Office and administrative support
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.
Median pay
$35,070
Growth to 2035
+2%
little or no change
Openings a year
35,500
Time to qualify*
1 month
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
Calculate your switch to hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks: 0% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Make and confirm reservations.
- Greet, register, and assign rooms to guests of hotels or motels.
- Verify customers' credit, and establish how the customer will pay for the accommodation.
- Post charges, such as those for rooms, food, liquor, or telephone calls, to ledgers, manually or by using computers.
- Issue room keys and escort instructions to bellhops.
- Advise housekeeping staff when rooms have been vacated and are ready for cleaning.
- Transmit and receive messages, using telephones or telephone switchboards.
- Record guest comments or complaints, referring customers to managers as necessary.
Also called: Desk Clerk · Front Desk Agent · Front Desk Associate · Front Desk Attendant · Front Desk Clerk · Front Desk Receptionist · Guest Service Representative (GSR) · Guest Services Agent (GSA)
Outlook and AI
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks held 264,600 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 269,500 by 2035 (+2%, little or no change; all jobs: +3.5%).
Capital/labor substitution - share decreases as artificial intelligence (AI) software is increasingly used to assist guests with routine enquiries, and self-service kiosks and mobile applications allow guests to complete check-ins and check-outs without a clerk present.
Compare with
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Lodging manager
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Concierge
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Receptionists and information clerks
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Locker room, coatroom, and dressing room attendants
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Counter and rental clerks
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Baggage porters and bellhops
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Cashier
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. Passenger attendant