Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Also called: Desk Clerk, Front Desk Agent, Front Desk Associate, Front Desk Attendant, Front Desk Auditor, Front Desk Clerk, Front Desk Concierge, Front Desk Receptionist
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.
What hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks do
Typical tasks
- Make and confirm reservations.
- Greet, register, and assign rooms to guests of hotels or motels.
- Verify customers' credit, and establish how the customer will pay for the accommodation.
- Post charges, such as those for rooms, food, liquor, or telephone calls, to ledgers, manually or by using computers.
- Issue room keys and escort instructions to bellhops.
- Advise housekeeping staff when rooms have been vacated and are ready for cleaning.
- Transmit and receive messages, using telephones or telephone switchboards.
- Record guest comments or complaints, referring customers to managers as necessary.
- Keep records of room availability and guests' accounts, manually or using computers.
- Perform bookkeeping activities, such as balancing accounts and conducting nightly audits.
- Compute bills, collect payments, and make change for guests.
- Review accounts and charges with guests during the check out process.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks salary
The median annual wage for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks is $35,070 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $27,120 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $45,470. The mean annual wage is $35,550.
The mean hourly wage of $17.00 is 2.3× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $35,070 → in 3 years $38,200 → in 5 years $40,400 → in 10 years $46,600 (10-year range $40,100–$54,100). The model assumes pay growth of +2.9% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
The same job in Japan
| Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks United States | フロント（ホテル・旅館） Japan | |
|---|---|---|
| Median / average pay | $35,070 | ¥3.62M ≈ $23,044 |
| Pay in 10 years (est.) | $46,600 | ¥4.92M |
| Outlook score | 40 | 49 |
| AI replacement risk | 50% Moderate | 47% Moderate |
| Workers | 261K | — |
Matched by occupation (SOC code). Yen converted at 157.25 JPY/USD for reference; Japanese figures are averages, U.S. figures are medians, and the surveys define occupations differently.
Skills, education and requirements for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Education of workers
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 2 — some preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★☆☆☆☆ Easy to enter (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.