If you enjoy meeting and helping all kinds of people, this could be a great job for you.
Hotel receptionists make guests feel welcome, manage room bookings (also known as reservations) and deal with requests that guests make during their stay.
A hotel receptionist also needs to be friendly and professional at all times, be able to look after several things at once and always stay calm, sometimes under pressure.
Many employers will prefer you to have a good standard of general education and possibly some GCSEs (A-C) in subjects such as English, maths and IT. Some employers may also want you to have experience of using a telephone switchboard or a computerised reservations system.
Although previous experience in customer service or office work would also help you, you can also prepare for this work by taking a relevant college course.
As a hotel receptionist, your main duties would include:
dealing with bookings by phone, e-mail, letter, fax or face-to-face
completing procedures when guests arrive and leave
choosing rooms and handing out keys
preparing bills and taking payments
taking and passing on messages to guests
dealing with special requests from guests (like booking theatre tickets or storing valuable items)
answering questions about what the hotel offers and the surrounding area
dealing with complaints or problems
In most hotels, you would use a computerised system to book rooms and to keep details of bookings and available rooms up to date. You would work as part of a team and you may be responsible for one area such as managing telephone reservations or guest departures (also known as checkouts).
In small hotels, your duties may include other tasks such as showing guests to their rooms and serving drinks in the bar.