Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Accommodate hotel, motel, and resort patrons by registering and assigning rooms to guests, issuing room keys or cards, transmitting and receiving messages, keeping records of occupied rooms and guests' accounts, making and confirming reservations, and presenting statements to and collecting payments from departing guests.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Coordination
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Sales and Marketing
What the work involves
- Greet, register, and assign rooms to guests of hotels or motels.
- Verify customers' credit, and establish how the customer will pay for the accommodation.
- Keep records of room availability and guests' accounts, manually or using computers.
- Compute bills, collect payments, and make change for guests.
- Issue room keys and escort instructions to bellhops.
- Review accounts and charges with guests during the check out process.
- Post charges, such as those for rooms, food, liquor, or telephone calls, to ledgers, manually or by using computers.
- Transmit and receive messages, using telephones or telephone switchboards.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Social, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (75% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (51.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (34.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | No data | Not enough data | — |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 79% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 65% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 73% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 98% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 90% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 96% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 93% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Occasional contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Contact with others about half the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 18.55%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 27.91%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 15.3%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 15.3%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Some freedom: 60.49%
- A lot of freedom: 39.51%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 19.2%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.36%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.2%
- Every day: 5.87%
n = 12, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.67%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 41.22%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 31.32%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.71%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 41.22%
- Every day: 40.07%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: 6.65%
- Serious: 34.4%
- Very serious: 6.82%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Tellers
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Counter and Rental Clerks
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Concierges
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Closeness 93/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 43-4081.00 · SOC 43-4081 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8