Almost everyone calls anything sprayed into the air an "air freshener". But these are two different products doing two different jobs, and mixing them up is the number one reason a venue still smells bad after spending money on scenting it.
What each one does
An air freshener or fragrance adds a smell. It works on a space that is already clean and gives it an identity. It is what you want in a hotel entrance, in a shop or in a restaurant's dining room.
A neutraliser adds no smell of its own. It acts on the molecules behind the bad odour so they stop being perceived. It is what you want in a toilet, a changing room, a bin store or an area with damp.
Spray fragrance over a bad smell and for ten minutes you smell both at once. Then the fragrance fades first and you are back where you started, except now the customer associates your scent with the problem.
How to tell which one you need
Try this test. Walk into the venue in the morning, with everything shut since the night before, and breathe in before you touch anything:
- If nothing in particular stands out, what you want is fragrance.
- If you smell something specific that bothers you (frying, damp, tobacco, animals, waste), what you want is a neutraliser.
- If you smell both depending on the area, you need both, but in different places.
The combination that does work
Neutralise at the source and add fragrance in the public-facing areas. In a restaurant that means a neutraliser in the toilets and in the passage towards the kitchen, and fragrance at the entrance and in the dining room. In a gym, a neutraliser in the changing rooms and fragrance in the training floor and reception.
The two units do not interfere with each other because they do not share a space. What never works is loading both products into the same machine or putting them in the same room.
A couple of things that help more than any product
Before buying anything, check the traps on the drains, how often the bins are emptied and the extraction in the toilets. A dry trap sends sewer smell back into the venue, and no neutraliser can beat an active source. Scenting works well on a space that is already in good shape.
Which equipment to use
The same diffusers handle both jobs: what changes is the product you load. In small spaces such as a toilet, a compact unit is enough; for a warehouse or a bin store you need more power. The full range is in the diffuser catalogue, and the most common queries are answered in the FAQ.
Tell us what you can smell and where, at info@bendis.es, and we will tell you whether your case calls for fragrance, a neutraliser or both.
