Sensitivity: Fragrance in Hospitality, with Alexx Stuart
1h 3m | Jun 23, 2026Scent is the only sense with a direct channel to the limbic system, the part of the brain that processes emotion, memory and safety. It's why the smell of a place can transport you instantly to another time. And it's why what hotels pump into their lobbies, spray in their bathrooms and wash their linen with matters far more than most operators realise.
In this first guest episode of Two Homes, sustainability leadership consultant Sarah Rhodes is joined by Alexx Stuart, founder of Low Tox Life, author, hospitality consultant and former fragrance industry insider, for a conversation about what synthetic fragrance is actually doing to hotel guests, to the staff working in those environments every day, and to the bottom line.
From phthalates and hormone disruption to the $33 billion annual cost of absenteeism in Australia, this episode makes the case that fragrance is not a finishing touch, it's a sustainability issue. And it ends somewhere hopeful: what genuinely beautiful, place-based, low tox scent experiences could look like in hospitality done well.
Connect with Alexx Stuart on LinkedIn.
Get this very generous fragrance guide that Alexx prepared to help you get started on revising how you do fragrance in your venue.
Take a closer look at what's good and what's bad in fragrance related products.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
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Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
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Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
