Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks
SOC Code: 43-4081
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks carries a 54% AI exposure score (High automation risk), with a median annual wage of $34,270 and +3.7% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS), affecting approximately 264,200 workers. Full task breakdown, skills, and employer data are below.
Proportion of tasks susceptible to AI automation (O*NET analysis)
At 54% AI exposure, Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks sits 17 points above the 37.2% average across 832 U.S. occupations - more exposed than 91% of them. Most of its core tasks still require human judgment.
Career outlook score
26/100
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of median wage, projected growth, and AI-automation security (inverted exposure), each benchmarked against every other tracked occupation. It describes this occupation's standing across those three dimensions, not a guarantee of future outcomes.
- Median wage F $34,270
Annual median wage, percentile rank vs all tracked occupations
- Projected growth C+ +3.7%
Projected employment change, 2024-2034, BLS Employment Projections
- AI exposure (inverted) F 54% exposure
Lower O*NET task-automability scores lower risk; this dimension scores security, not exposure
Home health and personal care aides is #1 of 832 occupations by employment (4.3M, AI exposure rank #392 at 35%) vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks #1 by AI task exposure (95%, employment rank #17 at 1.6M).
Automation-risk inventory
Exclusive cut of 832 occupations by PlainWorkforce automation-risk band. Orthogonal to the continuous AI-exposure distribution chart below and to this occupation's single risk badge, this is the corpus band mix, with Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks in the High band.
Credential × growth standing
Open entry with non-declining BLS pace
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks keeps an HS / some college bar (333 of 832) and sits in Average (378 of 832). Lower formal gates with a non-shrinking employment line - skill and AI desks matter more than credentials here.
Where Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks sits among all occupations
AI-exposure score distribution across 832 U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis). This occupation is marked in rose.
Where Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks sits by AI exposure
AI-exposure score distribution across U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis)
54% Higher than most higher than 91% of 832 occupations
Occupations, banded by AI-exposure score
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more occupations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor) · BLS 2024–2034
Source: O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor); AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis. As of BLS 2024–2034.
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks vs. its occupational neighbors
AI exposure (horizontal) vs projected 2024–2034 growth (vertical) for occupations in the same SOC group. Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks is marked in rose; the top-left corner is the most future-proof.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 (growth) and O*NET (AI-exposure analysis by PlainWorkforce).
Employment Projections
Where This Score Comes From
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks's High automation-risk tier is computed from O*NET Database 30.0 task-level analysis, where each documented task the occupation performs is evaluated against current generative AI, robotic process automation, and machine-learning capabilities. A score in the 40–70% range indicates meaningful automation pressure on specific task categories, but the role as a whole still requires human judgment for coordination, exception handling, or client interaction.
The employment, wage, and education figures above come from a second, separate federal source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, matched to the O*NET task data by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 43-4081) code, with the wage figure cross-validated against the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 survey. BLS figures are presented exactly as published, with no adjustment on our part; the SOC-code match is what lets Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks be compared directly against every other tracked occupation on the same basis, not just roles that happen to share a job title.
For career planners, this profile should be read alongside the task, skill, and knowledge breakdowns below and the list of employers whose workforce composition includes Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks. Adjacent occupations shown further down offer lateral moves that preserve industry knowledge while potentially reducing exposure.
Education & Entry Requirements
Top Tasks (O*NET)
- 1. Greet, register, and assign rooms to guests of hotels or motels.
- 2. Contact housekeeping or maintenance staff when guests report problems.
- 3. Issue room keys and escort instructions to bellhops.
- 4. Make and confirm reservations.
- 5. Verify customers' credit, and establish how the customer will pay for the accommodation.
- 6. Keep records of room availability and guests' accounts, manually or using computers.
- 7. Post charges, such as those for rooms, food, liquor, or telephone calls, to ledgers, manually or by using computers.
- 8. Review accounts and charges with guests during the check out process.
- 9. Record guest comments or complaints, referring customers to managers as necessary.
- 10. Compute bills, collect payments, and make change for guests.
Key Skills Required
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Coordination
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Time Management
Knowledge Areas
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Sales and Marketing
- Economics and Accounting
- Telecommunications
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks?
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks has an AI exposure score of 54%, indicating a high level of automation risk. Some tasks in this role can be augmented or partially automated by AI, but core responsibilities require human judgment.
What is the job outlook for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks?
According to BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034, Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks is projected to grow by 3.7% over the decade. Current employment stands at approximately 264,200 workers.
What skills are needed for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks?
Key skills for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks include Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, and others. Typical entry-level education is High school diploma or equivalent.
How much do Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks earn?
The median annual wage for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks is $34,270, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024). Actual earnings vary by location, experience, industry, and employer. The BLS publishes detailed wage percentiles by region in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
What education is required for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks?
The typical entry-level education for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks is High school diploma or equivalent. Employers generally expect None of related work experience. On-the-job training typically involves Short-term on-the-job training. Requirements can vary by employer and specialization.
Which companies employ Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks?
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks roles exist across many industries and employers. Workforce composition is estimated from BLS industry-occupation employment distributions matched to SEC-registered public companies.
AI Exposure Rating
High automation risk based on 10 analyzed tasks. A moderate share of tasks may be augmented by AI tools.
Nationwide occupations with similar workforce profiles
Two data-derived peer sets for Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks: AI-exposure neighbors and BLS 2034 growth neighbors (distinct comparison neighborhoods, cross-occupation).
Similar AI exposure score
Nearest O*NET task-automability scores nationwide (54% here).
- Bill and account collectors · AI exposure 54%
- Computer programmers · AI exposure 54%
- Judicial law clerks · AI exposure 54%
- Locomotive engineers · AI exposure 54%
Similar projected growth (2024–2034)
Nearest BLS employment change rates nationwide (+3.7% here).
- Chemical technicians · growth +3.7%
- First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors · growth +3.7%
- Insurance sales agents · growth +3.7%
- Medical appliance technicians · growth +3.7%
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published BLS + O*NET metrics among occupations with ≥10,000 workers in 2024; corpus ranks above sort the full tracked set.
Related Occupations
Showing 6 of 24 occupations with a comparable automation-risk profile.
What to do with this
Use Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks' numbers above to compare, not just read in isolation.
- Compare Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks side by side against another occupation on wage, growth, and AI exposure. Workforce comparison tool
- Understand how the AI exposure score above is actually calculated before treating it as a verdict. Reading AI exposure scores
- See the full ranked list of occupations with the lowest automation exposure nationwide. Safest occupations from AI
AI exposure scores estimate task automatability from O*NET data; they are not a certainty of job loss, and BLS growth projections are estimates, not guarantees.
Data sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET Database 30.0. Employment figures are rounded. Wage data from BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).