Career Atlas USA

Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks

Median salary
$35,070
Average salary
$35,550
Employment
261,420
Projected growth
3.7% growth
Annual openings
43,600
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent

What Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks Do

Accommodate hotel, motel, and resort patrons by registering and assigning rooms to guests, issuing room keys or cards, transmitting and receiving messages, keeping records of occupied rooms and guests' accounts, making and confirming reservations, and presenting statements to and collecting payments from departing guests.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 20242034.

Related work experience
None
On-the-job training
Short-term on-the-job training
Self-employed
Not available

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 2 of 5

Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Experience
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
Education
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Job training
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

  • Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 4.3/5
  • English Languageimportance 4.2/5
  • Public Safety and Securityimportance 3.7/5
  • Administrativeimportance 3.6/5
  • Computers and Electronicsimportance 3.4/5
  • Administration and Managementimportance 3.2/5
  • Mathematicsimportance 3.0/5
  • Sales and Marketingimportance 2.9/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

  • Contact With Others5.0/5
  • Telephone Conversations4.8/5
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.8/5
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team4.8/5
  • Deal With External Customers or the Public in General4.7/5
  • E-Mail4.7/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

  • Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.8/5
  • Service Orientationimportance 3.6/5
  • Coordinationimportance 3.1/5
  • Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.0/5
  • Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 3.0/5
  • Time Managementimportance 3.0/5
  • Management of Personnel Resourcesimportance 3.0/5
  • Persuasionimportance 2.9/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

In-Demand Technologies

  • Property management system PMS software

Other Software Used

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

  • Dependability
  • Cooperation
  • Social Orientation
  • Attention to Detail
  • Optimism
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Empathy

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

  • ConventionalHigh
  • SocialMedium
  • EnterprisingMedium
  • RealisticLow
  • ArtisticLow
  • InvestigativeLow

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

Where This Career Is Most Concentrated

Metro areas where hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).

  1. 1Flagstaff, AZ6.22× national avg
  2. 2Kahului-Wailuku, HI5.90× national avg
  3. 3Brunswick-St. Simons, GA5.02× national avg
  4. 4Bozeman, MT4.78× national avg
  5. 5Rapid City, SD4.57× national avg

Possible Career Moves

A computed starting point, not observed job-change data — see the full list for why each one might fit.

See the full career path from Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks

Full salary data & percentiles →Best states for this career →Highest-paying states →