The golden 90 seconds: the quality of your welcome is decided right now!
- Eric Alauzen
- Oct 5
- 3 min read
The first impression a guest has when they arrive at your hotel is vital. This moment, which lasts around 90 seconds, is known as the golden 90 seconds. It is not a race, but a calm, precise, and reassuring ritual that builds trust and sets the tone for the stay.
The customer arrives at the hotel
With every arrival, there is a moment when everything is decided. The guest walks through the door, looks at the counter, assesses the attire, the smell, the decor (and possibly the clutter at the reception desk!), the lighting, and then you. They are still feeling the fatigue of their journey, the simple desire to put down their bags, the need to be reassured—finally, someone is going to take care of them—without necessarily saying so.
This is where the golden 90 seconds begin: not a race against time, but a ritual of quiet precision, a measured and well-rehearsed ballet in which the customer “dances” with us.
When done well, these first few seconds never feel like a recited “script.” They are a form of attention that can be seen and felt, without being too loud. We make eye contact, smile, and offer a clear and personal greeting. We don't talk too much, but we offer a warm welcome. This is not the time for long speeches or a barrage of instructions. It's the time to keep a promise: “I'll take care of you.”
The customer immediately feels cared for. There is no rush, no noise, no panic, no breathlessness: just a serenity that the customer will take for granted throughout their stay.
The golden 90 seconds: the quality of the welcome is decided now! Clarity, precision, eye contact, support.
The golden 90 seconds work because they focus only on the essentials.
First, presence. It cannot be improvised: it is embodied in a body that stands up straight, an eye contact that does not shy away, an open face, a calm voice.
Next, clarity: simply announce what is going to happen—check the reservation, take a credit card imprint, have the guest fill out the form, remind them of the recommendations they made when booking, and hand over the key.
Finally, fluidity: briefly comment on each action so that the guest is never left in an uncomfortable void. At no point is it a question of filling the space; it is a question of reassuring without weighing down, of moving quickly without rushing or improvising.
Eye contact, an essential component of a successful welcome
Eye contact, an essential component of a successful welcome
In a minute and a half, we avoid two pitfalls that spoil the experience:
Screen silence, where we disappear behind our monitor for long seconds.
The avalanche of information, where we “dump” the Wi-Fi, the restaurant, the pool, the rules of life, and the weather as if we were getting rid of an overfilled bag.
The golden 90 seconds: the quality of your welcome is decided right now!
The reception desk: always a refuge, never a zone of turbulence
The reception desk can never be a zone of turbulence (hence the importance of quickly isolating a guest who is making a loud complaint at the counter); it must remain a refuge where guests will always find a smile, assistance, adequate information, or a response to their complaint.
Of course, every establishment has its own style—and that's a good thing.
The words will differ in a luxury hotel or a seaside hotel, the form will change, but the substance must remain the same: presence, clarity, restraint, efficiency.
Remember: elegance is neither cold nor talkative; it is restrained and consistent.
A commercial issue? Yes, but above all a human one...
You might say that the issue is purely commercial. Of course, you would be right: a successful welcome reinforces the hotel's image, strengthens customer loyalty, reassures the customer, and makes them understand that they have chosen the right place—especially during a first stay. But the challenge is first and foremost human: customer relations will never be just another technique. It represents a natural behavior, desired and experienced by the employee: the soul of the profession we have chosen and love.
So yes, those 90 seconds are worth their weight in gold because they create a solid, high-quality foundation for the rest of the stay. The customer may not notice them, but they will be taken into account in their unconscious analysis—scanned by their brain—of your hotel, like a pleasant fragrance that they enjoy and breathe in, and will want to breathe in again...
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