What does a guest service specialist do?

Guest Service Specialists are responsible for delivering guests with front desk services. Their duties include welcoming guests during arrival, managing to check in and check out procedures, assigning rooms to guests, process payments, delivering messages, and providing information to guests such as tourist locations, restaurant recommendations, and transport logistics. They must tend to customer queries and conflicts while working closely with staff personnel and bell service in providing customer service.
Guest service specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real guest service specialist resumes:
- Manage and calculate daily cash deposits and prepare daily payroll ledgers.
- Answer phones, make appointments, clean the salon, cash handling, operating POS.
- Process all guest reservations, including guest follow up, obtaining all necessary information and accurately entering it into computer systems.
- Determine Medicaid requirements and eligibility.
Guest service specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 31% of Guest Service Specialists are proficient in Front Desk, Patients, and Reservations. They’re also known for soft skills such as Computer skills, Customer-service skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Guest Service Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Front Desk, 31%
Tasked with guest interaction and satisfaction, directed bell staff and front desk to maximize efficiency while maintaining superior guest relations.
- Patients, 11%
Transported patients and visitors to designated location within the hospital.
- Reservations, 8%
Assisted guests with transportation, restaurant or entertainment reservations and provided other information about the locale of Savannah.
- Team Work, 8%
Team work and organization skills made a days work seem easy.
- Guest Service, 8%
Provide research and immediate recovery as needed while delivering exceptional guest service and exceeding guest expectations by providing creative solutions.
- Customer Service, 7%
Provided exceptional and professional customer service and marketing of business amenities to high-end clientele booking luxury services at the spa.
"front desk," "patients," and "reservations" are among the most common skills that guest service specialists use at work. You can find even more guest service specialist responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. Another essential skill to perform guest service specialist duties is customer-service skills. Guest service specialists responsibilities require that "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." Guest service specialists also use customer-service skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintained cleanliness of the restaurant so that the customers' experience was flawless. "
Listening skills. guest service specialists are also known for listening skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to guest service specialist responsibilities, because "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." A guest service specialist resume example shows how listening skills is used in the workplace: "demonstrated active listening and accurate documentation of the guest issues in a timely manner. "
Patience. For certain guest service specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "patience." The day-to-day duties of a guest service specialist rely on this skill, as "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what guest service specialists do: "utilize patience, attentiveness, clear communication skills, knowledge of food items and positive language to employ quality customer service. "
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for a guest service specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what guest service specialists relies on this skill, since "representatives must determine solutions to customers’ problems." How this skill relates to guest service specialist duties can be seen in an example from a guest service specialist resume snippet: "provided creative resolutions for handling escalated guest issues related to merchandise orders. "
Communication skills. Lastly, "communication skills" is an important element of what a guest service specialist does. Guest service specialist responsibilities require this skill because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." This resume example highlights how guest service specialist duties rely on this skill: "promote team work and quality service through daily communications and coordination with other departments. "
The three companies that hire the most guest service specialists are:
- Petco Holdings, Inc.368 guest service specialists jobs
- Marriott International104 guest service specialists jobs
- Mister Car Wash89 guest service specialists jobs
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Guest service specialist vs. Receptionist/customer service
Receptionists or customer service professionals are considered as the first contact point of the clients. They usually greet and welcome guests visiting an office or organization. These are employees who serve as administrative or office support. They take responsibility for digital communication. It is their job to coordinate the front desk activities such as redirecting phone calls and distributing correspondence. They should be equipped with skills like attention to detail, dependability, and communication skills.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, guest service specialist responsibilities require skills like "strong work ethic," "patients," "reservations," and "team work." Meanwhile a typical receptionist/customer service has skills in areas such as "phone calls," "data entry," "scheduling appointments," and "office equipment." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Receptionist/customer services earn the highest salaries when working in the manufacturing industry, with an average yearly salary of $30,365. On the other hand, guest service specialists are paid more in the retail industry with an average salary of $33,140.On average, receptionist/customer services reach similar levels of education than guest service specialists. Receptionist/customer services are 1.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Guest service specialist vs. Service agent
A service agent is an individual whose primary function is to provide a friendly service to internal and external customers about the organization's products and services. An agent should be people-oriented, highly motivated with a positive and friendly attitude. Although an agent usually works in a call center, an agent can communicate in various ways, such as the telephone or often face to face. The minimum educational requirement of being a service agent is a high school diploma; however, the customer service experience is a plus.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that guest service specialist responsibilities requires skills like "strong work ethic," "patients," "reservations," and "team work." But a service agent might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "regular maintenance," "credit card," "quality standards," and "pet."
On average, service agents earn a lower salary than guest service specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, service agents earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $30,711. Whereas guest service specialists have higher pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $33,140.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Service agents tend to reach similar levels of education than guest service specialists. In fact, they're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Guest service specialist vs. Service desk associate
A service desk associate will answer and respond to the inquiries and requests from both employees and customers, either through telephone calls, emails, or in person. Your duties as a service desk associate will vary depending on the sector you work in. These duties may include capturing and validating queries and issues for processing, communicating with users via different channels, and advising users on the appropriate action to address their concerns. You will also be responsible for escalating unresolved issues to a much higher support level and providing security support and advice.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, guest service specialists are more likely to have skills like "strong work ethic," "patients," "reservations," and "team work." But a service desk associate is more likely to have skills like "service desk," "front end," "customer calls," and "customer care."
Service desk associates typically earn similar educational levels compared to guest service specialists. Specifically, they're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Guest service specialist vs. Service associate
A service associate's role is to assist customers either through phone or in person. One of the service associate's primary responsibilities is to attain customer satisfaction by answering queries, performing troubleshooting methods, assisting in navigating through difficult tasks, handling complaints, resolving issues, and even processing payments. Furthermore, a service associate needs to be equipped with good communication skills to build rapport with clients as there are instances where they have to sell products and services.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between guest service specialists and service associates, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a guest service specialist might have more use for skills like "strong work ethic," "reservations," "team work," and "guest service." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of service associates require skills like "quality customer service," "basic math," "loan payments," and "patient rooms. "
The average resume of service associates showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to guest service specialists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.6%.Types of guest service specialist
Updated January 8, 2025











