The Smell Test: Lawsuits Say Your Lobby Scent Violates the ADA. Here’s What Owners Should Do Before a Letter Arrives

By Nathan Snyder, Editor · November 6, 2026

An Oakland law firm has sued Marriott, Hyatt, Loews and other hotel companies, claiming that signature lobby scents shut out chemically sensitive guests. The complaints leave room to add owners and management companies.

Hotels pay for the smell of their lobbies. Scent marketing is estimated to be a $4.1 billion-a-year global business, according to the Los Angeles Times, and one of the biggest vendors, Scentair, says it has customers in 119 countries. For years the only question an owner asked about the diffuser behind the front desk was whether guests liked it.

Since May, a different question has been landing in federal court: whether that scent is a barrier under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The lawsuits so far

On May 8, 2026, Oakland-based Cole & Van Note announced Kovacs, et al. v. Marriott International, Inc., et al., a class action filed in federal court in Northern California. The firm’s press release says Marriott “exposed customers and employees to toxic fragrance compounds” at numerous locations, in violation of the ADA and California law.

It was the first of a wave. The Los Angeles Times reported that Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Loews were among the targets of suits filed in May and June. A Holland & Knight client alert dated June 15 said the suits were filed in several U.S. district courts in California and Florida, and that all appear to have been brought by the same firm.

The Loews complaint shows what these cases ask for. Filed June 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (Fraley and Copley v. Loews Corporation, No. 3:26-cv-03513), it does not name a single hotel. It targets all of the company’s U.S. locations, proposes a nationwide class of chemically sensitive people, and asks the court to bar synthetic fragranced products from the facilities, plus attorneys’ fees.

The status is mixed. The LA Times reported in early October that the Marriott case had already been dropped and the Hyatt case (filed June 4) was in early stages. Founder Scott Cole told the paper that some dropped federal cases are being refiled in state court, and that he expects more filings outside California. On its website, the firm lists hotels at the top of its target list.

None of these claims has been decided by a court.

What the complaints allege

The theory is simple. Scent machines, often tied into a building’s HVAC system, push synthetic fragrance into lobbies and common areas. The complaints allege those products release volatile organic compounds, aldehydes, phthalates and, as a secondary pollutant, formaldehyde, and that guests with chemical sensitivity, fragrance sensitivity or asthma react with headaches, breathing problems and worse. The Loews complaint also alleges that scent was used in part to mask mold odors.

The numbers in the filings are big. The Loews complaint says 26.8% of adults have asthma or asthma-like conditions and 27.5% report chemical sensitivity. These figures come from the plaintiffs, not from any court finding, and defense lawyers will contest them.

Why California is the expensive place to have a diffuser

Under ADA Title III, a private plaintiff can win an injunction and attorneys’ fees, but not money damages, as JMM attorney Martin H. Orlick explains in his Nov. 5 Hotel Online commentary. California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act changes that math: California’s civil jury instructions (CACI No. 3067) set a statutory minimum of $4,000 per violation, on top of actual damages.

A simple illustration, not a prediction of any case: if a court treated each visit as a separate violation, one guest with three stays at a scented California hotel could claim at least $12,000 before attorneys’ fees. Multiply that across a class and it becomes the reason defendants settle.

California is already the center of ADA Title III litigation. Seyfarth Shaw counted 8,667 federal Title III lawsuits in 2025, and 3,252 of them, about 38%, were in California. Florida, the other state in the fragrance wave, was second with 1,823.

Why this is not just a brand problem

The named defendants are brand parent companies. That does not mean franchisees are safe. Orlick notes that some complaints reserve the right to add any party that controls a defendant’s “environmental conditions,” which could reach scent vendors, property owners and management companies. He also points out that many hotels use the same scent vendors, so one vendor’s client list can become a target list.

If you own a franchised hotel, the diffuser in your lobby may have been your choice, your management company’s choice or part of a brand program. In a lawsuit, who chose it, who controls it and who agreed to indemnify whom will matter. Most owners have never read the scent contract that closely.

The industry has not said much

Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Loews and the American Hotel & Lodging Association did not respond to the LA Times. The California Hotel & Lodging Association said its members work to create safe and accessible spaces and regularly review best practices. Hotel veterans told the paper that many properties will prepare a room without artificial scent if a guest calls ahead.

A seven-step checklist for owners

These steps come from the two defense-side law firm alerts we read (Holland & Knight and JMM). None costs much, and most can be done this month.

1. Find out what you have. Walk every property and list each diffuser, plug-in, spray program and HVAC scent system, and where it runs: lobby, corridors, elevators, guest rooms.
2. Pull the paperwork. Find the vendor contract and read the indemnity and insurance terms. Ask the vendor for safety data sheets on every product and keep them on file.
3. Know whose program it is. If the scent is a brand standard or your management company’s choice, get that in writing. Your franchise and management agreements decide who controls it.
4. Call your insurance agent. Ask whether your general liability or other policies would cover defense costs for a fragrance claim. Get the answer in writing.
5. Write a short guest statement. Say the hotel uses scent in certain areas, invite guests to raise concerns, and describe how you handle requests, such as a scent-free room or turning a lobby unit off.
6. Train the front desk. Staff should recognize a fragrance-related accommodation request and pass it to one named person who knows the scent program.
7. Check your marketing. Review any website or brochure line about “clean air” or “healthy air” that you cannot back up.

If a demand letter or complaint does arrive, Orlick’s advice is to take it seriously, preserve every record about the scent program, notify your insurer and your scent vendor promptly, and talk to experienced ADA defense counsel before responding.

This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Talk to your own lawyer about your hotel.

The bottom line

For most of the last decade, ADA risk at a hotel meant things you could measure with a tape: ramp slopes, door widths, pool lifts. The fragrance suits ask courts to treat the air in the lobby the same way. They may fail, and some have already been dropped. But the complaints are written broadly enough to reach owners and operators, and California’s $4,000-per-violation rule gives the cases a reason to exist.

An owner who knows what scent is running, who controls it, what the contract says and how the front desk answers a guest who can’t breathe in the lobby has spent an afternoon. An owner who learns those things from a demand letter will spend a lot more.

FAQ: hotel lobby scent lawsuits

Who is suing hotels over lobby fragrance?

Oakland-based Cole & Van Note has filed class actions since May 2026. The LA Times reported Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Loews among the targets.

Can hotel owners and franchisees be added?

Possibly. Some complaints reserve the right to add any party that controls a hotel’s “environmental conditions,” which a defense attorney says could include owners, management companies and scent vendors.

Has any court ruled on these claims?

No. The cases are at early stages, and at least one, against Marriott, was reported dropped.

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Sources: Hotel Online (Martin H. Orlick, JMM), Nov. 5, 2026; Los Angeles Times via Hotel Online, Oct. 3, 2026; Cole & Van Note via Business Wire, May 8, 2026; Holland & Knight, June 15, 2026; Fraley v. Loews complaint, S.D. Cal.; CACI No. 3067; Seyfarth Shaw via JD Supra, Feb. 12, 2026.