If you fancy a career being a hotel receptionist, then the first thing you have to do is to get some experience of reception work. Working as a hotel receptionist often involves long hours and since you are the ‘face’ who will meet guests to the hotel, you need to be very experienced at meeting people, being able to sort out any little problems and able to operate the computer systems for bookings, table bookings in the restaurant and paying bills.
Even with experience of working as a receptionist, you won’t usually start off working as a receptionist at a 6 star or a very swanky hotel in the heart of London. You would be expected to have a year or two years experience of working in the hotel sector before you graduate to being the receptionist in this kind of hotel.
So you may have to start off working in a smaller hotel, which does not have the air of glamour that many of the big name hotels have. But do not let this deter you, the experience that you can gain here, will stand you in very good stead for making sure that you get to work in a really nice hotel very quickly.
Basic qualifications include English and Maths. If you speak a foreign language this will also greatly assist. You need to be computer literate and have excellent communication skills. Often guests will come to you if there is a problem with their room, or they are not happy with some aspect of the accommodation, so you need to be able to deal with their complaints in a way that is helpful, efficient and you need to be able to deal with irate people without taking it personally. And the more experience you have of working in a receptionist role, the better it will be for you. It is a rewarding career and one that will often be highly prized by future employers, so do not underestimate how hard it is, but at the same time, it really is worth the effort to acquire such a good job.