What does a front desk representative do?
A front desk representative is responsible for welcoming guests, processing their reservations, and responding to their inquiries and concerns. Front desk representatives perform various administrative and clerical duties as needed, ensuring customer satisfaction to generate revenues and increase profitability, as well as keeping the company's good reputation for clients' loyalty. They organize and maintain the cleanliness of the front desk area at all times and lead guests to the appropriate department. A front desk representative must have excellent customer service and organizational skills to handle different visiting purposes of the guests.
Front desk representative responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real front desk representative resumes:
- Control all guestroom allocations, ensuring that reservations are accurately record and monitor to ensure optimum occupancy and revenue is achieved.
- Anticipate sold-out situations and obtain satisfactory alternative accommodations when the property cannot accommodate guests with reservations.
- Control all guestroom allocations, ensuring that reservations are accurately record and monitor to ensure optimum occupancy and revenue is achieved.
- Enter new and existing student information into MindBody.
- Assist customers with setting up classes through MINDBODY.
- Provide problem resolution services for guests and act as a professional representative for Simon while following myriad corporate policies and procedures.
Front desk representative skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Front Desk Representatives are proficient in Reservations, Customer Service, and Excellent Guest. They’re also known for soft skills such as Integrity, Organizational skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Front Desk Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Reservations, 25%
Control all guestroom allocations, ensuring that reservations are accurately recorded and monitored to ensure optimum occupancy and revenue is achieved.
- Customer Service, 10%
Provided customer service by welcoming and registering guests as well as responding to information and directional inquiries.
- Excellent Guest, 7%
Greet, register, and assign rooms to guests of hotel with a focus on excellent guest service and satisfaction.
- Computer System, 5%
Updated yearly information into a computer system database calculating annual fees.
- Patients, 5%
Contacted patients regarding unpaid and underpaid accounts, verification of insurance, accounting, customer service, computer and telephone operations.
- Cash Handling, 5%
Developed relationships with members Registered guests and new members Was responsible for all cash handling procedures
Most front desk representatives use their skills in "reservations," "customer service," and "excellent guest" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential front desk representative responsibilities here:
Integrity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a front desk representative to have is integrity. Their role and responsibilities require that "information clerks, particularly human resources assistants, have access to confidential information." Front desk representatives often use integrity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provide excellent customer service while maintaining the integrity of the organization. "
Organizational skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling front desk representative duties is organizational skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "information clerks must be able to retrieve files and other important information quickly and efficiently." According to a front desk representative resume, here's how front desk representatives can utilize organizational skills in their job responsibilities: "facilitated office operations such as scheduling appointments, taking phone calls, and other organizational tasks. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for front desk representatives to perform their duties. For an example of how front desk representative responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "information clerks must be able to explain policies and procedures clearly to customers and the public." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a front desk representative: "work as night auditor on weekends, which requires a high level of personal responsibility and effective communication skills. ".
Interpersonal skills. front desk representative responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "information clerks who work with the public and customers must understand and communicate information effectively to establish positive relationships." This resume example shows what front desk representatives do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "book motel reservations and answered customer questions provide quality customer service to all patrons developed strong verbal communication and interpersonal skills"
The three companies that hire the most front desk representatives are:
- Xponential Fitness37 front desk representatives jobs
- Goldfish Swim School25 front desk representatives jobs
- Kisco Senior Living17 front desk representatives jobs
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Compare different front desk representatives
Front desk representative vs. Night auditor
A Night Auditor is responsible for handling late-night front-desk operations, mostly at hotels or other lodging establishments. Among the primary duties involve greeting guests and handling check-in and check-outs, responding to reservations, process and collect payments, preparing reports and necessary documentation, and attending to the guests' inquiries, requests, and concerns. Furthermore, Night Auditors must also coordinate with day-shift workers to be aware of the daily reports, and as well as oversee the entire establishment's operation to ensure the guest's welfare.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between front desk representatives and night auditor. For instance, front desk representative responsibilities require skills such as "patients," "math," "booking," and "cleanliness." Whereas a night auditor is skilled in "check-in," "keep management," "check guests," and "hotel operations." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Night auditors tend to make the most money working in the real estate industry, where they earn an average salary of $31,410. In contrast, front desk representatives make the biggest average salary, $30,416, in the retail industry.On average, night auditors reach similar levels of education than front desk representatives. Night auditors are 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Front desk representative vs. Guest services
Guest service representatives, also known as guest service agents, are specialists in the hospitality industry. Generally, these agents are employed in hotels, spa units, or in places where guests need service or information for better accommodation. They multitask in the industry to provide outstanding service to guests. Building good relationships with customers is paramount to their job as they help promote a friendly environment. Their primary aim is to make their customers happy and satisfied with any service they offer.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real front desk representative resumes. While front desk representative responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "cash handling," "math," and "booking," guest services use skills like "front desk," "wine," "strong customer service," and "culinary."
Guest services may earn a lower salary than front desk representatives, but guest services earn the most pay in the retail industry with an average salary of $29,150. On the other hand, front desk representatives receive higher pay in the retail industry, where they earn an average salary of $30,416.In general, guest services achieve similar levels of education than front desk representatives. They're 0.9% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Front desk representative vs. Guest services agent
Guest services agents are the ones who communicate with hotel guests who want to reserve or cancel bookings. Their job includes welcoming guests upon arrival, assigning them their rooms and suites, issuing their room keys, and collecting payment information. They organize housekeeping, transport providers, porters, and kitchen staff to meet the requirements of guests. They also resolve issues and deal with disappointed guests' complaints and coordinate third party services, including taxis, rental cars, tour guides, and airport transfers.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, front desk representatives are more likely to have skills like "patients," "math," "booking," and "cleanliness." But a guest services agent is more likely to have skills like "relay messages," "front desk operations," "dependability," and "registration process."
Guest services agents earn the highest salary when working in the hospitality industry, where they receive an average salary of $28,914. Comparatively, front desk representatives have the highest earning potential in the retail industry, with an average salary of $30,416.When it comes to education, guest services agents tend to earn similar degree levels compared to front desk representatives. In fact, they're 0.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Front desk representative vs. Desk clerk
The desk clerk or general office clerk is an employee who works with little supervision from the manager. The duties and responsibilities of desk clerks vary depending on the industry they belong to. These may include but are not limited to answering phone calls, electronic correspondence, filing paperwork, taking and maintaining inventory levels, and setting calendars and schedules. They are expected to always offer excellent customer service. In hotels, they check-in and check-out their guests.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between front desk representatives and desk clerks, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a front desk representative might have more use for skills like "excellent guest," "patients," "cash handling," and "math." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of desk clerks require skills like "front desk," "direct calls," "incident reports," and "service desk. "
Desk clerks enjoy the best pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $31,643. For comparison, front desk representatives earn the highest salary in the retail industry.In general, desk clerks hold similar degree levels compared to front desk representatives. Desk clerks are 0.0% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of front desk representative
Updated January 8, 2025
