Guest services agent vs front desk representative

The differences between guest services agents and front desk representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a front desk representative has an average salary of $29,224, which is higher than the $29,063 average annual salary of a guest services agent.

The top three skills for a guest services agent include reservations, computer system and hotel services. The most important skills for a front desk representative are reservations, customer service, and excellent guest.

Guest services agent vs front desk representative overview

	Guest Services Agent	Front Desk Representative
Yearly salary	$29,063	$29,224
Hourly rate	$13.97	$14.05
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	94,858	140,332
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	-	-

What does a guest services agent do?

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.

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.

Guest services agent vs front desk representative salary

Guest services agents and front desk representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Guest Services Agent	Front Desk Representative
Average salary	$29,063	$29,224
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $36,000	Between $22,000 And $37,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Southampton, NY
Highest paying state	Washington	New York
Best paying company	East-West Center	Eye Consultants of Atlanta
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Retail

Differences between guest services agent and front desk representative education

There are a few differences between a guest services agent and a front desk representative in terms of educational background:

	Guest Services Agent	Front Desk Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Guest services agent vs front desk representative demographics

Here are the differences between guest services agents' and front desk representatives' demographics:

	Guest Services Agent	Front Desk Representative
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 33.6% Female, 66.4%	Male, 27.2% Female, 72.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 7.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.3% Asian, 10.3% White, 50.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6%	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 6.6% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 10.0% White, 50.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between guest services agent and front desk representative duties and responsibilities

Guest services agent example responsibilities.

Train new associates to Hyatt standards and the most efficient way to accomplish the day's tasks.
Assist customers with booking hotel rooms and handling on-site complaints about rooms, service or billing issues.
Execute strong customer service by facilitating reservations, room amendments on an individual and corporate level, including agencies.
Process special reservation requests in the LMS database.
Maintain room booking lists and directly provide guests with the requested information concerning the facilities locations and surrounding area.
Operate the PBX equipment by accepting incoming calls, assisting outgoing calls, scheduling wake-up calls and supporting room service departments.

Front desk representative example responsibilities.

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.

Guest services agent vs front desk representative skills

Common guest services agent skills

Reservations, 24%
Computer System, 10%
Hotel Services, 9%
Cash Handling, 7%
Room Reservations, 7%
PBX, 5%

Common front desk representative skills

Reservations, 25%
Customer Service, 10%
Excellent Guest, 7%
Computer System, 5%
Patients, 5%
Cash Handling, 5%

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Guest Services Agent
Guest Services Agent vs Front Desk Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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