Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks

A median of $35,070 against the $50,020 all-occupation figure leaves Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks 30% behind — $14,950 across a year. Whether that is workable depends almost entirely on where you would be doing it.

261,420 people do this work. An occupation this large has a published, well-known going rate — which means less scope to be underpaid and less scope to negotiate above it.

This work suits people who can hold a record straight and a caller calm at the same time, which is a harder combination than the pay suggests.

No verified preparation time is on file for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks. The wage survey behind every figure on this page asks employers what they pay, not what they required, so the honest answer here is that we do not know.

$8,290 separates the bottom quarter at $29,810 from the top quarter at $38,100, a ratio of 1.3x. In a band that tight, moving up inside Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks pays less than moving out of it would.

Under $29,810 is where a quarter of this field sits, $20,210 beneath the $50,020 a typical American job pays. The risk in Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks is not the average outcome, it is how long you might spend in the bottom quarter before leaving it.

Avoid it if you need progression; these roles are frequently a level rather than a ladder.

There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 261,420 people employed as Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks; it did not count the people who trained for it and are doing something else, and a rate built without that denominator would be a number we made up.

At 1.3x between $29,810 and $38,100, this is a narrow distribution. $35,070 is a reliable number to plan around, which is worth something — but so is knowing that outperforming the field will not be paid for.

The middle half of this field earns between $29,810 and $38,100. That is $8,290 of range, with $35,070 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.

Getting to $38,100, the 75th percentile, is worth $3,030 a year more than the $35,070 midpoint and $8,290 more than the $29,810 a quarter of Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks settle for.

The midpoint sits high inside its own range: $5,260 above the $29,810 bottom quarter but only $3,030 below the $38,100 top quarter. Most of the distance in Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks is spent climbing out of the bottom, and once you are past the middle there is not much further to go.

Converted to an hourly rate over a full-time year: $14.33 at the bottom quarter, $16.86 at the midpoint, $18.31 at the top quarter. The typical American job works out at $24.04 on the same basis.