Career Explorer Office and admin
Changing shape
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks
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.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 22% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +1.8% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on emotional intelligence.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $35,070
- Job growth to 2035
- +1.8%
- Openings a year
- 35,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 265,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Explain technical details of products or services
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Maintain sales or financial records
- Notify others of emergencies or problems
- Distribute materials, supplies, or resources
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as artificial intelligence (AI) software is increasingly used to assist guests with routine enquiries, and self-service kiosks and mobile applications allow guests to complete check-ins and check-outs without a clerk present.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Health technologists and technicians, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 64, +5.9%
- Cargo and freight agentsGrows with AI, Index 31, +6.2%
- Security guardsHuman edge, steady, Index 63, +0.9%
- Healthcare support workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 83, +4.8%
Also known as: Front Desk Agent, Front Desk Clerk, Guest Service Representative (GSR), Guest Services Agent (GSA), Desk Clerk, Front Desk Associate, Front Desk Attendant, Front Desk Receptionist.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.