Front desk associate vs desk assistant

The differences between front desk associates and desk assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a desk assistant has an average salary of $27,353, which is higher than the $27,236 average annual salary of a front desk associate.

The top three skills for a front desk associate include phone calls, math and customer service. The most important skills for a desk assistant are customer service, residential life, and phone calls.

Front desk associate vs desk assistant overview

	Front Desk Associate	Desk Assistant
Yearly salary	$27,236	$27,353
Hourly rate	$13.09	$13.15
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	77,432	25,019
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	-	-

What does a front desk associate do?

Front-Desk Associates are the face of a hotel. Their duties are focused on assisting guests and attaining customer satisfaction. Aside from great communication skills, Front-Desk Associates must also have a pleasing personality and great presence of mind as guests will come to them first should there be any issues on the services provided. Moreover, among the duties of Front-Desk Associates include performing room check-ins and check-outs, accepting and arranging reservations, assigning rooms, maintain booking and payments, and communicate with the entire hotel staff to ensure quality service.

What does a desk assistant do?

A desk assistant is primarily responsible for providing customer service support through calls or desk appointments, ensuring client satisfaction. Typically, they are responsible for answering inquiries and correspondence, addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, and providing corrective measures or advice when necessary. Should the problems be challenging to handle, one can elevate the matter to a supervising manager. Moreover, a desk assistant may have clerical duties such as processing paperwork, maintaining documentation and a database, managing schedules, and updating systems.

Front desk associate vs desk assistant salary

Front desk associates and desk assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Front Desk Associate	Desk Assistant
Average salary	$27,236	$27,353
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $35,000	Between $12,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	New York, NY
Highest paying state	New York	New York
Best paying company	Wyndham Capital Mortgage	Massachusetts General Hospital
Best paying industry	Hospitality	-

Differences between front desk associate and desk assistant education

There are a few differences between a front desk associate and a desk assistant in terms of educational background:

	Front Desk Associate	Desk Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Business	Psychology
Most common college	-	-

Front desk associate vs desk assistant demographics

Here are the differences between front desk associates' and desk assistants' demographics:

	Front Desk Associate	Desk Assistant
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 31.3% Female, 68.7%	Male, 35.5% Female, 64.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 6.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.9% Asian, 9.3% White, 53.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%	Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 6.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.6% Asian, 11.7% White, 51.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between front desk associate and desk assistant duties and responsibilities

Front desk associate example responsibilities.

Manage customer service issues with ease and charm and train other co workers in daily operations.
Manage confidential information and documentation, including financial data, and credit card information and payroll checks.
Manage patients records by keeping all medical history, insurance and personal information update and verify abiding by HIPAA protocols.
Process reservations for business groups via opera system.
Process guest reservations, assess needs and ensure appropriate accommodations and assist guests with concierge-relate services.
Contact patients regarding unpaid and underpay accounts, verification of insurance, accounting, customer service, computer and telephone operations.

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Desk assistant example responsibilities.

Use EMR software to manage patient records and files; reinforce and uphold patient confidentiality as required by HIPAA.
Fulfill front desk duties such as: customer service, operating cash register, scheduling reservations, answering phone calls and housekeeping
Check ids, close the weight room, put weights away, answer phones
Check in/out guests and operate hotel booking software.
Answer calls, complete paperwork, and ensure the hall run smoothly
Check in residents after midnight, and run check out of dorm equipment.

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Front desk associate vs desk assistant skills

Common front desk associate skills

Phone Calls, 21%
Math, 13%
Customer Service, 13%
Basic Math, 11%
Strong Customer Service, 10%
Cash Handling, 8%

Common desk assistant skills

Customer Service, 22%
Residential Life, 18%
Phone Calls, 16%
Front Desk Coverage, 8%
Administrative Tasks, 7%
Emergency Situations, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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