The front desk is often the first and the last contact a guest has with the hotel. Yet receptionists are regularly hired with a generic job ad and a short interview, and only on the first busy morning does it become clear whether someone stays calm with a queue of guests and a ringing phone. Read how to sharpen the profile, find the right candidates and test in the interview and trial shift what really counts at the desk.
30 October 2026
A receptionist works where guest contact, administration and money meet. They check guests in and out, answer the phone and email, process payments, resolve complaints and give information about the hotel and the area. In smaller hotels and outside office hours a receptionist often works alone. Guests notice a wrong hire straight away, and so does the team.
Before recruiting, decide which shifts you are hiring for: early, late, night, weekend or a rotating rota. A candidate who can only work days does not fit a role with fixed nights. Look at your peaks at check-in and check-out and whether you want a dedicated night team. That tells you which type of receptionist you are actually looking for.
Separate requirements from preferences. Usually needed from day one: friendly and clear communication, staying calm when it is busy, handling money and guest data reliably, and the agreed languages. What can often be taught: the reservation system, the cash procedure, house rules and knowledge of the area. People from retail, customer service or travel can therefore be good candidates, even without hospitality experience.
Do not just write ‘language skills preferred’. Look at which languages your guests actually speak and at what level the receptionist needs them: completing a check-in, handling a complaint or writing an email. Record which language is a hard requirement and which is a plus. Read also when a second language is really a must-have.
Hotels use different property management systems, payment systems and key card systems. Experience with exactly your system is rarely essential; someone who has worked with a similar system usually learns yours quickly. Ask how someone got to grips with a new system before rather than whether they know your specific software. Do plan time for training.
Describe what the role really involves in your hotel. Does the front desk also handle reservations, the switchboard, the cash desk and the end-of-day close? Does the receptionist help at breakfast or behind the bar in quiet hours? Is there a night audit? A candidate who discovers after a few weeks that the role is much broader than described leaves sooner. If the role borders on reservations work, look also at the profile of a reservations agent.
State the shift times, number of hours, weekend work, pay range and location in the first lines. Explain what the team looks like and who will train the receptionist. Clear pay bands and a complete job ad prevent interviews with people who later drop out over the rota or pay. Keep applying short: name, phone number, availability and a short question about experience are often enough.
Besides one general and one specialist job board, hotel schools and hospitality colleges are a logical channel, including interns you offer a contract after the internship. Ask your own team about people in their network, and consider staff from other departments who would like to move to the front desk.
A receptionist has many conversations on the phone. A short phone screen lets you hear right away how someone sounds, whether they express themselves clearly and whether they speak the agreed language well enough. Hold part of the call in that language if it is a requirement. Also discuss shift times and the desired start date straight away.
Ask situational questions instead of general ones. For example: a guest arrives late and you cannot find the reservation, what do you do? There is a queue at check-out and the phone rings, how do you handle it? A guest is angry about the room, what do you say first? Use an interview scorecard to compare candidates on the same points. More examples are in interview questions by department.
A trial shift shows how someone deals with guests. Let the candidate shadow an experienced colleague at a normal moment, not at the busiest peak and not alone. Do not let them process payments and do not give access to guest data in the system; mainly observe how they greet guests, ask questions and react to unexpected situations. Keep the trial shift short and agree beforehand whether and how it is paid.
A receptionist works with money, keys and guests' personal data. A reference check, with the candidate's consent, helps test reliability and attitude under pressure. Ask about concrete situations, such as how someone handled complaints or cash discrepancies, not only whether they were ‘nice to work with’.
Good receptionists often have several options. Make a job offer quickly and in full, with rota, hours and pay. Plan the first weeks so that the new receptionist works with an experienced colleague first, learns the system step by step and does not work an evening or night shift alone in the first week. A good first week reduces the chance of an early departure.
Does a receptionist always need a hotel school diploma? No. Training helps, but guest focus, calm under pressure, reliability and the required languages usually matter more. Systems and procedures can be taught.
Can a new receptionist work the night shift? Preferably not in the first weeks. At night someone often works alone and has to make decisions when problems arise. Let new colleagues work days first or together with an experienced colleague.
How long does front desk onboarding take? That depends on the hotel, the system and the candidate's experience. Agree in advance which tasks someone should handle independently after the first week, after a month and at the end of probation, so both sides know where they stand.
• Is the shift pattern settled: early, late, night, weekend?
• Is it clear what is needed from day one and what you will teach?
• Are language requirements concrete per language and level?
• Does the job ad describe tasks, shift times, hours and pay range honestly?
• Is there a short phone screen, partly in the required language?
• Are situational questions asked in the interview and scored on the same points?
• Is the trial shift short, supervised and without access to payments or guest data?
• Is the onboarding plan ready, without solo night shifts in the first weeks?
AXXAZ Hospitality supplies hotels across Europe with reliable hospitality professionals. While you look for and train a permanent receptionist, we fill open shifts at the front desk and in other departments. It starts with a clear staffing brief.
You find a good receptionist by settling the shift pattern and profile first, making languages and tasks concrete, advertising honestly, testing desk practice in the phone screen and interview, running a supervised trial shift and onboarding carefully in the first weeks.