The hotel industry is booming, especially now that we’re moving out of the COVID-19 era. In fact, many cities have bounced back to pre-COVID levels in just a few years!
That means that now is a great time to get involved in an industry that only seems to be on the up and up. If that sounds like a good fit for you, it pays to know a couple of interview questions at hotel industry jobs so that you can land your next position.
Typically, hotel industry interview questions focus on learning about your past experience and customer service experience. In this guide, we’ll check out a bit more detail about those questions and how to answer them in order to get the job.
Types of Jobs in the Hotel Industry
Before we dive into the different interview questions you might get asked for hotel industry jobs, let’s talk about a few different positions you can apply for.
The hotel industry requires a lot of personnel in order to make the guest experience great, including:
- Cleaning crew
- Kitchen staff
- Receptionist
- Security
- Manager
- Concierge
- Servers
- Bartenders
- Bellhop
- Spa staff
These are just a few of the different positions that you might come across at a hotel. The questions you get asked and the answers you give may vary slightly for each position, so it’s handy to research the specific role you’re applying for before practicing your interview responses.
Top 10 Questions at Hotel Industry Jobs
Although positions can vary quite a bit in the hotel industry, there are still some questions that you’re likely to get asked regardless of what position you’re applying for. Let’s go over a few of the most common hotel industry interview questions to be prepared for.
1. Tell Me About Yourself
When answering this question, you’ll want to try to keep the answer to between one and two minutes. Think of this as an elevator speech, where you give a brief introduction to your background, education, and experience.
Remember, if hiring managers have more questions about something, they’ll ask you. The goal here is to not get lost in the weeds as you’ll often build on what you say during this question later in the interview.
2. What Are Your Top Three Strengths?
Hiring managers often ask this question to get a feel for your personality and to see how well you’ll fit into their team. Talk about three strengths that pertain to the role you’re applying to specifically.
For instance, if you’re applying for a position as a member of the housekeeping team, talk about your excellent organizational skills and attention to detail. These skills are critical for keeping rooms clean and up to hotel standards.
3. What Are Your Career Goals?
When interviewers ask this question, they’re often looking to see how long you plan to stay with the company. For them, it’s much more cost-effective to hire someone with long-term goals than for someone who they’ll need to replace in a few months.
Try to answer this question by talking about how you want to stick with a company and grow with them for a while. You can explain how you’d like your role progression to play out and what kinds of future ways you’d like to invest back into your employer.
4. Why Do You Want to Work Here?
As with most jobs, hotels want to know why you chose to work for them specifically. For this question, you’ll want to check out the website of the hotel you’re applying to work for. Read up on what makes them unique and come up with a few talking points as to why you chose this hotel versus its competitors.
5. How Do You Work Under Pressure?
The hotel industry is a fast-paced environment that often requires you to think on your feet in stressful situations. For this question, you’ll want to talk about how you handle stress and stay calm and focused. Make sure to emphasize that you’re able to handle situations under pressure with ease, even where others might not.
6. How Well Do You Work in a Team?
Teamwork is a major part of working at a hotel, and in many cases, the staff becomes quite close because they have to partner up so much! For this question, be sure to go over what your dynamic is when working in a team. You can also give past examples of times you’ve successfully worked in a team as part of your answer.
7. How Would You Handle an Upset Guest?
Unfortunately, upset guests come with the territory of working at the hotel, and you’ll need to know how to handle them. For this question, the best answer is to let the hiring manager know that you’d listen to the guest’s complaint in full and then either escalate the situation to a manager or provide compensation according to hotel policy.
8. Do You Have Any Industry Experience?
Many hotel industry jobs are entry-level positions that don’t require any past experience. However, there are other positions that require you to have a hospitality degree or culinary experience in order to land the position. Make sure to let the hiring manager know of any relevant experience or certifications you have that could benefit you in this job.
9. Are You Familiar With Booking Systems?
Booking systems are a major part of hotel industry jobs, and a variety of different workers at a property may be required to understand them. If you have any past experience with booking systems or using hotel management systems, this is a great time to let the hiring manager know.
10. What’s Your Availability Like?
Hotels often require more extensive availability than some other positions out there. Because the peak times for hotels are on weekends, you’ll almost always need to be able to work from Thursday to Monday. Typically, days off in the hotel industry are Tuesdays and Wednesdays since there are fewer guests.
If you have any availability conflicts, you’ll want to make this clear to the hiring manager from the start. Although the more availability you have the more likely you are to land the job, sometimes hiring managers can work things out in special situations.
Questions to Ask Your Employer at a Hotel Industry Interview
At the end of your interview, your employer is likely to ask if you have any questions for them. Although it’s not obligatory to ask questions, doing so can show you’re really interested in being part of the team. Here are a couple of questions you can ask your future employer at the end of the interview.
What Skills Do I Need to Be Successful at the Position?
This is a great question to ask to see what you’ll need to work on in order to perform well at your new job. On top of that, it gives you a way to compare your current strengths and weaknesses with expectations at the job.
What Types of Growth Opportunities Are There?
Asking this question demonstrates to hiring managers that you’re planning to be at this job for the long haul. It also shows your interest in growing with the company long-term, which may make you a more desirable candidate.
How Would You Measure Success?
This question shows that you’re interested in success and that you want to do well at your position long-term. Hiring managers will typically go over a few of the core KPIs and the time frame you have to complete them, giving you an inside look at what to expect if you’re hired.
Launch a Career in the Hotel Industry
Knowing how to answer interview questions at hotel industry jobs is key if you’re looking to break into the field. Many of the job interview questions for these positions have to do with customer service and past experience, although the exact questions can vary depending on the position you’re applying to.
Regardless of what hotel job you’re after, try to go over a couple of these questions. Practice your answers to help you prepare what you’ll say, so that you can ace your next job interview at a hotel.
