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The differences between hospitality associates and customer service specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a hospitality associate and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a hospitality associate has an average salary of $33,909, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a hospitality associate include patients, patient care and customer service. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Hospitality Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $33,909 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $16.30 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 18,928 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A hospitality associate works to ensure that clients get to receive optimal services. They can work in various places such as hotels, restaurants, resorts, and even hospitals. Although the extent of their responsibilities depends on their industry of employment, it typically includes understanding the clients' needs, planning services, researching the ideal practices, liaising with external parties such as suppliers and vendors, and developing strategies to optimize operations. Moreover, they may directly communicate with clients to assist them with their needs, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction.
Customer service specialists are employees who are responsible for providing the best customer experience to customers, usually for after-sales transactions. They attend to customers' inquiries and provide answers to their questions on products or services that the company offers. They also address customer complaints and help mitigate the concerns by offering solutions such as instructions on how to fix defects, or processing replacements or refunds. Customer service specialists also listen to customer feedback and ensure that these are logged properly so that proper departments will be able to receive them.
Hospitality associates and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Hospitality Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $33,909 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $46,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Salesforce | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Finance |
There are a few differences between a hospitality associate and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Hospitality Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between hospitality associates' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Hospitality Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 31.2% Female, 68.8% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.6% Asian, 6.2% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |