On Friday, Hotel Lobby Candle launched its first candle collaboration with an actual hotel, Aspen’s Hotel Jerome. That includes taking up residence in the hotel’s lobby, where the candle will become the scent of the property.
“I’d really held out on doing a collab with a hotel, even though it seems like the obvious thing to do,'” said founder Lindsay Silberman, the influencer (196,000 Instagram followers; 107,000 on TikTok) and former Town & Country editor. “We’ve been approached by a lot of big properties, and I kept waiting until one felt right to us.”
Silberman knew she wanted to create an Aspen candle — the existing Hotel Lobby Candle Collection includes candles inspired by New York City, Miami and Paris. Over the summer, a limited-edition Amalfi Coast collection, including a Capri candle and a Positano candle, sold out of its initial stock in 30 minutes, driving the brand’s best-ever sales day since its launch. A restock sold out, as well. As the Hotel Jerome would serve as inspiration for Silberman’s Aspen scent regardless, she asked the hotel’s team if they’d be interested in working together in an official capacity.
Now, along with the candle’s scent wafting through the hotel’s actual lobby, the product itself is being sold in the minibar of each guestroom — it’s the only beauty product offered. The candle, which is $56, is also available on Hotel Lobby Candle’s e-commerce site. “We’re thrilled to offer the Aspen candle to our guests, giving them the opportunity to bring a unique sensory memento of the destination back home,” said Patrick Davila, gm of the Hotel Jerome.
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“I pulled from my memories of being inside the hotel. … Sitting in the lobby, they have these big, vintage leather armchairs, and there’s a crackling fireplace. When the door swings open because someone’s coming inside from skiing, you get this rush of cold mountain air and [the smell of] fresh pine trees,” she said. The candle’s official notes are vintage cedarwood, snow-capped pine, tooled leather, golden embers and smoke. The hotel’s signature wallpaper serves as the pattern on the candle’s box.
The hotel is an Aspen landmark. To help inspire Silberman as she created the scent, its team provided a variety of items from its archives, including guest reservation confirmations written on typewriters, old magazine clippings and stationery. “We took inspiration from those fonts and styles, and we’re using the aesthetic of the history of the hotel and putting it into our branding and marketing for this campaign,” Silberman said.
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Prior to this launch, the brand had done just one official collaboration, a scent it was tapped to create by Wheels Up, an on-demand private jet service. That candle, called “Blue Skies,” which had notes of leather, mahogany and champagne, wound up selling out twice, — the first time, in just 57 minutes.
When Glossy last reported on Hotel Lobby Candle in 2021, it had just launched at Neiman Marcus. The brand’s sales grew 30% in 2022, and it conservatively projects that it will grow 30% again this year.
For a partnership to feel true to her brand, Silberman said she was looking for potential in storytelling, which is of particular significance because a majority of the brand’s business is direct-to-consumer. “I really need to be able to translate a scent into words and visuals. Otherwise, it just won’t work,” Silberman said, referencing the fact that most of the brand’s customers don’t smell products before purchasing them.
