@John5097
I like to cook and I often cook spicy food, more often South East or East Asian, but sometimes also South Asian dishes, including curries. I don't usually have complaints from guests about the smell of cooking. Rather, if they do comment, it's to say, "That smells delicious."
However, one guest complained that someone was cooking late at night and she could smell it. Actually, it was me and it was 9pm, which I personally don't consider too late to cook dinner. I certainly wouldn't tell my guests that they shouldn't cook after 9pm. In a lot of cultures, it would be very unusual to have dinner much earlier, whereas in others, 9pm would be considered very late. I guess everyone is different...
The couple I mentioned, where the curry smell was an issue, started cooking from first thing in the morning and had curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While the guest above didn't like the smell of frying onions at 9pm, I found it difficult to stomach the smell of curry at 7 or 8am. Having said that, I don't remember the smell lingering after they left, but I have a big, draughty old house.