Job Overviews
Existing hotel positions often depend on a number of factors, including the style and size of the hotel, and the personal preferences of management. To find one that fits your skills, qualifications and personal preferences, it is beneficial to have a basic understanding of these different roles.
Below is an overview of positions that can generally be found at a typical hotel. If you see something that interests you, contact us to learn about available training and valuable certifications before you apply. You want these on your resume!
FOOD & BEVERAGE POSITIONS
Known as F&B, the food and beverage department is focused on providing guests with food and drinks during the course of their stay. This primarily occurs within restaurants but also includes room service.
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Wait Staff
Wait staff within a hotel restaurant are responsible for communicating with and attending to customers. The job involves finding out what guests would like to eat and drink, bringing them their meals, collecting payments and staying alert for any other needs they may have during their visit.
Restaurant Manager
Restaurant manager is a senior position and is one of the most important hotel positions. The job involves managing all aspects of restaurant operations including food quality, financial performance of the restaurant, ordering new supplies, and hiring.
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Kitchen Staff
Kitchen staff duties can depend on the size of the hotel and the nature of the restaurant. Duties may include basic food prep, cleaning the kitchen, washing cutlery and dishes, setting tables, and assisting the chefs or cooks with various tasks.
Kitchen Manager
The kitchen manager will be responsible for overseeing kitchen operations and monitoring performance levels. Activities may include hiring and firing kitchen staff, ordering kitchen equipment, purchasing food, enforcing hygiene standards, supervising food preparation, and ensuring staff members are adequately trained.
Head Chef
Head chef or executive chef is the top hotel position related to food preparation. The head chef will usually take responsibility for creating and maintaining the restaurant menu while leading the team of cooks, sous chefs and support staff. In some cases, a head chef may also have budgeting responsibilities, instead of the kitchen manager.
​Room Service
These in-room service hotel positions tend to connect with the kitchen and restaurant staff, but the core responsibility here is providing services to guests in their rooms. This may mean speaking with guests on the phone, taking room service orders, passing them on to the restaurant, and then bringing food and drinks to guests.
FRONT OFFICE POSITIONS
Front office hotel positions are customer-facing positions centered around the reception area, or the first point of guest contact. The focus is typically on helping guests settle in and solving problems for them.
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​Front Desk Reception
Front desk staff are responsible for a range of different aspects of customer service, including greeting guests, performing check-in, collecting payments and answering questions. Additionally, front desk employees may need to collaborate with room service staff, deal with complaints and manage key cards.
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Front Desk Manager
A front desk manager is responsible for overseeing front desk operations. This may mean performing front desk tasks, supervising front desk employees and taking on budgeting, hiring and training duties. A key part of the job also involves staff scheduling so that the front desk is not left unattended.
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Maintenance & Cleaning
The maintenance and cleaning department covers all hotel positions related to maintaining hotel upkeep. In particular, there is a focus on cleaning, repair, and responding to guest requests.
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Hotel Concierge
The hotel concierge role is usually associated with higher-end hotels. The job involves performing tasks on behalf of guests such as arranging transportation, booking entertainment, or making reservations at local restaurants.
Housekeeping
These are critical roles charged with maintaining hotel cleanliness. Responsibilities include cleaning guest rooms and shared spaces, re-stocking rooms for new guests, and laundry duties.
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Housekeeping Manager
The housekeeping manager coordinates housekeeping staff and ensures they have the equipment needed to do the job. This means managing stock levels and supervising cleaning efforts. The job also involves hiring, firing, staff training and managing the departmental budget.
MANAGEMENT & HEADQUARTERS POSITIONS
The management-type hotel positions are taken up by senior staff members and those with specific expertise. Work in these roles may often be office-based, either within a hotel or within the main headquarters.
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​Hotel / General Manager
The hotel position with the most responsibility. They are ultimately responsible for all aspects of managing the hotel including monitoring and reporting on performance and making strategic changes. They may need to step in and supervise or perform various tasks around the hotel to keep things running.
Marketing Manager
Marketing managers are responsible for promoting the hotel to potential guests and business partners. This involves managing advertising strategy and expenditure, as well as finding new ways to promote the hotel. Often, the marketing department will also take responsibility for social media efforts.
Sales Manager
The role of a sales manager is sometimes seen as an optional hotel position, because the core responsibilities may instead be taken on by a combination of the general manager, an assistant manager, or the marketing department. Where it does exist, it involves selling hotel rooms, hotel facilities, wedding services and other hotel products.
Revenue Manager
Revenue management involves maximizing the revenue that comes into a hotel and optimizing financial results. This is primarily achieved by taking a strategic approach that ensures hotel rooms are sold to the right customer, for the ideal price, at the right time, through the best possible channel.
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​Accounting Manager
The hotel position of accounting manager will oversee the accounting department and any staff within it. Responsibilities will include ensuring the hotel is properly monitoring and documenting income and expenditure, managing the payment of employees, and ensuring bills and taxes are paid properly and on time.
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Purchase Manager
Purchasing managers take responsibility for buying the equipment and other items that hotels need to function. The job involves carefully managing stock levels, so that the hotel is never caught short, but also without creating a situation where items stay in storage too long, taking up valuable space.
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Human Resource Manager
Human Resources focuses on aspects related to employees, and the HR manager coordinates those efforts. HR tasks may include dealing with employment disputes, developing and implementing HR initiatives, creating policies around staff conduct, and helping employees settle into their careers.
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​IT Manager
This person is responsible for managing the hotel’s IT systems, networks and processes. This includes ensuring booking systems are operational, cyber security, and maintaining data protection standards.
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