Oversee the daily operations of a hotel or inn, managing staff, guests, and budgets.
You may also see this posted as: Front Desk Manager, Front Office Manager, Hotel Manager, Resort Manager, Bed and Breakfast Innkeeper, Front Office Director.
Hotels and lodging properties
Long hours, nights and weekends
Enterprising
leading, persuading, selling, or turning an idea into action
Conventional
organizing information, following systems, and getting details right
Social
helping, teaching, caring for, or supporting other people
O*NET job zone 4 of 5
High preparation—usually a four-year degree plus experience—is common.
Examples employers report—not a checklist you must already know.
May 2025 BLS wage & employment data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.
Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.
“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.
BLS estimates 19.1% of workers in this occupation are self-employed.
Statewide medians are a better starting point than the national number. Your city and experience still matter.
High school / no degree
Training path: Often promoted from hotel work.
Related work experience: Less than 5 years.
On-the-job training: None.
No license required to start in most places.
You can earn while you train. This field has a genuinely paid pathway in — an apprenticeship, a paid academy, or employer-funded training — so you draw a paycheck instead of taking on debt to learn it.
Licensing rules and available programs change by state. These federal tools take you to the current official listings.
Runs the daily operations of a hotel or inn, from the front desk to housekeeping and budgets.
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Browse verified internships, fellowships, and programs — many paid — that lead into fields like this.
Free resume templates, interview practice, and getting-hired guides in the Careers kit.
Standard Occupational Classification 11-9081. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; job context from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.