33 Interview Questions for a Hotel Receptionist (With Examples)
When preparing for an interview to be a hotel receptionist, it’s important to think about what questions the employer might ask. This will help you think of answers that show you are the right person for the job. The key is to show in your answers how good you are at customer service and being a good host. You can do this well if you prepare answers to possible questions ahead of time. This article gives 33 interview questions for a hotel receptionist and some examples of how to answer them.
General questions to ask a hotel receptionist at a job interview
These questions can help a hiring manager learn more about you and why you want to work as a hotel receptionist:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Tell me about yourself in three words.
- Why do you want to work at this place?
- What do you know about our hotel?
- Are you familiar with this area?
- What do you do really well?
- What do you think is your worst trait?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Are you willing to work nights and weekends?
- Why do you think being kind is important?
Questions about the experience and history of the people who work at the front desk of a hotel
Interviewers might ask you the following questions to find out how your past experiences make you a good fit for the job:
- Tell me about some of the hotels you’ve stayed in.
- Can you speak more than one language with people?
- Tell me about a time you had to figure something out.
- Tell me about something you did by yourself.
- Give me an example of a time you had to work hard.
- Have you ever used a computer?
- Do you feel at ease picking up the phone?
- What planning software have you used before?
- Where was your favorite place to work?
- Do you still get along with the person who hired you before?
Interview questions in depth for a hotel front desk worker
Hiring managers may ask you more detailed questions to find out more about what you can do as a hotel receptionist:
- How would you stay on track during long shifts?
- How would you make sure our guests can be by themselves?
- How do you stay on top of things?
- How would you make a guest feel better who is upset?
- What do you have to offer our group?
- What would you do if one of your guests left a bad review?
- How could you get people to come back?
- What would you do to make your guests feel at home?
- What would you do if a guest said they had a reservation but you couldn’t find it in their file?
- How do you finish things?
- Sample answers to questions asked at a job interview to become a hotel receptionist
Use these answers as a guide to come up with your own answers to these hotel receptionist interview questions:
What does good customer service look like to you?
A big part of making guests feel welcome is good customer service. Employers ask this question to find out if you understand what good customer service looks like. Use your answer to say that as a hotel receptionist, you plan to help guests with all of their questions. Explain that if you want to be good at customer service, you need to be patient, listen, and talk to people.
Example: “Good customer service is built on being able to talk to people. You can better meet your guests’ needs if you make sure they know what’s going on and listen to what they have to say. I know that if I want to give good customer service, I need to pay attention and be patient. If I’m paying attention, I can figure out what a guest needs and do my best to help them. I can help them through hard times, even if they are boring, because I am patient.”
What skills do you need to be a good hotel front desk worker?
A good hotel receptionist knows how to talk to people, solve problems, and provide good customer service. This is a question that employers ask to learn more about what you can do in this job. Before your interview, read the job description to see if it lists any skills that you already have. Include these skills in your answer and explain how you would use each one for the job.
Example: “I’m good at helping people, so I’m a good fit for this job. I’m very willing to help others, and I’m also very flexible. When I used to work at a hotel, for example, people often told me how helpful I was. Guests also said that by being friendly when they arrived, I made them feel at home.
I can also do this job well because I know how to solve problems. I’m good at coming up with different ways to solve a problem and figuring out which one might work best. When I worked at the front desk, a guest called very early in the morning and asked for new sheets. They had to change because her son’s juice got all over them. We didn’t have enough sheets because the person who does our laundry for the day hadn’t come yet. To solve the problem, I found out which room was empty and took the sheets from there.” Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult person.
At some point, you might have to work with a hard-to-please guest or coworker. During an interview, employers ask this question to see if you have the social skills to handle these kinds of situations. To explain what’s going on, use the STAR method. You can use this method to explain the following:
- What went down: the thing that went down.
- Task: Describe what you had to do to solve the problem.
- What you did: What you actually did.
- What happened in the end is the result.
Example: “I had to help the housekeepers fold some towels with a coworker once. My coworker got angry with me and told me she wouldn’t help. Because of this, the housekeepers and I had a lot of work to do. I knew that I had to do something to change the way my coworker thought. I asked this coworker calmly if we could have a quiet conversation in the hallway.
I told her that it wasn’t our job to fold towels, but that we could still be nice and help. I helped her see things from a different angle by telling her that the housekeepers do a lot of extra work to make our jobs easier. After a few minutes of talking, my coworker said she was sorry for the first answer she gave. To fold more towels, she worked harder than anyone else. After that, she wanted to help people even more.”
