How To Become A Guest Services Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a guest services manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Andrew Gilliam

As a guest services manager, your duties include interacting with hotel guests or revoking reservations, ushering in guests upon their arrival, and allowing them to their rooms and apartments. Also, you are to issue lodge keys and gather payment data, direct housekeeping, convey providers, porters, and kitchen workers to satisfy guests' conditions. Also, you are to settle problems, handle discontented guests' queries, and direct third-person services which comprises taxis, trip guides, among many others. You must also analyze the daily condition of the hotels, take care of all phone calls, and give accurate information to guests.

To get this job, you must display great organizational, communication, and also possess excellent interpersonal and problem-solving skills. In addition, you need to have either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in management. A guest services manager earns an average of $50,356 a year or $24.21 per hour.

What general advice would you give to a Guest Services Manager?

Andrew Gilliam

Customer Experience innovator and change agent,, Informa Tech

Searching for jobs is always intimidating, and this year provides many new reasons to be discouraged. However, based on research HDI conducted in July, 57% of support organizations are creating new positions or continuing to fill vacancies. Furthermore, 82% of organizations say it is likely they will continue working from home long-term. Many companies are opening their minds to hiring candidates who don't live near their offices. That's great news for anyone entering the job market!
When looking for work, the best thing an applicant can do is to think like a hiring manager. They're filling a position to meet their needs, not yours, so consider the context in which they're hiring. Right now, businesses are searching for applicants who can contribute to remote teams and support customers remotely. Experience with unified communications, mobile, cloud, and remote support technologies are in high demand. Additionally, organizations are changing how they work at a rapid pace. Understanding the fundamentals of knowledge management, enterprise service management, incident and problem management, and organizational communications will help candidates speak directly to prospective employers' challenges. Having a dedicated space and internet connectivity to enable working from home and a proven ability to work independently or remotely helps dissuade managers' fears of hiring remote candidates.
There are plenty of ways to build these skills and competencies, even without direct work experience. HDI offers numerous resources, many of them free, to expand your knowledge, including articles, webinars, toolkits, research, and virtual classroom training. Dedicating yourself to independent learning, experimenting in a home-lab, and networking at virtual industry events are fantastic ways to demonstrate your job-readiness.

ScoreGuest Services ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $46,930

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.0

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.64%

Asian 5.21%

Black or African American 10.15%

Hispanic or Latino 18.21%

Unknown 4.72%

White 61.07%

Gender

female 56.00%

male 44.00%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress Level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.2

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Guest Services Manager in Columbus, OH

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Key steps to become a guest services manager

Explore guest services manager education requirements

Most common guest services manager degrees

Bachelor's

58.3 %

Associate

19.1 %

High School Diploma

12.4 %

Start to develop specific guest services manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Reservations	13.42%
Excellent Guest	8.73%
Front Desk Operations	7.07%
Payroll	5.98%
Guest Satisfaction	4.16%

Complete relevant guest services manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New guest services managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a guest services manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real guest services manager resumes.

Research guest services manager duties and responsibilities

Maintain, troubleshoot, and manage the hotel's property management systems (PMS) and other computer networks and software.
Manage Sarbanes-Oxley application compliance requirements.
Manage facility procedures relate to insurance and billing and solve patients' queries regarding their insurance renewal and expiry.
Develop VIP recognition program to create lasting memories with the resorts group and leisure VIPs.

Prepare your guest services manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your guest services manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a guest services manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Guest Services Manager Resume templates

Build a professional Guest Services Manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Guest Services Manager resume.

Apply for guest services manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a guest services manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

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