Hotel associate vs desk assistant

The differences between hotel associates and desk assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a hotel associate has an average salary of $32,062, which is higher than the $27,353 average annual salary of a desk assistant.

The top three skills for a hotel associate include taking care, PET and customer service. The most important skills for a desk assistant are customer service, residential life, and phone calls.

Hotel associate vs desk assistant overview

	Hotel Associate	Desk Assistant
Yearly salary	$32,062	$27,353
Hourly rate	$15.41	$13.15
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	4,387	25,019
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	-	-

What does a hotel associate do?

A hotel associate takes care of hotel patrons by registering them and assigning them to rooms. They are expected to give keys and cards to guests, transmit and receive messages, and keep a record of occupied rooms. They may also be in charge of making reservations. Different hotels may assign their associates a variety of other small tasks. However, the associate's primary duty is to ensure that the best services are provided to clients.

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.

Hotel associate vs desk assistant salary

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

	Hotel Associate	Desk Assistant
Average salary	$32,062	$27,353
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $43,000	Between $12,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	-	New York, NY
Highest paying state	-	New York
Best paying company	-	Massachusetts General Hospital
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between hotel associate and desk assistant education

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

	Hotel Associate	Desk Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Business	Psychology
Most common college	-	-

Hotel associate vs desk assistant demographics

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

	Hotel Associate	Desk Assistant
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 36.5% Female, 63.5%	Male, 35.5% Female, 64.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 10.8% White, 51.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%	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 hotel associate and desk assistant duties and responsibilities

Hotel associate example responsibilities.

Operate hotel switchboard, take calls and provide information and transfer calls and manage accurate accounting of all rooms.
Track future room availability on the basis of reservations, and helps develop forecasts for room revenue and occupancy.
Cater to the needs of the pets which include but are not limit to feeding, bathing and cleaning of pet facilities
Verify hotel room availability, enter hotel reservations.
Operate the switchboard and PBX.
Undertake general office duties, including correspondence, emails, filing and switchboard to ensure the smooth running of the hotel.

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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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Hotel associate vs desk assistant skills

Common hotel associate skills

Taking Care, 51%
PET, 48%
Customer Service, 0%
Reservations, 0%
Guest Satisfaction, 0%
Front Desk, 0%

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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