Lodging Managers

Lodging managers ensure that guests have a pleasant experience at a hotel, motel, or other type of facility with accommodations. Lodging managers also plan, direct, or coordinate activities to ensure that the facility is efficient and profitable.

Duties

Lodging managers typically do the following:

• Inspect guest rooms, public areas, and grounds for cleanliness and appearance
• Ensure that company standards for guest services, décor, and housekeeping are met
• Answer questions from guests about the lodging facility's policies and services
• Interview, hire, train, and sometimes fire staff members
• Monitor staff performance to ensure that guests are happy and that the facility is well run
• Coordinate the facility's front-desk activities and resolve problems
• Set budgets, approve expenditures, and allocate funds to various departments
• Keep track of how much money the facility is making

A comfortable room and a helpful staff can make being away from home an enjoyable experience for guests. Lodging managers, who occasionally greet and register guests, try to make sure that guests have a good experience.

Lodging establishments vary in size, from bed and breakfasts with just a few rooms to resorts with thousands of rooms. Facilities are sometimes identified according to the level of amenities they offer, such as limited service or full service. The larger the number of amenities a facility provides—for example, a swimming pool, a casino, and a restaurant—the greater the range of duties for lodging managers who oversee them.

The following are examples of types of lodging managers:

Convention service managers coordinate the activities of various departments, to accommodate meetings, conventions, and special events. They meet with representatives of groups to plan the number of conference rooms to be reserved, design the configuration of the meeting space, and determine what other services the groups will need, such as catering or audiovisual requirements. During a meeting or event, they resolve unexpected problems and ensure that facility operations meet a group’s expectations.

Front-desk managers coordinate reservations and room assignments and train and direct the facility’s front-desk staff. They ensure that guests are treated courteously, that complaints and problems are resolved, and that requests for special services are carried out. Most front-desk managers are also responsible for adjusting bills.

General managers oversee all lodging operations at a facility. At large establishments with several departments and multiple layers of management, the general manager and several assistant managers coordinate the activities of separate departments. These departments may include human resources, marketing and sales, recreational facilities, and others. For more information, see the profiles on human resources managers; public relations and fundraising managers; financial managers; advertising, promotions, and marketing managers; and food service managers.

Revenue managers direct a property’s finances. Their responsibilities include monitoring room sales and reservations, overseeing accounting and cash-flow matters, projecting occupancy levels, and deciding which rooms to discount and when to offer special rates.

Lodging managers held about 52,000 jobs in 2024. The largest employers of lodging managers were as follows:

The pressures of coordinating a wide range of activities, turning a profit for investors, and dealing with dissatisfied guests may be stressful.

Work Schedules

Most lodging managers work full time. Work schedules may vary and often include evenings, weekends, and holidays. Because these facilities are open around the clock, some managers are on call 24 hours a day.

To enter the occupation, lodging managers typically take one of three paths: a high school diploma combined with several years of experience working in a lodging facility, a bachelor’s degree in hospitality or hotel management, or an associate’s degree or certificate in hotel management.

The median annual wage for lodging managers was $68,130 in May 2024.

Employment of lodging managers is projected to grow 3 percent from 2024 to 2034, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

About 5,400 openings for lodging managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.